Arizona State football OC Marcus Arroyo, facing former team: Sun Devils must ‘feed Skatt’

STILLWATER, Okla. — Oklahoma State is celebrating what looks to be a damp homecoming here this weekend when Arizona State (5-2, 2-2) pays a visit to Boone Pickens Stadium for a Big 12 showdown against the Cowboys (3-5, 0-5).

The game time was moved from 4 p.m. up to 12:30 p.m. MST because of heavy rain, with more than 6 inches expected later in the afternoon.

Weather aside, this matchup is also a homecoming of sorts for first-year Sun Devils offensive coordinator Marcus Arroyo.

Like most college football coaches Arroyo, 44, has had many stops in his career. One of those was in Stillwater where he was running backs coach in 2015 and 2016, in both seasons the team went 10-3 and finished second in the Big 12 to Oklahoma.

Mike Gundy was the head coach at Oklahoma State back then and he still is. Now in his 20th year, he’s the second-longest tenured coach at the FBS level.

“He’s a pretty special guy,” Arroyo said, talking with media after Wednesday’s practice. “The thing you take from guys able to have success for two decades is consistency. The ability for them to recruit, evaluate, and make the changes necessary over the course of time with the game changing is unreal.

“There’s a lot to be said about someone in this industry who can stay the course for that long. It reflects on him as a person and as a communicator. He’s a tough, old-school guy. He’s very authentic. That’s the way that program is.”

ASU head coach Kenny Dillingham has always had the utmost respect for long-tenured coaches such as Gundy and Utah’s Kyle Whittingham. Dillingham doesn’t put much stock into Oklahoma State’s recent struggles just because of Gundy’s track record.

ASU football offensive coordinator Marcus Arroyo during practice on March 26, 2024, at ASU’s Kajikawa Practice fields in Tempe.

“He’s gone roughly 20 years without winning…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/arizona-state-football-oc-marcus-235052748.html

Author : AZCentral | The Arizona Republic

Publish date : 2024-11-01 23:50:52

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