Comments on: Holliday, Jarrett Head To SEC

By: Mark

Mark — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 07:49:38 +0000

Aaron — thanks for the followup. More info came out on the AZ Central site after your post that made it clear the financials were the primary motivation for the move, so that was a relief to hear that there wasn’t any friction at least with Holiday’s move. (I notice that you didn’t comment on Esmay’s departure, which was arguably more stunning.) Hopefully the new guy from Washington State and whoever else comes in to fill out the staff let the machine keep churning without missing a beat.

By: Aaron Fitt

Aaron Fitt — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 22:27:51 +0000

The fact of the matter, Mark, is that ASU simply cannot match the SEC when it comes to assistant coach compensation. Holliday is getting an enormous pay increase — nearly double his salary — and he just couldn’t say no to that. I assure you, however, that there is no bad blood between Holliday and Pat Murphy or anyone else at ASU; quite the contrary. It’s pretty amazing what the Sun Devils have been able to do year after year given their resources. Their facilities and budget lag way behind most of the other top-notch programs in the country.

By: Mark

Mark — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 23:11:32 +0000

Ugh — as an ASU fan, that’s a drag. Recruiting has gone to another level while Holliday has been here. I’d be curious to see a piece on the changes at ASU, with both ASU-lifer Tim Esmay being shown the door and now Holliday leaving in at best a lateral move — and that’s only if you believe that Vandy is equal to ASU as a program, which most neutral observers would probably not agree with. Clearly something is going on behind the scenes in Tempe.