Less than 24 hours after beating Arizona, Herm Edwards let go of three offensive coaches. Coordinator Rob Likens Tight Ends coach Donnie Yantis, and WR coach Charlie Fisher. Edwards gave his side of the story, “You’ve got to score points. We were in the mid 20s. You’ve got to be in the 30s. That’s college football.”
The team started 5-1, fell apart, and came back together. Herm isn’t going anywhere, so a few assistant coaches take the fall. “We’re headed in a different direction philosophy-wise moving forward.” Edwards added. That’s the way the business goes. Likens and Yantis were Todd Graham hires, so it was only a matter of time from my view before Herm brought in his own guys.
It’s interesting to hear and see the casualties in coaching at all levels. Yantis was inducted in the National Football Foundation Valley of the Sun Hall of Fame last Spring. He is highly regarded in the Arizona high school coaching circles from his time at Paradise Valley high school. He built Arizona Christian’s football program from the ground up before being pursued by Graham to come to Arizona State. He’ll land on his feet, good things happen to good people…
From my view, the Sun Devils will be heading West for the bowl game and may end up in San Diego in the Holiday or San Francisco for the Redbox Bowl. San Diego would require Utah making the College Football Playoff, so the Bay Area seems the more likely destination, though in the bowl business “horse trading” can happen from time to time.
