Graham new ASU coach
ARIZONA STATE has hired Todd Graham as its next football coach. Arizona State athletic director Lisa Love announced yesterday that Graham will replace Dennis Erickson, who was dismissed following a 6-6 season in which the Sun Devils dropped their final four games.
ARIZONA STATE has hired Todd Graham as its next football coach.
Arizona State athletic director Lisa Love announced yesterday that Graham will replace Dennis Erickson, who was dismissed following a 6-6 season in which the Sun Devils dropped their final four games.
Graham spent just one season in Pittsburgh, where he led the Panthers to a 6-6 mark and a tie for second place in the Big East.
The move caps a tumultuous season for the Panthers, who announced in September that they're leaving the Big East for the ACC by 2014 and will now be looking for their fourth head coach in the last 13 months.
Graham is 49-29 in a 6-year head coaching career that includes stops at Tulsa and Rice.
There was no immediate word on who would coach the Panthers in the BBVA Compass Bowl against SMU.
Noteworthy *
South Carolina will eliminate six football scholarships in the next 3 years as punishment for committing major NCAA violations, the school announced. The NCAA said 10 football players and two members of the women's track team received $47,000 in improper benefits for staying at a hotel for a reduced rate.
* Oregon junior running back LaMichael James will declare for the NFL draft, a school source told the Oregonian.
* LSU's Tyrann Mathieu and Morris Claiborne became the first cornerback teammates to lock down spots on the Associated Press All-America team.
Mathieu, a Heisman Trophy finalist, and Claiborne were joined by Heisman Trophy winner Robert Griffin III of Baylor and finalists Montee Ball of Wisconsin and Trent Richardson of Alabama. Heisman runner-up Andrew Luck from Stanford was the second-team quarterback.