Earlier this year, ASU Vice President for University Athletics Lisa Love told me that athletics at a university have an obligation to act as a “front porch” of sorts to the university as a whole.
Last week, ASU President Michael Crow told me he agreed with that sentiment.
Right now, the ASU football team is front and center on that porch, but with the way things are going, that porch can’t be very welcoming.
The team hasn’t defeated an FBS opponent since Oct. 17, 2009 and has consistently failed to perform on the grandest of stages. Since coach Dennis Erickson’s arrival in 2007, the Sun Devils have just one win over an opponent ranked in the top 25 (then No. 4 ASU beat No. 21 California).
Despite the first consecutive losing seasons in over 60 years and struggles in 2010, Crow remains convinced that the program is on the right track.
“We believe that we are on the path that [Erickson] said that he would have us on, where by this year and next year we would be positioned to be competitive against any team in the country,” Crow said last week in a meeting with the State Press editorial board. “We think we’re close.”
Five years seems like a long time for a head coach to build a program, but to Erickson’s credit, the team has been “competitive” in all of its games this year, but hasn’t been able to close out wins. Additionally, four or five years seems more reasonable in the context of Crow’s expectations when Erickson was hired.
“When we hired coach Erickson, we hired [him] to remake our entire football program,” Crow said. “Our football program had gotten to the point where it was a solid B+. It did not seem like it was able to go above a B+. He is making very steady, very significant progress at the re-shifting of our program.”
Many might disagree about that last point, but as for that re-shifting, Crow has some lofty goals.
“We’re not playing football just to play football,” Crow said. “We’re playing football to have a championship program.”
ASU fans are well aware that their team has never been to a national championship game, but they weren't far away in 1996. The program made one other Rose Bowl appearance, a 1987 win over Michigan. That’s two Rose Bowl appearances in 32 seasons of Pac-10 play and never sole possession of the conference championship.
“Basically, that’s not good enough,” Crow said. “It’s hard to go through this transition. B+ means you go to the bowl games, but you don’t go to the Rose Bowl.”
Crow is dead set on ASU having an “A” level program that can play with any team in the nation. But having an “A” level program means more than bowl games, big-time recruits and conference titles.
“Football tradition goes beyond winning,” Crow said.
Part of achieving the desired program includes building a culture around the sport and growing fan support and participation.
“There are plenty of schools that have fantastic student participation and fan participation that don’t win all the time,” Crow said, citing Notre Dame as an example. “Notre Dame still has the glow of being an ‘A’ level program.”
The University has implemented its Game Day Initiative this year in efforts to increase attendance and buzz around athletics. The program has a first-year price tag of $200,000.
Thus far, the results are mixed. Student attendance appeared to be up early in the season, and overall attendance is up about 16 percent compared to the first three games of last season. The goal of the Initiative is 25 percent.
The factor that attendance numbers don’t show: how many students are leaving home games at halftime, even when games are close.
“I’ve heard our players talk about it,” Crow said. “It affects them. At Texas A&M, which is not an ‘A’ level football program, students stand for the entire game.”
TAMU football may not be a totally fair comparison, as the Aggie fans have a long-standing tradition (no pun intended) of standing the whole game.
However, Crow is right. The fans, particularly students, should be the 12th man, and in recent history, the entirety of ASU fans hasn’t played that part. A team needs a roaring crowd to boost its confidence and urgency to deliver.
“But who wants to support a team that never wins?” fans might ask. Well, Chicago Cubs fans have been doing it for over a century. Why can’t we?
If waiting five years means an “A” level program with consistent Rose Bowl appearances, or at least contention, this wait just might be worth it.
Reach the columnist at tyler.lockman@asu.edu
