Take Two: Can Herm Edwards get the job done at Arizona State?

Take Two returns with a daily offering tackling a handful of issues in the college football landscape. Rivals.com National Recruiting Analyst Adam Gorney lays out the situation and receives takes from Rivals.com National Recruiting Director Mike Farrell and a local expert from the Rivals.com network of team sites.

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CLASS OF '18 RANKINGS: Rivals250 | Team | State | Position | JUCO

Herm Edwards is 63-years-old and he has not coached in nearly a decade. He has not been on the college sidelines since he was the defensive backs coach at San Jose State from 1987-89.

So when the new Arizona State coach went on ESPN radio recently and seemed flabbergasted by how involved college football recruiting has become, some took it as part of Edwards’ learning curve and others saw it as a seriously uninformed and out-of-touch coach preaching to people who know how intricate that world can be.

Should the Sun Devils be worried that Edwards is surprised he’s talking to 2019 kids, and has to recruit the parents as well and that he’s set up a “pro model” for evaluating players, whatever that means?

Or is this the reason Arizona State hired Edwards in the first place - a new approach, a fresh take on how to build a successful program?

The former Kansas City Chiefs and New York Jets coach has a high-level group of assistant coaches, many of whom are great recruiters and have connections to recruiting hotbeds in the state of Arizona and especially in talent-rich Southern California. Antonio Pierce and others are already making a lot of headway.

As Edwards acclimates himself to the reality of today’s college football world, can he lean on those coaches to help get the job done? Or is Edwards so far behind that playing catch-up in a conference that’s getting more competitive just a bad idea and it won’t work out in Tempe?

“The reaction to what Edwards said on that ESPN radio interview is being blown out of proportion. He’s back to being a head coach after a nine-year hiatus, and in a different level than before to boot. So yes, some aspects of his job will be foreign to him. Just because he shares that fact on a radio show, doesn’t mean that he hasn’t already adapted to the college recruiting landscape.

“This is hardly a factor that will take Edwards into the next decade to fully grasp. Who hasn’t had the proverbial eye-opener procedure/process to deal with on a new job? Edwards merely shared in public an experience that others would share with their family/friends in a more intimate setting. More than anything, Edwards is being criticized for being transparent.

“In his interview, Edwards said he asked prospects why do you want to go this university? That’s a legitimate question, but again he’s getting skewered for no reason.

“Lots of schools out there have made the student portion of the student-athlete title an oxymoron. ASU isn’t one of those schools and has the academic accomplishments to back that up.

“So, when Edwards asks a kid why do you want to go to college, shouldn’t he deserve some credit of caring for that kid’s future after football whether he never sees the field at the NFL level or is out of the league in three years which is the average career span of a professional player?

“I understand ASU’s New Leadership Model is coming under fire, and the program’s approach to recruiting like an NFL front office is met with skepticism. And yes, I’m not even sure yet how all of this can/will work. Either way, Edwards and his new coaching staff naturally shouldn’t be judged by what they accomplish in the current 2018 class, but rather in the 2019 and 2020 classes.

“If that radio interview becomes the No. 1 negative recruiting tool for the rest of the Pac-12, then they better come up with better material. I’m in wait-and-see mode and not rushing for judgment on Herm Edwards’ recruiting capabilities based on a radio interview.”

“He doesn’t know what he’s doing. When you get 2019 kids on campus, they have to talk to the head football coach if you want to have success. The head coach has to be involved in 2019 and 2020 recruiting and getting those kids to visit.

“If he thinks it’s just going to be his coordinators and his assistant coaches doing all the recruiting work and he’s going to slide in there in December or January before Signing Day, he’s crazy. It shows he doesn’t have any idea what he’s in for when it comes to recruiting and that’s a very, very bad sign for Arizona State.”