TEMPE, Ariz. – Much has changed since Al Luginbill's last tour of duty with Arizona State football as its defensive coordinator from 1982-84. The Valley has grown from one pro sport to four and Al's son, Tom, has grown from a boy running around the ASU practice fields with current Stanford coach David Shaw into a college football analyst for ESPN.
Al, 71, is just starting his third stint in Tempe as Sun Devil football's Director of Player Personnel. On June 1, he sat down with local media members for a revealing Q&A that detailed his new role and how it fits into coach Herm Edwards vision for the program. Here are select responses from that one hour and 15 minute session.
What convinced you to join Herm Edwards' staff?
Luginbill: "If somebody told me I was going to be doing what I am right now a year ago or seven months ago, I would have said, 'there's no way,' but I have had a long relationship with coach Edwards through the years, far exceeding the decades of 2000 and 2010. In my opinion, he is a special guy and kids are going to really enjoy playing for him.
"What I do see here in returning and coming aboard, there is a commitment to being good from the president through the athletic director. They want it done the right way, but if you have that commitment then you have something to start with, you have a foundation. Many times in the prior days, there wasn't that tied together.
"When I first started out I was just a consultant with the idea we're going to get through Feb. 15 and old Al will go back into the sunset and life goes on. Halfway through the month of January, [Edwards] came to me with a different option. I had to get that cleared by the real boss. I had to go home and talk to my wife. We've had a lot of different experiences, not that many places and the game of football has been super to us. It was an opportunity to work with young people. I like that. I've been able to do that over the past 12 years in private business and it's been very rewarding so this is that on steroids."
How would you describe your job duties?
Luginbill: "You've heard the NFL term, pro personnel? Free agency? What are they evaluating? The league. They're evaluating the league they're playing in. We do the same thing. We will play probably against two-thirds of the kids that we don't get at Arizona State because of our [recruiting] footprint. We're in constant evaluation there. We're evaluating every roster in the Pac-12 and we're constantly evaluating our own roster. Two things happen there. We are an open book to the NFL. It's 'come on in, boys. Whatever you need we're going to help you with.' That helps our players and that helps our program. That alone for our players is important to know.
"We're just finishing up individual 10-minute meetings with each player on our roster, explaining to them what a player personnel department does at Arizona State University. Some of these kids hear the term and don't have a clue. They don't have a clue how it affects them. They don't have a clue what it does. They do now. We deal with both ends, the high school end and the players on our roster."
What is Dan Cozzetto's role within the player personnel department?
Luginbill: "He [evaluated] every player on our roster that took a competitive snap. It was a grueling process, but it was a very informative process and the player all of the sudden understood when he took a competitive snap that thing was being thoroughly [evaluated]. Coach Edwards talks about it all the time: there's going to be wins and losses on the practice field. It's just nobody is keeping score out there. We do. We keep score. The first part of fall camp until we get into game preparation week, we'll do the same thing again. When we get into game preparation week, now we go to the game; the game is what we evaluate and the competition of the game creates a locker for that individual. That grows and that becomes their Sun Devil profile. It's what they are as a football player and a person."
How would you describe your national recruiting approach?
Luginbill: "We are what we call a footprint recruiter. We have a core area. Our core area starts with the state of Arizona, it includes southern California, northern California, Las Vegas to Hawaii. That's the core. I think if you will look three to four to five years down the line, you will see this football program made up in the 80 percent range between California and Arizona. Then we have a footprint which goes throughout the Pac-12: the states of Oregon, Washington, we include Idaho – that's where Taylor Kelly was from -- we include Montana and Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and when I say Nevada, I'm basically talking about Las Vegas and Reno.
"Along with that, we have gone with Texas and Louisiana. We added those because we found that there are good football players there that end up being really good players that may be under-recruited. Unless we have a tie, meaning it's an alum, there's a contact, whatever it may be, very seldom will we be outside of that total footprint.
