Raise your hand if you thought that on Feb. 4th ASU would already be on its third defensive coordinator in a span of only 49 days? That’s what we thought…even in a college football world where the majority of coaches rarely stay put in one school more than a couple of years, what has transpired in Tempe regarding this specific role is certainly the exception, not the rule.
On December 17th, Danny Gonzales who was fully expected to return as the Sun Devils’ defensive coordinator in 2020 resigned to take the head coaching job at New Mexico due to family reasons and his desire to move closer to his father, following the death of his mother a few weeks earlier.
Three days later cornerbacks coach and defensive passing coordinator Tony White was promoted to replace Gonzales as defensive coordinator. It was a tenure that lasted less than two months as today White, ironically due (in part) to his own family reasons, resigned from ASU to assume the same position at Syracuse.
It was a move that prompted ASU head coach Herm Edwards to announce that special advisor Marvin Lewis and linebackers and associate head coach Antonio Pierce will now assume co-defensive coordinator duties this season.
Gonzales’ departure was a move that has been rumored about for weeks before it actually happened, not only because of his family tragedy but also because head coach Bob Davie and Lobos parted ways at the end of the season.
White, on the other hand, was a sudden decision. Truth be told that prior to hiring San Diego State’s defensive coordinator, Zach Arnett, Syracuse head coach Dino Babers contacted White to fill that position and was turned down.
When Arnett decided after just a few weeks on the job to leave and assume the same position at Mississippi State under new head coach Mike Leach, Babers approached White once again naturally sweetening the original financial offer which ultimately proved effective.
According to the now former defensive coordinator up until late last night following a call from Syracuse departing in favor of the Orangemen was never in consideration. The fact that White was now able to be closer to his mother who lives in New York City and is still in good health, someone he said he seldom saw on any given year, ultimately tipped the scales.
“This was the first time I would be able to be closer to family,” White told 98.7 FM on Tuesday evening. “It was a tough decision but at the end it came to that simple decision over there…my mom was ecstatic. I’m thankful for everything ASU provided and this was really a last-minute decision.”
Granted, an anticipated salary bump of a few hundreds of thousands of dollars was naturally a significant factor too here.
While this departure may be sudden, it doesn't necessarily imply also a sudden change in philosophy straying away from the 3-3-5 scheme.
This is because a new approach that started following Gonzales leaving the program was already implemented in ASU’s Sun Bowl appearance.
That was the framework Tony White was going to work under, if he stayed in Tempe, and that now that he has moved on, a continuation of this inevitable system change will gain even more steam. Lewis’ and Pierce’s fingerprints will be all over the new defensive look we’ll witness in 2020.
I’m not saying that the desire of the ASU staff to move away, at least to some extent, from the 3-3-5 greatly nudged Tony White out of the door. Nonetheless, it also hardly acted as an incentive for him to stay when a financially lucrative offer with a family incentive landed on his front door.
There’s little doubt that in the Sun Bowl Arizona State faced perhaps the worst Florida State team we saw this century that featured a turnover-prone offense. Nonetheless, employing a non-classic 3-3-5 look, if you will, the Sun Devils despite giving up 470 yards yielded just 14 points which tied for the second-lowest opponent output ASU recorded in conference play (the other being 14 points versus Arizona).
If this was an indication of what the new ASU defense would look like, this certainly wasn’t one that offered discouragement.
“If you saw the bowl game, we had a lot of different packages where Marv and AP had some say in it,” White said in that same interview. “I don’t anticipate wholesale changes. They will look at their personnel, see what the players can do best and take it from there.”
And now with the last 3-3-5 guru on the ASU staff, so to speak, leaving the program today, it’s beyond a given that ASU at a minimum will run a different base defense.
The Sun Devils’ defense ranked middle of the pack, 6th to be exact, among Pac-12 teams in points yielded in conference play at 28.4 ppg. There was a belief among the staff that perhaps a once novelty of a defense that caught some of its opponents off-guard in 2018, was now a scheme that offensive coordinators were figuring out with a greater rate of success. That 28.4 ppg figure in 2019 was, in fact, a slight decrease from the 28.1 ppg that registered in 2018 in that same category.
One can look at the 26th ranked rushing defense among FBS schools as a sign that ASU’s scheme in 2019 was very successful in that aspect. However, being ranked 115th in passing defense undoubtedly puts the ASU defensive performance in perspective, and acts as another catalyst for the desire to change course.
I would never call the 3-3-5 an abomination. It had its measure of success in Tempe and in the last two years, it was employed it would be harsh, if not incorrect to label the defense as ASU’s Achilles heel. Yet, one can wonder was it truly a matter of when, not if, this scheme to be a truly dominant system that would propel ASU to the standards it was seeking? Some members of the ASU staff would disagree.
Granted, any scheme is only as good as its defensive line and speaking of Achilles heels that position was front and center. Lack of depth made it a challenge in a scheme that already employs one less lineman in its base look.
It’s no coincidence that we often saw a four-linemen look in the Sun Bowl. There’s zero doubt in my mind that this will part of the base look moving forward now under Lewis and Pierce. Quarterback pressure was seemingly a sore subject all season long, and now it’s a factor that under a new scheme stands to yield better returns than last season.
Going back to White’s comment of not anticipating “wholesale changes” would mean that a five-player defensive backfield, for the most part, is here to stay. It would be unrealistic to say the least, to rarely use that approach with the plethora of spread and high-power passing offenses ASU will face in the Pac-12 and at times in non-conference play as well.
Needless to say, that improved quarterback pressure will only increase the rate of success of your secondary. When that facet registers as a deficiency you get an 115th ranked passing defense among FBS schools. It’s as simple as that.
I believe ASU’s new defensive approach and the leaders who will implement that approach could bring a larger measure of success on this side of the ball. For the sake of transparency though, it should be noted that unlike the last two campaigns this will be a defense that relies much less on underclassmen, so the natural maturing process of several key players should materialize quite nicely for the Sun Devils.
In classy fashion on his last day as ASU’s defensive coordinator, White thought that the Sun Devils’ pair of new co-defensive coordinators was an attractive combination that would enhance the program.
“ASU is on fire,” White said in regards to the school’s recruiting and general trajectory. “You just say (to recruits) that your co-defensive coordinators now are Marvin Lewis and Antonio Pierce…are you kidding me? They better find more scholarships (to fill).”
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