The last few months have been tough on the Arizona State Sun Devils. They ended the season poorly, fell to their in-state rivals at home, dropped to the Las Vegas Bowl after some had dreams of Roses, and fired their head coach after four years.
With a disastrous coaching search at the forefront of ASU right now, the program suffered yet another blow on Tuesday: Steve Broussard has left the program to coach at UCLA. Doug Haller has the news:
Arizona State receivers coach Steve Broussard has accepted a position to join Jim L. Mora's staff at UCLA, where he will coach running backs.
"It's unfortunate I couldn't stay here, but I'm excited," Broussard said. "I got a lot of family in (Los Angeles), and it's a good situation."
Broussard is the first of Dennis Erickson's assistants to publicly accept a coaching position with another school. Erickson was fired Nov. 28 and the search for his replacement continues.
There's a good chance that all of ASU's assistants will move on, but the big blow here is recruiting. Broussard, in his second season with the Sun Devils, was considered ASU's best recruiter, and he was responsible for many of ASU's 2012 commitments. For that reason, ASU likely would've tried to persuade its next coach to keep him on staff.
Many of the Sun Devils' recruits pledged to stay committed to ASU despite the firing of Erickson, but that may change now with yet another member of the coaching staff leaving. While the athletic department continues to scramble to find their next head coach, other coaches and programs around the country can swoop in and start recruiting the players who figured they would be in Tempe next summer.
This is not a good situation for the football program right now. For more, head on over to House Of Sparky.