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Purple Haze

It's only taken about 48 hours for AU to get over the purple haze presented by the move of Jedd Fisch to UW in Seattle...

If something similar had happened in Tempe to ASU would the Sun Devil brass acted this quickly, too..??

In any event, it's been fun the past 48 hours watching the fan meltdown in Kittie Land, as a Sun Devil fan...

The Daily Star Sports Section this morning featured two articles about the mess, one by Greg Hansen and the other by Michael Lev...

Hansen's article read "Fisch Exit Inevitable? More Like UA Inaction" and Lev's article read "Money Talked; Fisch Walked"...

For me, that kind of sounds about the way ASU has pursued things in the past...

Remember how John Cooper asked for a five year contract after taking the Sun Devils to the Rose Bowl in 1987 and Charles Harris, our AD at the time, told him it was too early to talk about that as Cooper needed to concentrate on recruiting, etc, rather than contract extensions (or something to that effect) following the season...

Harris sure made sure that Cooper knew who was boss at ASU and who was not, right..??

A year later Cooper was headed to Ohio St and he might have gone there anyway but he knew he was never going to get the support for his football program he needed under Charles Harris...

Contrast that with AU AD Ced Dempsey who hired Lute Olson and when Kentucky offered their BB coaching job to Lute, Dempsey immediately met with 10 Wildcat donors and put together a $100,000 stay in Tucson fund for Olson, which Lute ended up doing...(remember that was over 30 years ago so that was still pretty big money at the time)...

Anybody here think that Ray Anderson would do such a thing for ASU if something like that happened in "his" athletic dept..??

On another note, Fisch had his Director of Player and Community Relations organize a Sunday flag-football league for Tucson kids who got to play in AU's football stadium and the team's were coached by Wildcat football players and watched by Jedd himself on a regular basis, apparently...

As far as the Cats new coach is concerned, Michael Lev says that Brent Brennan is "a good man, but comes off like a Vanilla Milkshake who is capable of stringing together 4-8 and 4-7 seasons' at AU...

I think the same might have been said about Dick Tomey when he was hired at AU a long time ago and we all know how that turned out...

And, AU has much better facilities now than they did when Tomey first arrived...:cool:

So, Jedd hit the jackpot after having only one winning season as a college football coach at AU and is now in the truly big time at Washington that is a member of the Big 10...

For me, it will be interesting to see who turns out to be more successful at each school...Fisch at UW or Brennan at AU...

Brennan has been handed a good situation at AU, if he can convince enough talent to stay in Tucson at the school, while Fisch is at a place where the previous coach is now at Alabama and the Huskies roster no longer has QB Michael Penix there along with a whole lot of other talent...

Brennan will be making less than half what Jedd will be making at UW but Brennan may end up helping AU to have the last laugh when it's all said and done...

I sure hope and trust that our next AD will be more like Ced Dempsey who didn't tolerate a lot of nonsense and not like a lot of our recent ADs who seemed clueless, a good portion of the time, about almost anything within their athletic dept...IMHO...

Anyway, the portal is open and gobbling up prospects at an amazing rate and it will be interesting to see what happens with all these new coaches as they deal with it...

It's good to be a Sun Devil these days but we need to count on ourselves to be successful rather than just taking pleasure in watching our enemies suffer, if you ask me...

But it is fun while it lasts...;)

Go Devils!!!

Sunday Walkabout

Mornin Mates...

Today's Topic = Can Sun Devils Kick The Mediocrity Habit in Big 12..??

Greg Hansen, in the Daily Star today, asks if the Cats football program has a brighter future in the Big 12 than what it had in the PAC-12...

Our Sun Devils should be asking the same question, I think, since we haven't done anything big since 1996, for the most part...

Here are the conference records of all of the PAC teams since the Cats and Devils joined the league in 1978...

