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Pete Thamel, ESPN
Arizona State has signed offensive coordinator Marcus Arroyo and defensive coordinator Brian Ward to new three-year contracts, sources told ESPN.
The deals, which were finalized this week, will pay both coordinators an average of over $1 million over the length of their deals. That salary makes them competitive for the high-end of Big 12 coordinator pay.
For Arizona State, which is 8-2 under second-year coach Kenny Dillingham after being picked last in the Big 12, the proactive decision to retain both coordinators marks a significant financial commitment from the university. ASU went 3-9 last season.
But there has been a distinct turnaround for the Sun Devils in Year 2, as No. 21 ASU has a marquee home game against No. 14 BYU on Saturday that gives it a chance to triple its win total from last year.
ASU projects to return 35 of the 44 players on the current two-deep roster for 2025, which means there’s expected to be continuity on both the coaching staff and with the talent as the school enters its second season in the Big 12. There’s also more stability at athletic director, with first-year athletic director Graham Rossini, who entered that chair in May.
In Arroyo’s first season at ASU, the offense jumped to an average of 30.8 points per game from 17.8. That marked a 78-spot jump in the national rankings to No. 43 from No. 121.
Arroyo is the former head coach at UNLV and has played a big role in developing redshirt freshman quarterback Sam Leavitt, who has 17 touchdown passes and four interceptions.
In Ward’s second season at ASU, the Sun Devils are allowing nine fewer points per game on defense, as they have yielded 22.8 points per game, down from 31.8 last year. They’ve gone from the country’s No. 107 scoring defense to No. 53.
Arizona State has won five-of-six games heading into the matchup with BYU. The loss in that stretch came to Cincinnati when ASU didn’t have Leavitt available.