Arizona State Sun Devils Are Mired in Mediocrity, Terrell Suggs Agrees

The Arizona State Sun Devils went into the 2011 football season with high expectations and an even higher level of talent. There were talks of an undefeated season—or at the very least a Rose Bowl appearance.

Through the first eight weeks of the season, things were looking very good. At 6-2, with their two loses coming to ranked teams, spirits were high in the desert.  Students and fans alike clamored for what could have been a very special season. 

However, things changed quickly. The team lost by one to a below average UCLA team and spiraled downhill. They lost their final four games to finish 6-6.

They were, in a word, average.

That's the word that has always been associated with Arizona State. They've never had a great football team and never had a great basketball team. Arizona is not even known as a particularly difficult school to get into. Mediocrity is what Arizona State is known for.

This was supposed to be the year that everything changed. The football team was loaded with talent at every position. There were 20 returning starters and new quarterback Brock Osweiler had shown flashes of brilliance last season. 

But it never worked out. That's something the team and students at ASU have grown accustomed to—never taking the next step. Just take Vontaze Burfict, a player who was sure-fire top 15 pick in the upcoming draft in April. He never played to his monumental amount of potential, though. He often missed tackles, incorrectly read plays, and didn't give 100 percent effort on every play. 

I want to tell you that everything is going to change and that this team will come out and put the whooping on Boise State—but it's not going to happen. The players have lost the drive and enjoyment it takes to be successful. They've let an extreme level of talent go to waste.

Some say the football team mirrors the school. Mediocre. Average. Full of talent that no one has used to full advantage. And while, yes, this has been true, that image is going to change.

Recently, Arizona State has grown into one of the most highly respected schools for producing students ready to enter the work force right after graduation. The W.P. Carey School of Business, which I am enrolled in, is one of the top business schools in the country.

Arizona State has become a hub for companies looking for students ready to work. It is also one of the most well-attended schools by students from around the world. 

It was my belief that maybe the football team will follow the trend and change their image as an average team. 

However, with the firing of Dennis Erickson—and the subsequent hiring of Todd Graham—the athletic department has gotten a coach who can recruit. He's another Dennis Erickson. Rather than spending the money to get a winner (Jim Tressel), they again settled for mediocrity. They got a coach with a track record of not staying for long. Graham wasn't very successful at the first big program where he coached—Pittsburgh. Unlike the university's strive to go from average to excellent, the football team choose to stay the same.

And it's not just students and fans who are upset with how the football program has been handled, it's former players too. All-World linebacker Terrell Suggs took to Twitter to express his feelings. 

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He wrote: "I see ASU dropped the ball again. Former players like myself will never get involved with the program if they never hire a winner! Period!"

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Yes, these are harsh words. But they're are words that need to be said more often. Obviously the fans' pleas are falling on deaf ears. It may be up to people with a bigger voice, like former players, to get the message across.

Arizona State, I know you are striving to turn around the image of the former No. 1 party school in the country. And the steps that have been taken have got the school on the right path, a path that goes from mediocrity to excellence.

But now it's up to the football team, which has always been about untapped potential, to take the next step. Todd Graham is not the answer. If ASU is ever going to be great at football, take Terrell Suggs advice—hire a winner.