USC = 259-112-5

Washington = 228-147-3

Oregon = 227-148-2

UCLA = 211-164-5

Stanford = 197-190-3

ASU = 188-180-4

Arizona = 161-201-6

Wazzu = 152-222-4

Cal = 144-233-5

Oregon St = 122-253-5

Utah = 65-48

Colorado = 28-84

So, under Dilly and his staff are our Sun Devils going to do better in the Big 12 than what they did in the PAC over the past 45 years..??

Relatedly, given what is happening in the college football world nowadays with coaching turnover, etc, maybe being mediocre guarantees a certain amount of stability in a program...

What do you all think..??

G'day Mates and Go Devils!!!

Sun Devil Science: Analyzing ASU’s winter transfer portal departures

The attrition in Tempe is at a much lower rate than this time last year, but what effect will it have? In this edition of Sun Devil Science, Joe Healey breaks down how ASU figures to be impacted by the transfer departures that have occurred so far

Five Takeaways from ASU’s grounding loss at Washington

In its first road two road games of conference play, ASU was able to come back from a double-digit deficit in the second half and escape with a win. The third time though, would not be a charm as the Sun Devils dropped their first Pac-12 game in an 82-67 defeat

Scouting Report: ASU at Washington

Sun Devils are seeking their first 5-0 start in conference play since the 1979-80 season, and to match that feat, they will have to overcome a Husky squad that has struggled in the Pac-12 slate of its schedule but is still a formidable foe

Story w/quotes: Oregon DB Cole Martin returns home to Sun Devils

“Being around Coach Dillingham… there’s really something special about him. He’s the type of coach who will do anything to win." Oregon DB Cole Martin had a strong desire to come back home, but that wasn't the only box ASU checked in his pledge decision

STORY: Sun Devils set to encounter a new look Husky squad

“They’re good on defense, great rim protection when meeting around the basket, but they are a potent offensive team.” Despite struggles in conference play, Washington's new identity on both ends of the court has proven to be a challenge for opponents

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Dillingham says transfer additions address Sun Devils' depth and size at all positions

“I would love at the end of the day for it to be like 70/30. 70 recruited, 30 portal. But you have to sign the best players." In a 98.7 FM interview, Dillingham discussed transfer portal recruiting, the significant impact it made on the roster, and more

Scholarship Numbers as of January 8

ASU has 51 returning scholarship players.

Sun Devils added 21 transfers and 17 freshmen (the 18th signee OL Filiva'a Saluni will be on an LDS Church mission and only be part of the roster in 2026)

So, 51+21+17=89 scholarship players as of today.

I don’t anticipate any transfers and/or 2024 class additions from high school/junior college taking place before the spring, and post-spring practice attrition will help the numbers go down to the 85-scholarship limit.

As always, we have to keep in mind whether the NCAA’s sanctions at the conclusion of their investigation will include scholarship reductions that will be applicable for the 2024 or 2025 season (in my opinion, likely 2024), and if so, what does that number look like?

I anticipate that the penalty worst-case scenario won’t be more than a three-scholarship reduction, so the scholarship limit drops to 82.

Yes, that makes the numbers extremely tight in a scenario where you're already seven players over that limit, and you have to get down to that 82-scholarship figure when fall camp begins.

But one way or another, ASU will eventually get down to that number, and maybe just maybe, they will be lucky and not have to deal with that reduced scholarship number limit until 2025 so the can gets kicked down the road (and again, I don’t see that as the likely scenario).

I will make a separate post as to what the numbers look like and should look like at each position.

2024 Football Schedule - ETA?

@Hod Rabino i know the 4 season Matrix was released a few months ago & i’m fairly sure Wilner or someone else may have presumed the actual schedule would be released sometime this month. So far, nothing. Big 10 & SEC have theirs lined up already. Any guesstimations on your end? Any birds inside Carson that may be chirping to their sources?

Or I guess I could ask STH on here if their reps have told them anything about when the schedule is coming? I’m sure fans would like to start planning their road trips.
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