Arizona State doubles down on football success: University president Michael Crow explains his approach in moment of “disequilibrium”
Arizona State, which once cared so little about football that it hired a TV analyst who hadn’t coached in a decade, appears serious about winning.
The latest indication of a paradigm shift in Tempe came in December, with coach Kenny Dillingham’s second contract revision in 13 months and a substantial increase in compensation for the assistant coaches and coordinators.
Dillingham’s average salary has effectively doubled in two years, and his staff will be one of the best-paid in the Big 12 next season.
After doing everything wrong for so long, the Sun Devils seemingly are doing everything right as they work to remain relevant both within the conference and nationally.
The push to improve isn’t relegated to football: ASU is plowing forward on the long-sought renovation of Desert Financial Arena and orchestrated a coaching change in women’s basketball that has generated impressive early returns.
Athletic director Graham Rossini is leading the changes, but the series of shrewd moves would not have been possible without the support of longtime president Michael Crow.
While Crow has transformed the university academically, his stewardship of athletics has encountered mixed success and significant criticism (in this space and elsewhere) over the years.
Given what appears to be ASU’s elevated commitment to success, especially in the sports that matter most, the Hotline reached out to Crow (via email) for comment.
Specifically, we asked: Has there been a shift in institutional thinking about football and basketball? And if so, what prompted the change?
Crow responded — and not just with a one-sentence cliche.
“I am very strongly of the view that the system is in a moment of significant disequilibrium (unsteady and unpredictable),” he wrote of college sports writ large.
“Given that, we are taking the path of best of class in all that we have for facilities and programs … and compete at the highest possible level while staying true to this being a university and not a professional sports team.”
The line between collegiate and professional sports has, of course, become increasingly blurred as the former lurches into a new era with revenue sharing, legalized NIL and the transfer portal.
The lack of process with federal legislation — college executives have been unsuccessful in securing antitrust protection and codified standards for NIL — has prompted some industry leaders to acknowledge the only reasonable, lasting solution is a collective bargaining agreement with athletes.
Crow didn’t delve into the politics behind the “significant disequilibrium” but instead focused his comments on ASU’s steps to evolve and compete.
“We have done the following things to enhance two dimensions of Sun Devil Athletics, competitiveness and staying student-athlete centric,” he wrote. “These things include:
“1) Support all of our varsity athletes with scholarships. For instance, more than 30 now in Baseball versus the 13 we were allowed in the past.
“2) Sun Devil Athletics is now no longer an auxiliary enterprise; it is an integral part of the university in every way: funding, debt etc., support for student athletes etc.
“3) First rate facilities for all sports are in place or in the works, all financed internally from new revenue sources we have built through an Athletic Facilities District.
“4) Maximum support for Student Athletes to graduate nearly all of them and prepare them for the future.
“5) Coaching compensation models built on competitive, solid base salaries with very high performance contracts.
“7) Focus on stability and deep connections to ASU and our communities.
“8) Maintain an academic intensive Student Athlete culture.
“9) In football, strive for competitiveness and build unique contracts and structures that are not untenable and unmanageable like ultra-long contracts.
“10) In basketball, women’s: to get in the hunt and have fun as the sport continues to take off; men’s: compete, compete.
“11) Mostly, we are focused on competing for conference championships in all sports. We won four last year.”
In 2024-25, their first year in the Big 12, the Sun Devils won conference titles in football, volleyball and men’s and women’s swimming.
Crow continued:
“I know you have always been somewhere between skeptical and critical about some of my views, particularly as they related to the Pac-12. Which is fine. You are welcome to your own views, as am I.
“But, when you look at us, just remember that through thick and thin, through success and failure, we have built a new kind of research university here which is great and impactful for as many students and learners as possible.
“And to match that, we are building athletic programs that connect with our larger Sun Devil nation.”
It took far longer than many fans would have liked. But that finally seems to be the case.
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