The Arizona State Sun Devils are getting hammered by the media and fans for their handling of the coaching search. As has been reported, ASU had a deal all but done with SMU's June Jones before yanking the offer at the last minute in response to negative feedback from the fans and boosters. Unfortunately, when you listen to pressure from one side, you often create issues somewhere else.
Here's a sample of what's being said about the Sun Devils coaching search:
ESPN Insider Mark May skewers ASU - ArizonaSports.com
"This is Arizona State," exclaimed May. "You're in the Pac-12, you just got a huge television contract and you have an influx of money and you can't go out and attract a marquee guy because they just botched up this June Jones deal."
ASU is trying to refute this notion that they are botching the job by releasing the following statement on their Facebook page and web site:
A Message from ASU: ASU does not comment on searches for deans, faculty, administrators or coaches. When we hire a new football coach and a contract is signed, we will announce that selection and introduce the coach at a press conference and to groups of ASU alumni, staff and supporters. Rumors of all sorts - the vast majority of them completely unfounded - have been flying about. An extraordinary number of inaccurate news reports, usually attributed to unnamed sources, have been published. In some cases these sources have no knowledge of the situation and are making guesses; in others they may be deliberate misrepresentations by people who have or believe they have a stake in the negotiations. We caution all Sun Devil fans to read and listen to these reports with a healthy amount of skepticism and to rest assured that we are pursuing a broad, thorough and highly professional search for a new football coach.
In the end, all will be forgotten if they can get a coach that wins enough games.