"Ideally, if we didn't have to go any further than Arizona, that's what we'd love. That's not going to happen. Let's be realistic. The next closest place to us where parents can get here, we've got Las Vegas. It's almost a million and a half people. They play good football in Las Vegas. It's a straight shot. Then you get to San Diego and I don't know the last time Arizona State has taken a kid from the San Diego area. That's five, six hours, all freeway. And then there's L.A. Just drive time, there's nobody besides USC and UCLA that's closer to that than we are. Cal and Stanford aren't. It's not a difficult decision to set up your footprint.
"If you look at some of the [assistant] coaches that were hired, you look at some of their backgrounds, many of them have had years of experience in California. I'm not saying that was the reason they were hired but it certainly was a consideration. Our Arizona football community is very sensitive to that, but our actions will speak for ourselves over the years in our commitment to Arizona. It's still first. There's many people outside of this room that would question that. We'll just keep busting our tail."
How would you evaluate your recruiting efforts so far?
Luginbill: "Our [20]19 class, we're behind. We know it. These kids that we're recruiting now have been recruited for a year by everybody else. Some of these kids were contacted legally in football camps two years ago, so the '19 class coming up, which is really crucial for us, we're catching up. Right now, at Arizona State, we've got a half of a class that's here that will be coming that will have been recruited under this staff and this philosophy. All I'm trying to do is being transparent as I can. We're not catching up on the 20s and 21s, though. We're going to be ahead -- and the 22s."
What sort of tactics have you employed in recruiting?
Luginbill: "We have saturated this state since we've been here. We switch over to the position coach as quickly as we can in the recruiting process. The area coach, that's all fine and good, but we want to get position coach to player, coordinator to defensive side of the ball and offensive side of the ball. We want that relationship to be built as quick as possible.
"There are eight people on our staff that recruit the state of California. They have an area there, eight of the 10. Dave Christensen is everywhere; he is throughout our footprint because offensive line at this stage of our program is what we have to focus on. I'm not saying that the other positions are not important. They are, but if we don't get our offensive line up to speed within the next two recruiting classes, the quality of our football will not be what it needs to be. He is the one coach on our staff that totally position recruits. You will see a decided difference in the incoming offensive linemen this fall than what you have seen previously. I'm not guaranteeing you any of these kids are going to play early, but you're going to see a difference in them physically. "
How would you describe Herm Edwards?
Luginbill: "He is a person that is so transparent. If you ask him a question he is going to give you an answer and it may not be the one you want, but it's going to be an answer. He's no different with the kids, the players. To me, that transparency is everything because I think eventually young people that are passionate about the game, they will form a union because they have something in common and that's the passion.
"He loves to be around the players. That's where he's at his best. They've got a head coach that's willing to talk to them at any time, any place on anything they want to talk about. That's a pretty good deal."
How do you evaluate the complexion of your team right now?
Luginbill: "Right now, if you look at our football team, it is not a tall, athletic football team, but they don't lack from doing what you're asking them to do and that is an extreme positive for all of us. They have their lapses but they're a group of kids that will give you effort. Sometimes that can outweigh some things if you don't get banged up and injured. I think there will always be that element, but the goal will always be height, speed, athleticism and we'll worry about the weight later. That's why we've got a strength coach and a nice training table and all kinds of help down there in that room with beautiful weights to lift.
"We sit in here two hours a day, five days a week as a total staff and we watched players. We did that for the month of January and the month of February on the days they weren't out recruiting. Every day. It was a grind but what we did is we set the tone at each position so everybody heard it. The secondary coach heard what the wide receiver coach wanted at wide receiver and what the program wanted so that when they went out we're not wasting our time looking at things that don't fit at the particular position. We have to decide what an Arizona State football player is going to look like at each position. That's going to equate to what the team is going to look like."
Are there other programs whose progression you can point to as a model to emulate?
