A lot of Arizona State fans have once again been calling for the dismissal of the school’s Vice President of University Athletics/Athletics Director Ray Anderson.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!This follows Sunday’s self-imposed bowl ban, which in a statement released today by the school was “to help pave the way for program stability and greater clarity going forward” instead of paying a hefty fine and facing recruiting restrictions.
Here’s what fans and media members have said about Anderson the past couple days, which led to #FireRayAnderson trending on X:
Say it with me:
FIRE RAY ANDERSON
— Barstool ASU (@tempebarstool) August 27, 2023
Still going strong. Job not done though.#FireRayAnderson https://t.co/Zq7qJrlb5O pic.twitter.com/VE1V0uLGtV
— #FireRayAnderson (@sirwinsk) August 29, 2023
Ray Anderson should lose his job for this alone. It was very apparent more than a year ago that this was a likely outcome.
ASU’s leadership has simply failed in some of the most important ways. There is no other way to logically view this. https://t.co/oHV9BE0OFJ
— Chris Karpman (@ChrisKarpman) August 27, 2023
It’s surprising to me how much @michaelcrow fails to appreciate the extent to which standing by Ray Anderson will permanently tarnish his legacy.
— ASU_SuperFan (FIRE RAY!) (@ASU_SuperFan) August 27, 2023
This site, put together recently by an ASU football supporter, has a pretty good timeline of all the events that should lead to Ray Anderson losing his job. #FireRayAnderson https://t.co/sqhdCkgTAM
— Chris Jenkins (@SmartSunDevil) August 29, 2023
Ray Anderson and Michael Crow are crooks. They’re sitting there making millions of dollars on an athletic program, only to not care for their students in their current program avoiding a fine and punishing kids that have not been affiliated with the past regime. https://t.co/QwJ7BzPmhs
— Mason (@Tank_Mason) August 27, 2023
If part of the reason ASU self-imposed a ban because they didn’t want to pay a $9 million ban like Tennessee, Ray Anderson made $2 million in 2021.
If money is an issue he could be fired for cause as that’s close to $8 million.
So it ain’t that https://t.co/XGIyIndaek
— Blake Allen Murphy (@blakemurphy7) August 28, 2023
Let's explore the statement that Tennessee's case is "particularly relevant to ASU's case."
In UT's case:
18 Level 1 Violations, 200+ Individual violations.
Athletic Director forced to retire.
Head coach fired for cause and denied buyout.
Main assistants involved fired.
— Ralph Amsden (@ralphamsden) August 29, 2023
Why are we still doing this? 1. Postseason bans are not a deterrent and sanction the blameless. 2. Self-imposed penalties are useless. Unless part of a negotiated plea, they sacrifice players to protect institutions. 3. Funny how this was timed for after the portal closed.…
— Jay Bilas (@JayBilas) August 28, 2023
Jalin Conyers has more class and honor as a 22 year old college student than Ray Anderson has ever had in his entire life. It’s our student athletes like Jalin that should be representing ASU, not a corrupt liar/thief like Ray Anderson.#FireRayAnderson https://t.co/WR2oHBDxKh
— Up The Hill Sports (FIRE RAY ANDERSON) (@UpTheHillSports) August 28, 2023
Yesterday, Arizona State coach Kenny Dillingham defended Anderson.
“You can debate how people handle situations and stuff like that,” Dillingham said. “I think Ray has gotten the short end of the stick here to be honest. I mean I think he is kind of in the middle of all this and Ray has been really good to me since I got here, and I don’t know what happened in the past here but Ray has been really good to me since I have got here.”
"Ray (Anderson) has been really good to me since I've gotten here" – Kenny Dillingham @BurnCitySports
— Brendan Mau (@brendan_mau) August 28, 2023
Sunday’s timeline of events of the bowl ban
Dillingham met with Anderson (who was also at practice but did not speak to the media) and deputy athletics director Jean Boyd early Sunday morning where they broke the news of the self-imposed bowl ban to him.
According to safety Chris Edmonds, he first got a text at 6:15 a.m. about an urgent leadership meeting. The team’s leadership council then met with Dillingham where he told them the unfortunate news.
They next had a full team meeting with Anderson, where he informed all of them of the ban. Dillingham gave his perspective on the ban during the meeting, but the team could not ask Anderson any questions because the investigation is still ongoing, according to junior tight end Jalin Conyers.
Defensive lineman Dashaun Mallory said that Anderson did apologize to the seniors during the meeting.
The news of the bowl ban was first reported by ESPN’s Pete Thamel.
Shortly afterwards, Anderson released a statement in which he said:
Past events
- Nov. 1, 2016: Anderson decides to keep football coach Todd Graham and asks for improvements, but does not offer him an extension after back-to-back losing seasons. Anderson had publicly talked negative about Graham during his tenure.
- Nov. 26, 2017: Anderson fires Graham, despite the coach winning more games and making the improvements he asked him to make.
