Arizona State athletic director Ray Anderson announced Monday that he’s stepping down, efficient right away. The 69-year-old Anderson, who took over the Sun Devils activity in 2014, will stick with the college as a professor and senior marketing consultant within the legislation college. James Lund, a senior vice chairman for outreach and pupil services and products, will function period in-between athletic director whilst Arizona State searches for an everlasting substitute.
“It has been a privilege to serve as ASU’s athletic director for nearly a decade,” Anderson mentioned in a observation. “We have entered an unprecedented era where the number and magnitude of changes in the college sports landscape are astounding. As I approach my seventh decade of life, these are not matters that my leadership would be able to corral during my tenure. Continuity of leadership will be needed, and I am choosing to step aside to let the university find that leader.”
Arizona State was once Anderson’s first activity in faculty athletics. Previously, he was once an agent for AR Sports who represented gamers and coaches alike on the NFL degree. Herm Edwards, Anderson’s good friend and previous shopper at AR Sports, was once his “splash hire” in 2017.
Anderson’s tenure was once mired in some controversy throughout quite a lot of sports activities. He opted to not retain softball trainer Trisha Ford in 2022 regardless of on-field luck. On Aug. 27, 4 days prior to the beginning of the 2023 soccer season, Arizona State introduced a self-imposed postseason ban because of an NCAA investigation into recruiting violations dedicated by Edwards and his workforce all the way through the 2020 season. First-year trainer Kenny Dillingham mentioned that he was once now not knowledgeable of the potential of a postseason ban till that morning.
“It’s not great, especially on a Tuesday for practice,” Dillingham mentioned all the way through a media availability. “But it is what it is. Like I told the guys, we can’t control it. Like, you can’t control it. Not one person in the country feels bad for us. Matter of fact, more people are happy about it cause like I said, people love to see other people down.”
Dillingham later defended Anderson: “I think he’s kind of in the middle of all this. And Ray’s been really, really good to me since I’ve got here. And I don’t know what happened in the past here but Ray has been really good to me since I’ve got here.”
The Sun Devils are 2-7 via their first 9 video games with Dillingham on the helm.
Arizona State’s soccer program loved some luck underneath Anderson’s — it posted a 10-2 regular-season report and earned a place within the Pac-12 Championship Game in his first yr — however hasn’t reached such heights since. Anderson moved on from trainer Todd Graham in 2017 and taken in Edwards, who received 8 regular-season video games simply as soon as and posted a 1-2 report in bowl video games.
Anderson fired Edwards on Sept. 18, 2022, in the future after a 30-21 loss to Eastern Michigan. The Sun Devils completed the 2022 season with a 3-9 report, their lowest win overall since 1994.