Luginbill: "I would point to the University of Washington. Everybody forgets where they were four to five years ago. That's all forgotten because they went to what? One playoff. They won the Pac-12. They've done a heck of a job of continuing it. We look at them and they're in a big metropolitan area, not in a highly populated state, very similar. The difference is, we're much closer by a ton to a heck of a lot more good football players."
How do you view recruiting rankings?
Luginbill: "We could[n't] care less about the star rating. We don't care. If they fit our DNA at that position, we're going to evaluate them and see where they fall. We do evaluate the caliber of football they're playing. We know there's good football players out there. Have they maxed out or do they have an upside? Myself, through the years, I've made a living off the upside.
"We're not unlike probably 80 percent of the Power Five [college programs] right now. There's a few in the Power Five that can go around the country and pretty well get into a home, offer, do whatever they want. There's probably 10 to 15 schools like that. We're not in that group yet. We want to get there and we're going to work our tail off to get there, but I don't know where you'll see us in recruiting rankings; really don't care. That's not the deciding point. The deciding point is where are they when they get here and they get on the field."
What is your approach to recruiting quarterbacks?
Luginbill: "We would like to be able to have the dual threat there, but they've got to be able to throw the football. If these two guys are very, very similar but one of them throws the football better and this one runs better, we're going to take [the thrower]. Philosophically, that's where the DNA starts at quarterback. Height is important to us but again, there's exceptions. High school kids that are on the shorter side really have to be special in executing the position. If you could mold them and have them look like Tim Tebow and throw like DeShaun Watson, you've got your perfect quarterback."
How does the diversity of your coaching staff help?
Luginbill: "We love to make an impression with numbers. We love to have as many coaches [as possible] involved in recruiting a player. There were times this year where with certain recruits there would be four coaches in the home, there would be five coaches visiting that high school on a given day for one player. With [someone like defensive line] coach [Shaun] Nua, we've got to step in and take advantage of it. When you're on the road and he's seeing a Polynesian kid or he's in a home, they're talking a different language now. It's not English and if you talk that language you've got a chance with those kids. I'm not saying that's the difference but they feel comfortable. Mom and dad feel comfortable. It's all about relationships. I think diversity is important."
Herm has talked a lot about the need for passionate players. How do you evaluate that in recruits?
Luginbill: "I think it's the toughest thing to evaluate because you have to go to so many people to verify it. It's not good enough to have one person say that. It's got to be a part of that person's life. We always talk about the it-factor at quarterback. I think it's the it-factor at every position. Some people do it through enthusiasm. Some people are quiet about it. The end result is every time they compete they want to win. That's what you're looking for. If you get many of those guys together, you've got a chance."
Al, 71, is just starting his third stint in Tempe as Sun Devil football's Director of Player Personnel. On June 1, he sat down with local media members for a revealing Q&A that detailed his new role and how it fits into coach Herm Edwards vision for the program. Here are select responses from that one hour and 15 minute session.
What convinced you to join Herm Edwards' staff?
Luginbill: "If somebody told me I was going to be doing what I am right now a year ago or seven months ago, I would have said, 'there's no way,' but I have had a long relationship with coach Edwards through the years, far exceeding the decades of 2000 and 2010. In my opinion, he is a special guy and kids are going to really enjoy playing for him.
"What I do see here in returning and coming aboard, there is a commitment to being good from the president through the athletic director. They want it done the right way, but if you have that commitment then you have something to start with, you have a foundation. Many times in the prior days, there wasn't that tied together.
"When I first started out I was just a consultant with the idea we're going to get through Feb. 15 and old Al will go back into the sunset and life goes on. Halfway through the month of January, [Edwards] came to me with a different option. I had to get that cleared by the real boss. I had to go home and talk to my wife. We've had a lot of different experiences, not that many places and the game of football has been super to us. It was an opportunity to work with young people. I like that. I've been able to do that over the past 12 years in private business and it's been very rewarding so this is that on steroids."