- Dec. 3, 2017: Anderson hires his friend and former client Herm Edwards to be ASU’s next head coach. Edwards had never coached in college and had been out of coaching for almost a decade.
- May 5, 2019: Anderson rides in a private jet with a booster that was accused by three women of sexually harassing and assaulting multiple women around ASU’s men’s basketball team a month and a half prior.
- June 1, 2019: ASU finally began investigating the allegations against the booster almost three months after they were made.
- Nov. 1, 2019: An outside law firm concluded that “there is sufficient evidence to conclude that [the women were] sexually harassed by Mr. Wear based on the credibility of the witnesses and the weight of the evidence.”
- Dec. 7, 2019: The booster who allegedly committed the assaults sits courtside at an ASU men’s basketball game against Michigan State, leaving victims stunned to be around their alleged attacker.
- Feb. 20, 2020: Bobby Hurley was upset with the slow investigation into the sexual assault claims.
- June 16, 2021: The NCAA began investigating ASU for recruiting violations under Edwards. Thamel reported several level 1 infractions with recruits visiting ASU during dead periods related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
- July 12, 2021: A former athletic official at the school filed a lawsuit against ASU, Anderson and the Arizona Board of Regents for how they handled the response to the assault and sexual harassment allegations made against the booster.
- Jan 13, 2022: Former ASU lacrosse coach, Courtney Conner, files a wrongful termination suit against the school, citing numerous Title IX violations against ASU’s athletic department.
- Feb. 7, 2022: A fan expresses his displeasure with the ongoing NCAA investigation and the state of ASU football to which Anderson responds, “You’ll be wrong! Hey, we don’t need you here. We can do without you.”
- Feb. 23, 2022: It is reported by 247 Sports’ Chris Karpman that Herm Edwards personally participated in the recruiting violations. University President Michael Crow had publicly stated in the past in a radio interview that Edwards was not involved.
- Sept. 18, 2022: Anderson finally fires Edwards in what he called “the worst day of his professional career” after a 30-21 home loss to Eastern Michigan.
- Oct. 14, 2022: Edwards given $4.4 million payout after his dismissal after ASU choose not to fire him for cause.
- July 14, 2023: In the ruling of the violation against Tennessee, chief hearing officer of the NCAA’s committee on infractions, Kay Norton, wrote that bowl bans were a thing of the past: “This case came to the COI at a time of great change for the Association. Changes to the infractions process began roughly two years ago with the adoption of a new NCAA Constitution, which in relevant part states, ‘Divisional and, as appropriate, conference regulations must ensure to the greatest extent possible that penalties imposed for infractions do not punish programs or student-athletes not involved nor implicated in the infractions.’”
- Late July – Early August 2023: ASU makes the jump to the Big 12. Fans wanted the Sun Devils to make the move for about a week before they actually did. A day after the announcement (Aug. 9), university president Michael Crow said: “We were the stalwarts fighting for the Pac-12 till the last ditch.” In this same press conference, Anderson joked that “I promise I’m not going to Morgantown,” which infuriated a lot of Big 12 fans.
- Aug. 27, 2023: On Sunday, Anderson informed the football team that the school would be implementing a self-imposed bowl ban for the 2023 season, a crushing blow to first-year coach Kenny Dillingham, the seniors, the 50+ newcomers and everyone that stuck with the program.
- Today: Arizona State releases statement clarifying the self-imposed bowl ban, in which they said the school did not impose the ban with the intention of keeping players from leaving, as the portal was closed back in April. In comparison to the Tennessee case, Arizona State did not want to pay a hefty fine and endure the recruiting penalties that the Volunteers now face. The bowl ban, in their opinion, was the best way for first-year coach Kenny Dillingham to build the program how he wants. Why the Sun Devils did not impose some of these violations, even a bowl ban, before last season, which ended up being Edwards final year, is unclear.
Again, the case for firing Ray Anderson, a 🧵:
He hired Herm Edwards, his friend and former client, to be ASU's head football coach, despite being out of coaching for 9 yrs, having almost zero relevant college experience, and not being in demand to coach anywhere else.— Chris Jenkins (@SmartSunDevil) August 28, 2023
It feels like, very frankly, anyone other than Michael Crow was President of Arizona State University, Ray Anderson would not be employed by the university. Everyone but the man responsible is calling for his job.
— Johnathon Poppe (@JPopASU) August 28, 2023
Bullshit move, absolutely makes no sense to have the 1 year bowl ban in a upcoming season with a new coaching staff, a lot of transfers and yes the outgoing seniors. Man ray anderson is such a POS and this was a very classless move on his part smh. #FireRayAnderson https://t.co/dllQDuen5C
— Chris O. (⚾️69-63) (@ChrisOgeez0920) August 27, 2023
It seems all bridges have been burned between Anderson and ASU’s fanbase. What do you think the school should do?
ASU coach, players express strong displeasure with team’s self-imposed bowl ban
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Brendan Mau is a college sports insider and general assignment reporter for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on X via @Brendan_Mau
