Hall of Famer Mike Haynes wanted Herm Edwards as Arizona State football coach in 2011

When Arizona State was looking for a football coach after the 2011 season, Mike Haynes had a candidate in mind.

Haynes, a College and Pro Football Hall of Famer, called then Arizona Vice President for Athletics Lisa Love and suggested she consider Herm Edwards to replace outgoing Dennis Erickson.

“I knew he would be great at coaching college athletes,” Haynes said.

Love was receptive to the idea and asked Haynes to judge if Edwards had any interested.

“He told me he was really happy doing what he was doing,” as an NFL studio analyst for ESPN, Haynes said. “The difference was the timing.”

Former Arizona State and Raiders CB Mike Haynes in 2015. (Photo: Mark J. Rebilas, Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports)

Six years later, Edwards was willing to jump back into coaching in partnership with Ray Anderson, his former agent and Ariozna State athletic director since 2014. Now in his second season, Edwards has the Sun Devils (4-1, 1-1 Pac-12) at No. 24 in the Amway coaches poll and a contender in the wide-open Pac-12 South.

“I knew he wouldn’t take the job unless he was totally committed to it,” said Haynes, whose NFL career (1976-89) overlapped with Edwards (1977-86). Haynes is 66, Edwards 65. 

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Haynes remembers attending Edwards’ first Arizona State practice, telling him afterward, “This is the quietest practice I’ve ever been to. He said Mike, ‘These guys have so much to learn.’ I came back exactly a week later and it was a completely different team.

“I’m not surprised they’re doing great. Once they get all the pieces together, they’re going to be fantastic. He knows how important defensive backs are. Quarterback and cornerback are the two most valuable positions. If those aren’t buttoned down, you can be in for a long season.”

Spoken like a Hall of Fame cornerback although Haynes expected his success at Arizona Sstate to be as a wide receiver. 

“We’re not sure what we’re going to do with him yet, but he’ll play somewhere,” Sun Devils coach Frank Kush said in March 1973. “He’ll win some ball games for us on offense.”

Haynes actually started several games, including the Fiesta Bowl, at free safety late in the 1972 season when he was a freshman. He still preferred offense and had visions of teaming with quarterback Danny White, a senior in 1973. 

“I knew what I was getting if I stayed at ASU, but they outsmarted me,” Haynes said. “Some defensive backs were not reinstated and numbers were down in the secondary so they asked me to help the team,” by playing cornerback.

“It’s not about you, but the team. The coaches saw something I didn’t see. That’s my message to young people.”

Haynes’ oldest son Tate is a defensive back at Boston College. His younger son Rex, a 6-4 wide receiver at Cathedral Catholic High School in San Diego, has an interest in playing for Arizona State. 

“He told me he’s heard the facilities are unbelievable,” Haynes said. “That’s what it takes. With the facilities, Herm, being in the Pac-12, it’s the right environment. It’s one of the places to be.”

Haynes will be back at Arizona State on Saturday, making a pregame appearance as part of the Amway Coaches Poll trophy tour. The national championship trophy will be on display on the north side of Wells Fargo Arena.

The national championship path goes through Phoenix this season with the Playstation Fiesta Bowl hosting a College Football Playoff semifinal on Dec. 28. 

“As athletes you visualize a lot,” said Haynes, who attended the 1977 Super Bowl after his NFL rookie season for that reason. “The thing I like about this trophy (tour) is it works as an incentive.

“I’d want my players and coaches to have a sense of what it’s like to hold up that trophy and see themselves doing that. Maybe that’s what ASU needs to get that extra step.”

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