I did confirm that ASU's Deputy Athletic Director and former ASU football player Jean Boyd will retire in the spring. This is due to family reasons, and in a nutshell, since his marriage a few years ago, he wasn't able to have his wife leave her children from a previous marriage and live with him here in the valley, nor could she take her kids out of the state to live here. So this is a pure family decision by Boyd.



I realize that the optics of this can look as if Boyd is leaving ASU either because the sanctions of the NCAA investigation that may implicate him in some of the recruiting allegations, as well as the fact that he was not going to be in the running to be the next ASU athletic director. I honestly heard a long while ago (especially when it comes to the investigation) that Boyd was not expected to be implicated once the investigation was to be concluded, nor was he a viable candidate to be the next athletic director.

Boyd obviously did an incredible job with the school's academic support system, which has over a decade now, a track record of excellence in terms of the percentage of student-athletes graduating as well as overall GPA.

He is a true Sun Devil who will be missed in the athletic department for sure.

Login to view embedded media
It was a week of mixed results for the Devils. On one hand, the wrestling and men’s swim and dive teams repeated as Pac-12 champions. On the other, baseball and men’s hoops were left with tough losses and critical questions to answer. We dive into the highs and lows and break down baseball’s early performance with DevilsDigest.com’s @Scott Sandulli (43:46).

LISTEN & SUBSCRIBE​

Stream | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube | Amazon Music | iHeart Radio | Pocket Casts


Login to view embedded media

Everybody knew this was coming. The question now is how long until it all implodes? NIL Donor Fatigue

Mourning Mates...

Today's Topic = Big Three on life support in Sun Devil ICU...

That's why I greeted all of you this fine morning with "mourning mates" as it sure looks like we could be going to a Sun Devil athletic dept funeral soon...

I'm not yet dressed in black to honor the passing of our Big 3 Sun Devil sports but it may be just around the corner, it might appear, given recent trends in those sports...

The men's BB team, led by Bobby Hurley, has now tied our women with an 11th seed in the PAC tournament, just like what our women "accomplished" this season...

Ironically, our women, led by coach Natasha Adair, had to play Utah in their tournament which they promptly lost to this past week...

Now, it will be Bobby's turn to do the same thing in Las Vegas on Wednesday, if I don't miss my guess...

Things have gotten so bad that Jose Perez decided to pack his bags and go elsewhere before the end of the season...

And, who can blame him given the woeful direction that our BB program is headed these days...

Nick Saban also packed his bags and left his job at Alabama for some of the same reasons that are associated with the transfer portal and NIL "buy a player" routine that is a key part of college athletics these days...

He got tired of having to meet with his players to discuss how much playing time he would guarantee them (or they would transfer if it wasn't enough) or how much money they would make at Alabama as compared to other SEC schools (and if it wasn't enough, it was adios time for them)...

Chip Kelly traded his head coaching job at UCLA for an OC position at Ohio St for similar reasons and we know Bobby hates the idea of groveling for NIL dollars in addition to coaching basketball at ASU...

Especially when most players are not worth the NIL money they are being paid in the first place, if you ask many coaches, fans and boosters at various schools...

However, one player that is worth their weight in NIL gold is Caitlin Clark at Iowa, who will be looking to make Iowa the Big 10 champ in ladies BB today, for the third straight year, against Nebraska...

She is the all time college BB scoring leader, whether talking about men or women...Pistol Pete didn't have anything on her...

So, I'll be watching her play on CBS at noon ET later today, as will millions more since she oftentimes outdraws even NBA games on TV given her iconic stature...

Getting back to our Sun Devils, I'm wondering, with 42 baseball games left on our schedule, if we can win enough with our lousy bullpen, etc, to win more than what good old Tracy Smith did in his third season at ASU, when he went 23-32 and then matched that again in his fourth season at ASU...

If we split those remaining games our baseball team would end up at 28-28 and sure as heck would not make the post-season, which has become the norm, it seems, around here, and why we might be talking about "mourning" even more misery related to our Big 3 sports...

On a more positive note, our swim team just won another PAC championship so we can hang our hats on that right now....back to back PAC champs in swimming, I might add...

I'm sure that gives president Crow goosebumps just thinking about it...

Well, the sun came up again this morning and Caitlin Clark will be doing her amazing thing later today, too...

I wonder how many NIL dollars she gets at Iowa for lifting their brand in the cold Midwest..??

She is worth every penny of it if you ask me...

G'day Mates and Go Devils!!!

Login to view embedded media
Patience. There’s not a ton of it in college football these days. But every so often, it pops up in an inspiring way. Bryce Pierre’s entry to football came much later than most, and his path took him from two high schools to junior college before he realized his goal of playing major college football. Since he arrived in Tempe, he’s put in the work and done his job while moving up the depth chart. Heading into 2024, he has a chance to win the starting job and show off why his position coach feels he has Sunday potential.

On this episode, Bryce and I discuss his journey from high school wide receiver to college tight end, the lessons he learned from junior college, the influence of Jason Mohns, and much more.

LISTEN & SUBSCRIBE​

Stream | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Amazon Music | Pocket Casts

Login to view embedded media

"At some point in time, someone’s got to step up. We’re close, but people around here don’t want to hear close.” An ASU team near-whole of newcomers isn’t going to find its identity right away, and Sunday's loss manifested that aspect

Called this one days ago. Zero surprise.

Login to view embedded media

The task to win surely didn't get easier without Perez on the team

Login to view embedded media

You can use this tool to see where ASU would be seeded in various scenarios.

From what I can tell, we can be anywhere from 6th to 11th, depending on how games go. The most likely outcomes are 8th and 9th, which both play in the noon Wednesday game and would play au on Thursday (assuming they don't collapse this week), so there isn't much difference between those two.

Even the surprising departure of Jose Perez prior to the UCLA game cannot solely explain a missed opportunity for the Sun Devils, who could not seize on the offensive struggles UCLA displayed for a large stretch in the second half

“They got us, and it’s a tough one to swallow. Had things lined up the way we wanted it to right there.” Like the trip around the bases, what goes around comes back around. One night after Oregon let go of an eighth-inning lead, ASU faltered in the ninth

ASU could meet Washington in the Pac-12 tournament so this may have some significance. A low buyout number probably helped the decision as well

Login to view embedded media

First, ASU will have its Pro Day on Wed., march 13th. Don't have any more details on this yet, but we'll be there to cover it.

And with the transition to the Big 12, this may be one more of the "last ever" things to happen because the Big 12 as a conference Pro Day so there own' be individual events on campuses. New format that begins this year by the way

Not much of a Beach VB Guy…but they have been impressive. We don’t get many ranked teams. Certainly not Top 10 teams.

Login to view embedded media

“We’re facing good arms and good teams. We’ve got to be ready to have a dogfight for 27 outs.” ASU’s valuable learning experience from losing three games to Top 10 teams helped create a winning recipe in a walk-off victory over Oregon