By Craig Morgan, thesundevils.com Writer
Rob Likens has been on the same merry-go-round of emotions as the rest of the Sun Devil football program the past three weeks. On a Friday morning, he awoke on an all-time high.
One season after he left an offensive coordinator position behind at Kansas, Likens is back in that seat.
Sun Devils Coach Herm Edwards named Likens his offensive coordinator on Friday, after Billy Napier accepted the head coaching job at Louisiana-Lafayette.
Likens spent this past season as ASU's Co-Offensive Coordinator and Wide Receivers coach. He addressed local media on Saturday morning at the new Student-Athlete facility. Here is a Q&A from that session.
What have the last three weeks been like for you with all the upheaval in the coaching staff and the program?
Likens: "It's been crazy. I had opportunities to take offensive coordinator positions at a couple places. I was looking very hard into that until I got that phone call from Herm Edwards the night before Billy took the job. There wasn't much sleep for that night. I woke up that morning and I sent a text to coach Napier. I said 'did you get any sleep last night?' It was a grueling decision for him, too. He did not want to leave here. It was very tough but it was an opportunity he could not pass up and I saw this the same way. It was an opportunity I couldn't pass up."
How did the players respond to the news?
Likens: "They were excited. I got a ton of hugs and handshakes and text messages last night."
How much does it mean to maintain continuity for the returning players in the program?
Likens: "A lot, there's no question. That's one of the reasons I'm talking to you is to try to be an agent of stability, keep these kids from kind of just going awry. It was a tough morning for them yesterday. I think it was great news. I hope it was to them that I was staying because it's been tough for them. There's a lot of change that's been going on.
"I got in this business because my high school football coach changed my life and I would not be standing here talking to you if it wasn't for him. I got in this business for kids, to love them, to be an agent of change. That was one of the biggest things that factored in is all those kids were coming back and I just can't even imagine them having a whole other offensive staff coming in, changing everything. I couldn't imagine that."
Will the offense look different under you?
Likens: "You'll see a stamp of what I want to do on it, but that wouldn't be what we're trying to do here. If I came in and changed the offense and started doing something different they might as well have gone out and got another guy. We're going to try to keep as much together as we possibly can, but obviously I have a few thoughts.
"[Herm] just expressed to me that he wants to be able to run the football and I think all good defensive coaches will all say the same thing: the ability to run the football and play-action pass -- very similar to what we've been doing."
How quickly do you expect to put the rest of the offensive staff together?
Likens: "One of the things I've learned in my 27 years is you don't just start hiring new ones, pop, pop, pop. That's how you make mistakes. It's got to be a great fit.
"I'm a big baseball fan so I like to use baseball references a lot. You could put all these All-Star guys together and a lot of times it doesn't work. It's got to be a team a team effort, no egos. You've got to be able to work together. It takes time to go through that process with people and their wives and their kids.
"It's going to take a little while but obviously with recruiting, you've got to get them in quick, too. It's tough but we're working on it."
Likens told the story of 7-year-old University of Kansas football fan Cole Hayden, who died of cancer a year ago. Cole's mother, Shanda Hayden, was an academic and career counselor in the athletic department. Likens still wears a wristband that reads Team Cole. He said the ordeal changed how he lives his life and how he coaches.
Likens: "I would go after practice and games and sit with him and the family. You don't ever want to see that and I'll never ever take another day for granted when you see that. He was 7 years old. It changed the way that I look at things.
"What I consider hard is a joke. It's not hard compared to something like that and so it kind of puts things into perspective. You wake up every day and you only have so many of them. You get on the other side of that day and you're not getting that thing back. I look at my days as boxes in a calendar. There I am, I'm in that box. I wake up in the morning, my head comes off that pillow and I've got until my head gets down on that pillow again and that's it. All I think about is inside that box that day and let's get after it. Let's squeeze as much life out of that day as you possibly can."
Rob Likens has been on the same merry-go-round of emotions as the rest of the Sun Devil football program the past three weeks. On a Friday morning, he awoke on an all-time high.
One season after he left an offensive coordinator position behind at Kansas, Likens is back in that seat.
Sun Devils Coach Herm Edwards named Likens his offensive coordinator on Friday, after Billy Napier accepted the head coaching job at Louisiana-Lafayette.
Likens spent this past season as ASU's Co-Offensive Coordinator and Wide Receivers coach. He addressed local media on Saturday morning at the new Student-Athlete facility. Here is a Q&A from that session.
What have the last three weeks been like for you with all the upheaval in the coaching staff and the program?
Likens: "It's been crazy. I had opportunities to take offensive coordinator positions at a couple places. I was looking very hard into that until I got that phone call from Herm Edwards the night before Billy took the job. There wasn't much sleep for that night. I woke up that morning and I sent a text to coach Napier. I said 'did you get any sleep last night?' It was a grueling decision for him, too. He did not want to leave here. It was very tough but it was an opportunity he could not pass up and I saw this the same way. It was an opportunity I couldn't pass up."
How did the players respond to the news?
Likens: "They were excited. I got a ton of hugs and handshakes and text messages last night."
How much does it mean to maintain continuity for the returning players in the program?
Likens: "A lot, there's no question. That's one of the reasons I'm talking to you is to try to be an agent of stability, keep these kids from kind of just going awry. It was a tough morning for them yesterday. I think it was great news. I hope it was to them that I was staying because it's been tough for them. There's a lot of change that's been going on.
"I got in this business because my high school football coach changed my life and I would not be standing here talking to you if it wasn't for him. I got in this business for kids, to love them, to be an agent of change. That was one of the biggest things that factored in is all those kids were coming back and I just can't even imagine them having a whole other offensive staff coming in, changing everything. I couldn't imagine that."
Will the offense look different under you?
Likens: "You'll see a stamp of what I want to do on it, but that wouldn't be what we're trying to do here. If I came in and changed the offense and started doing something different they might as well have gone out and got another guy. We're going to try to keep as much together as we possibly can, but obviously I have a few thoughts.
"[Herm] just expressed to me that he wants to be able to run the football and I think all good defensive coaches will all say the same thing: the ability to run the football and play-action pass -- very similar to what we've been doing."
How quickly do you expect to put the rest of the offensive staff together?
Likens: "One of the things I've learned in my 27 years is you don't just start hiring new ones, pop, pop, pop. That's how you make mistakes. It's got to be a great fit.
"I'm a big baseball fan so I like to use baseball references a lot. You could put all these All-Star guys together and a lot of times it doesn't work. It's got to be a team a team effort, no egos. You've got to be able to work together. It takes time to go through that process with people and their wives and their kids.
"It's going to take a little while but obviously with recruiting, you've got to get them in quick, too. It's tough but we're working on it."
Likens told the story of 7-year-old University of Kansas football fan Cole Hayden, who died of cancer a year ago. Cole's mother, Shanda Hayden, was an academic and career counselor in the athletic department. Likens still wears a wristband that reads Team Cole. He said the ordeal changed how he lives his life and how he coaches.
Likens: "I would go after practice and games and sit with him and the family. You don't ever want to see that and I'll never ever take another day for granted when you see that. He was 7 years old. It changed the way that I look at things.
"What I consider hard is a joke. It's not hard compared to something like that and so it kind of puts things into perspective. You wake up every day and you only have so many of them. You get on the other side of that day and you're not getting that thing back. I look at my days as boxes in a calendar. There I am, I'm in that box. I wake up in the morning, my head comes off that pillow and I've got until my head gets down on that pillow again and that's it. All I think about is inside that box that day and let's get after it. Let's squeeze as much life out of that day as you possibly can."