Baseball America | Blog | Baseball America College Blog | Esmay Named Interim Head Coach At ASU

Former Arizona State assistant Tim Esmay has been named interim head coach, according to ASU sports information director Randy Policar. Esmay spent the last five seasons as an assistant under Sun Devils head coach Pat Murphy, and the last three as assistant head coach, before Murphy fired him this summer. First-year assistant Travis Jewett will remain on the coaching staff, but the rest of the staff has yet to be determined.

Murphy himself resigned abruptly on Nov. 20, and some media outlets reported that volunteer assistant Ken Knutson would take over as interim head coach. In fact, according to one source, Knutson was offered the job but never accepted it because of financial considerations.

Esmay, a native of Scottsdale, Ariz., was an infielder for the Sun Devils from 1986-87 and an assistant coach under ASU icon Jim Brock from 1988-90 and in 1994. Prior to his return to Tempe in 2005, Esmay served as the head coach at Utah for eight seasons. He posted a 213-235-1 record there, a .476 winning percentage, with no NCAA regional trips.

"We are pleased to announce that Tim Esmay will lead our baseball program for the 2010 season," Arizona State athletics director Lisa Love said in a statement. "As a graduate of ASU, he offers perspective as both a Sun Devil student-athlete and as a coach. He brings a wealth of ASU familiarity to our current team as well as significant head coaching experience."

Esmay was a logical choice to stabilize a program in disarray. Now the Sun Devils can finalize their 2010 schedule and quash the uncertainty that has surrounded the program for the last two weeks.

The circumstances surrounding Murphy’s resignation remain unclear, as the outspoken coach has maintained his public silence. Murphy’s only response to repeated phone calls and text messages seeking comment was a text four days after his resignation that read, "In due time."

Arizona State’s players were taken aback by Murphy’s departure. ASU officials have only told players that the school wanted a change of direction in its leadership.

"That was a big part of the reason I came back (for my senior year) was to play for coach Murphy," All-America lefthander Josh Spence told Baseball America this morning. "At the same time, I’m very happy with the team we have coming back. Immediately, it was tough. At the same time now, when you face adversity, you really see people’s true colors, and it’s been positive. When you’ve got guys like Kole (Calhoun), Raoul (Torrez) and Matt Newman, you’ve got great leaders. If anything we’re more accountable for our actions now than we were before. I feel that the leadership’s really stepping up, so it’s good to see."

So will Knutson stay on as a volunteer assistant or has he left the program entirely? I would imagine there were some issues leftover from him leaving UW where he couldn’t take over another paid job for awhile, certainly not in conference.

I think most ASU fans are satisfied with Esmay as the interim coach, but it’ll be interesting to see who gets the head job and when more information comes out about the circumstances surrounding Murphy’s departure. Do you have a gut feeling about whether there is something to the NCAA investigation, or was it simply the long simmering personality conflict between Murphy and AD Lisa Love?

Posted by Mark | December 3, 2009 at 10:35 pm | Shortcut

Your speculation is dead-on, Mark. If he took another paid job in 2010, Knutson would have left money on the table at Washington. He could have taken the ASU interim job — his contract at Washington did not preclude him from doing so — but he probably would have taken a loss on the transaction, from what I understand.

Expect the results of the NCAA’s investigation to be released sometime between April and June. I think it would be quite surprising if the investigation turns up nothing, but I don’t expect anything that would result in a postseason ban or any penalties serious enough to prevent a top candidate from taking the job.

Posted by Aaron Fitt | December 4, 2009 at 1:11 am | Shortcut

I said when the original story about Murph’s resignation broke on BA that I thought that Esmay would make a great replacement. He is a phenomenal coach, and really can be a great replacement for 42. A true reflection on his coaching resume shouldn’t be his record at Utah, where the baseball team is a second class citizen in the sports program, but instead the juggernaut that the Devils were the years Murph gave the offensive reigns to Esmay (one year the team ave was around .400).

The Devils will have a solid year with a good group of guys. Esmay can hopefully turn this season-long tryout into a longterm deal. My hope is that Murphy walks away amicably and doesn’t end up hurting the program he lead for so long.

Posted by TheDoggie | December 4, 2009 at 12:08 pm | Shortcut