It is a dismal time for the big three sports — football, men’s basketball and baseball — at ASU. Something went wrong. Several years ago, the future was bright and sports pundits took notice.
Dennis Erickson seemed to breathe new life into the struggling program in 2007. After a stunningly successful first season in which the team cracked the top 10 in rankings, there seemed to be hope.
Several years ago, Sun Devil men’s basketball shared a bright outlook as well. Stars James Harden and Jeff Pendergraph seemed destined to put ASU’s basketball program on the map.
For both sports, the signs of hope were bogged down by a dose of reality — Erickson was not the leader the football program had hoped and the basketball team relied on Harden and Pendergraph more than they would have liked to admit.
Baseball, perhaps the powerhouse sport at ASU, has been beleaguered by NCAA postseason sanctions that arose from minimally overpaying student-athletes and allowing student managers to perform certain tasks, like throwing batting practice. As a result, the team is ineligible for postseason in 2012.
Now football just finished the year 6-6 in a season where an 11-1 record was more than possible. Ironically, most of the teams ASU lost to have fired or will fire their head coach at the end of the season.
Rumors arose Sunday that football coach Dennis Erickson had been fired. As of Sunday evening, The State Press confirmed from Associate Athletic Director Mike Brand that nothing has happened yet.
However, the Erickson era needs to be over, and it most likely will be by the end of Monday. Flubbing a season where a Rose Bowl berth was not out of the question should not pass without ramifications.
Basketball, after having a 22-11 record in the 2009-2010 season, is 2-4 this season, and has chalked up defeats to Fairfield, New Mexico, Pepperdine and DePaul — far from intimidating programs.
While baseball still consistently plays well, the ban on postseason play only contributes to this black cloud that is ASU sports. Even basketball’s highest recruit, Jahii Carson, will possibly be ruled academically ineligible by the NCAA.
There are still excellent teams at ASU, but they are much less publicized. The softball team continues to represent the University well, winning two national titles in the past four years.
Women’s tennis, women’s basketball, wresting and others have also stepped up to fill the void left by ASU’s top three money-making sports. So we are not left without hope.
The University must also take a hard look at whether Athletic Director Lisa Love deserves to stay on board.
The potential within ASU’s three major sports has gone untapped for quite some time. Unfortunately, a change in leadership might be the ticket to a new start.
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