ASU football coach Herm Edwards will impart his deep experience within communications and leadership upon the next generation of aspiring journalists and communications professionals as a Cronkite School faculty member.
Arizona State University head football coach Herm Edwards, who spent nearly a decade at ESPN, is joining the faculty of the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.
Edwards, entering his second year at the helm of Sun Devil football, will become a professor of practice at the school in addition to serving as football head coach. He will serve as a guest lecturer in classes and conduct regular discussions on sports and the media at Cronkite.
“Coach Edwards has deep professional experiences in sports media, serving as an on-air analyst and commentator for ESPN,” said Cronkite Dean Christopher Callahan. “Our students, particularly our growing cadre of sports journalism students, will benefit greatly from his expertise in both worlds.”
Before joining ASU in December 2017, Edwards worked at ESPN from 2009 to 2017, appearing regularly on SportsCenter, NFL Live, ESPN Radio and coverage of Super Bowl Week.
“I am humbled and honored by this incredible opportunity,” Edwards said. “As coaches, we are teachers first and foremost. I am looking forward to sharing the knowledge I have accumulated as a player, coach and member of the working media with the students at the Cronkite School.”
Prior to ESPN, Edwards served as an NFL head coach for eight years with the New York Jets and later the Kansas City Chiefs. He played 10 seasons at cornerback in the NFL. Following two years as an assistant coach at San Jose State University, he served as an NFL scout and assistant coach before becoming a head coach.
In his first year at ASU, he led the Sun Devils to the Las Vegas Bowl and defeated USC, UCLA and Arizona during the season. He is the only first-year coach in program history to beat all three schools and lead the team to a bowl game.
The Football Writers Association of America recently named Edwards its Super 11 Coach of the Year, honoring the coach’s efforts to help journalists cover his team.
“Coach Edwards went above and beyond the norm in his first season at Arizona State, a refreshing approach that we feel deserves special recognition,” association president Matt Fortuna said in a release.
The Cronkite School has sports journalism degrees on the bachelor’s and master’s levels and has immersive capstone experiences in sports media in Phoenix and Los Angeles.
Cronkite students regularly produce sports content for Cronkite News, the news division of Arizona PBS, and partners such as Fox Sports Arizona, Pac-12 Networks, Univision, the Arizona Republic, MLB.com and Sports Illustrated. In recent years Cronkite students have covered the Super Bowl, NCAA men’s basketball Final Four, the College Football National Championship game, Major League Baseball spring training, the British Open and the Summer Olympics in London and Rio de Janeiro.
Edwards and Vice President for University Athletics Ray Anderson, who is a professor of practice at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, make up the only football coach-athletic director duo among the Power Five conferences who also serve their university as faculty members.