ASU AD Ray Anderson: 2022 Season will be 'Very Positive'
On Tuesday, Arizona State Sun Devils head coach Herm Edwards spoke with 98.7 FM's Bickley and Marotta, offering his opinion on topics such as recruiting, how the team was shaping up for 2022 and quarterback Jayden Daniels entering the transfer portal.
Edwards' comments were met with heavy criticism, but that lasted for only one day thanks to Arizona State athletics director Ray Anderson stealing the spotlight.
Anderson joined Bickley and Marotta on Wednesday, giving his two cents on the events that have unfolded at ASU over the last eight months.
Anderson's Message to Arizona State Fans:
"I would tell them big picture that we don't believe that, we still have lots of confidence that this program is still going to accomplish some things. Yes, we acknowledge we've had some struggles, but overall we advanced the program.
"I would tell them to understand that college athletics and certainly football and basketball in general has changed drastically in the last two years, certainly with the transfer portal, which really translates to college free agency and now the robust name, image and likeness activities that are going on, which translate very frankly, into pay for play. The model for college football for purposes of this discussion has definitely changed, so we're going to have to adjust our model that we instituted when we brought Herm in here.
"We're going to have to be, I think as is appropriately described as a hybrid model in what we are going to have to do because we are not going to be able to get in an arms race with the new free agency and the new pay-for-play structure that is now very prevalent. We're going to now have to differentiate ourselves by training and developing at a superior level for those who aspire to go to the professional ranks. We're going to have to adjust our model because the college model has changed. We're going to do that.
"We're under process of doing that and we're very excited, certainly our players, our coaches, our staff are excited to go into spring ball with open competition, certainly at the quarterback position and in getting ready to go into summer and getting ready for a 2022 season that internally we believe is going to be very positive. That's what we would say to our fans."
Anderson on Current NCAA Investigation:
“You got an NCAA investigation ongoing so we can’t comment, as you know, publicly about it. To give you an assessment would be doing that. What I can tell you is that the NCAA process controls here, we do not control it. As you know, that process can be glacial, by any standards," said Anderson.
"We just got to be patient as required. So we’re going to do that before we make any final determinations of our program, who leads it going into the long-term future. One thing I can tell you is that I certainly personally don’t believe any rush to judgment is justified here in this case at ASU and will remain adamant about that.”
Ray Anderson on Arizona State's Success
"So the expectation is that yes, we want to be top three, we want to be top 15 in the country. We want to surpass anything that the university football team has been able to do on a consistent basis because it's been a long long time since anybody, if ever, can say you've done that on a consistent basis.
"But we didn’t say we were going to do it in two or three, four years, we said that was our aspiration and we retain that as our aspiration. Anyone who wanted to say you were making a promise that you would do it in the next two three or four years, quite frankly, that’s an interpretation that I think is not correct.
"Do we have aspirations to build to that? Absolutely, yes we do. But it's going to take some time because it hasn’t been done before and so it wasn't going to miraculously occur in two or three, four years. We never said that. So I don't regret it. I guess the only thing I would have said is by the way folks, it hasn’t been done here, very frankly, ever, and it’s going to take some time to get there. Don’t impose a timeline on us that hasn’t existed for prior programs.”