Amid NCAA investigation and sluggish 1-2 start, Herm Edwards out as Arizona State football coach

Herm Edwards’ tenure as Arizona State’s football coach began with bravado, featured dollops of optimism and ultimately ended on Sunday amid a spiral of off-field issues and bad football.

Under the dark cloud of a significant NCAA investigation and in the wake of both a staff and roster exodus, Edwards’ time as coach ended like so many others in college football — with a humiliating loss.

Arizona State announced Sunday the school was making “a change in leadership” by “mutual agreement,” according to athletic director Ray Anderson. In reality, an embarrassing 30-21 home loss to Eastern Michigan on Saturday — at the hands of the Eagles’ backup quarterback — made Edwards’ inevitable departure a reality.

Edwards finishes his tenure at Arizona State (1-2) at 26-20 with one bowl win in five years. His time there will be remembered much more for the antics and issues off the field, as the NCAA investigation led to five full-time coaches leaving the staff, including both coordinators. The roster soon atrophied, as the program’s best quarterback, running back, defensive lineman and linebacker and its top two wide receivers transferred out in the past year.

It took the losing that followed all of that fleeing for Arizona State to push out Edwards, 68, a former client of Anderson, who had worked as an agent earlier in his career. When Anderson hired him in 2017, Edwards hadn’t worked in college football since 1989.

The financial terms for Edwards’ departure were not disclosed; a school spokesman said they are still to be determined. Running backs coach Shaun Aguano be the school’s interim coach.

Edwards’ hiring came with a bold news release that claimed he would bring an NFL model — New Leadership Model — that Anderson said would allow the Sun Devils to “operate more innovatively and efficiently than we have in the past.”

Instead, Edwards finished with a worse winning percentage (.565) than that of Todd Graham (.590), whom Anderson fired to…