Herm Edwards Named Arizona State Football Head Coach After 9 Years with ESPN

Arizona State University officially announced Herm Edwards as the Sun Devils program's 24th head football coach Sunday.

"Passion for my faith, my family and my occupation as a football coach are the things that have driven me back to the grass," Edwards said in a statement. "My personal commitment to build young men to be whole people through the game of football is completely in alignment with the vision President Michael Crow and Vice President for University Athletics Ray Anderson have for this program. I stand ready for the challenge of working with them to elevate Sun Devil Football. I am very excited and humbled to be the Arizona State head football coach."

Edwards is taking over a college team for the first time. His only prior coaching experience at the collegiate level was as a defensive backs coach for San Jose State University in the late 1980s. He was head coach of the New York Jets and Kansas City Chiefs at the NFL level for a combined eight years.

The 63-year-old New Jersey native talked about his decision to pursue the position at ASU during an appearance Wednesday on ESPN's SportsCenter.

"It has to be the right fit. Coaching is about fits," he said. "And this is a place where [athletic director] Ray Anderson is there. I know the man. We have the same kind of philosophy on things we want to do. So I'm going to go down there and have a conversation and see what happens."

While questions have been raised about Edwards' ability to handle a college program given his limited experience, Amy Trask of CBS Sports feels he's a natural fit for the job:

Edwards spent a decade in the NFL as a defensive back, playing nine seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles before short stints with the Atlanta Falcons and Los Angeles Rams.

He compiled a 54-74 record as coach of the Jets and Chiefs, though his teams qualified for the playoffs in four of his eight seasons. Kansas City let him go after the team posted a 2-14 record in 2008.

The San Diego State product, who's well known for his infamous "You play to win the game" rant, has worked as an ESPN football analyst since 2009.

Looking ahead, Edwards is tasked with revitalizing an Arizona State program that went 12-12 over the final two years of Todd Graham's tenure. It was a sharp decline after Graham led the Sun Devils to their first back-to-back double-digit win seasons in 2013-14 since 1972-73.