Arkansas State held a press conference yesterday to announce their new head football coach, Gus Malzahn. Two packed out rooms in the Convocation Center were filled with excited fans. There was a definite buzz in the air as ASU employees scrambled to find enough chairs for everyone who attended. When the press conference started at 3:30pm, there still weren’t enough chairs available and the remaining fans stood to the side or in the back of the room. It was quite the scene.
What was even more amazing were the events that led up to the press conference. A press conference that came about because of a lot of hard work and tireless nights from the ASU administration. But also a press conference that somewhat happened by chance.
Last Thursday, Dec 8th, Dean Lee’s phone rang with Gus Malzahn on the other end looking to give Dean Lee some feedback on ASU’s coaching search. Then during their conversation Dean Lee asked Coach Malzahn, almost jokingly, if he was “ready to return home“. Dean Lee hadn’t even considered Gus Malzahn as a candidate at that point. Thinking he had no chance to lure away Auburn’s offensive coordinator who was making $1.3mil at the time. Then the conversation took an unexpected turn. Malzahn showed interest and instantly became Dean Lee’s top candidate. During his press conference, Dean Lee stated that on Friday, Dec 9th “only four people knew about the talks“.
The weekend came and Dean Lee ramped up the talks with Malzahn. Even driving the 850 miles it took to get to Auburn, AL and back. On Sunday Dean Lee really started believing that this deal was going to happen. “This is gonna work out“, said Lee to ASU Systems President, Dr. Chuck Welch.
By Sunday night and early Monday morning the word had began to spread. ASU was after Malzahn and there was a mutual interest from both sides. A report from “I Bleed Crimson Red“ surfaced and was met with immediate disbelief from nearly everyone.
Monday was pretty much an entire day of everyone on Earth giving reasons as to why Gus Malzahn would never leave Auburn and take the Arkansas State job. The general feeling among ASU fans was disbelief. Many were still debating on whether Eddie Gran, Mike Canales or Neal Brown would be the next head coach.
Then on Tuesday the story really caught fire. Rumors of Malzahn being in Little Rock and later allegedly spotted on ASU campus. As the day went on there was more speculation and rumor that Arkansas State had put an offer on the table. By 8:30pm Astate Nation had confirmed the contract was signed. At 9:37pm on Tuesday night, the ASU athletic department sent out a press release, stating they would be holding a press conference on Wednesday to announce their next head coach.
Wednesday morning the athletic department sent out another press release saying that Gus Malzahn would be announced as the next head football coach at Arkansas State. By mid-morning on Wednesday Arkansas State was on the front page of ESPN, SI & CBSSports. Before noon Malzahn was stepping off the plane in Jonesboro and headed to the Arkansas State campus. That afternoon at 3:30pm Dean Lee welcomed Malzahn to Arkansas State in front of a packed room, with another packed room watching next door and plenty more watching online. When Malzahn took the podium his message was clear – “Buckle up, we’re taking this thing to the next level“.
