Arizona State: Todd Graham to Baylor?

Will Arizona State football head coach Todd Graham bolt to Baylor following Baylor’s dismissal of Art Briles?

The University of Baylor dismissed head coach Art Briles on Thursday and there has been a lot of speculation that Arizona State head coach Todd Graham may fill Briles shoes at Baylor.

Graham coached at the University of Rice for one season, University of Tulsa for four seasons, University of Pittsburgh for one season, and has been with Arizona State for four seasons so far. He continuously leap-frogs from one program to the next, so the possibility of him using Arizona State as a launching pad to the University of Baylor would not come as too big of a shock.

Graham grew up just over 100 miles north of Waco, Texas in Mesquite, Texas. He then went on to coach high school football in Texas. Graham looks up to Briles as a coach and in a 2011 Sporting News article Graham says Briles is an “inspiration” to him.

Even with the renovations being made at Sun Devil Stadium with the university pouring money into the program, the Baylor head coaching spot is still a better job in the grand scheme of things than the Arizona State head coaching job. Baylor just opened their new stadium, McLane Stadium, two seasons ago.

An interesting point to keep in mind, however, is that Graham has put forward $500,000 of his own money toward the stadium renovations at Sun Devil Stadium.

It is interesting to me that more Arizona State fans and boosters were not breathing down Graham’s back following a disappointing 6-7 season last year, especially since he claimed this was his best team he’s ever coached before the season began.

Next: Coyotes Front Office Moves

All of this is just speculation for now, but it will be interesting to see how it develops over the next couple weeks.