How would you describe your job duties?
Luginbill: "You've heard the NFL term, pro personnel? Free agency? What are they evaluating? The league. They're evaluating the league they're playing in. We do the same thing. We will play probably against two-thirds of the kids that we don't get at Arizona State because of our [recruiting] footprint. We're in constant evaluation there. We're evaluating every roster in the Pac-12 and we're constantly evaluating our own roster. Two things happen there. We are an open book to the NFL. It's 'come on in, boys. Whatever you need we're going to help you with.' That helps our players and that helps our program. That alone for our players is important to know.
"We're just finishing up individual 10-minute meetings with each player on our roster, explaining to them what a player personnel department does at Arizona State University. Some of these kids hear the term and don't have a clue. They don't have a clue how it affects them. They don't have a clue what it does. They do now. We deal with both ends, the high school end and the players on our roster."
What is Dan Cozzetto's role within the player personnel department?
Luginbill: "He [evaluated] every player on our roster that took a competitive snap. It was a grueling process, but it was a very informative process and the player all of the sudden understood when he took a competitive snap that thing was being thoroughly [evaluated]. Coach Edwards talks about it all the time: there's going to be wins and losses on the practice field. It's just nobody is keeping score out there. We do. We keep score. The first part of fall camp until we get into game preparation week, we'll do the same thing again. When we get into game preparation week, now we go to the game; the game is what we evaluate and the competition of the game creates a locker for that individual. That grows and that becomes their Sun Devil profile. It's what they are as a football player and a person."
How would you describe your national recruiting approach?
Luginbill: "We are what we call a footprint recruiter. We have a core area. Our core area starts with the state of Arizona, it includes southern California, northern California, Las Vegas to Hawaii. That's the core. I think if you will look three to four to five years down the line, you will see this football program made up in the 80 percent range between California and Arizona. Then we have a footprint which goes throughout the Pac-12: the states of Oregon, Washington, we include Idaho – that's where Taylor Kelly was from -- we include Montana and Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and when I say Nevada, I'm basically talking about Las Vegas and Reno.
"Along with that, we have gone with Texas and Louisiana. We added those because we found that there are good football players there that end up being really good players that may be under-recruited. Unless we have a tie, meaning it's an alum, there's a contact, whatever it may be, very seldom will we be outside of that total footprint.
"Ideally, if we didn't have to go any further than Arizona, that's what we'd love. That's not going to happen. Let's be realistic. The next closest place to us where parents can get here, we've got Las Vegas. It's almost a million and a half people. They play good football in Las Vegas. It's a straight shot. Then you get to San Diego and I don't know the last time Arizona State has taken a kid from the San Diego area. That's five, six hours, all freeway. And then there's L.A. Just drive time, there's nobody besides USC and UCLA that's closer to that than we are. Cal and Stanford aren't. It's not a difficult decision to set up your footprint.
"If you look at some of the [assistant] coaches that were hired, you look at some of their backgrounds, many of them have had years of experience in California. I'm not saying that was the reason they were hired but it certainly was a consideration. Our Arizona football community is very sensitive to that, but our actions will speak for ourselves over the years in our commitment to Arizona. It's still first. There's many people outside of this room that would question that. We'll just keep busting our tail."
How would you evaluate your recruiting efforts so far?
Luginbill: "Our [20]19 class, we're behind. We know it. These kids that we're recruiting now have been recruited for a year by everybody else. Some of these kids were contacted legally in football camps two years ago, so the '19 class coming up, which is really crucial for us, we're catching up. Right now, at Arizona State, we've got a half of a class that's here that will be coming that will have been recruited under this staff and this philosophy. All I'm trying to do is being transparent as I can. We're not catching up on the 20s and 21s, though. We're going to be ahead -- and the 22s."
What sort of tactics have you employed in recruiting?
Luginbill: "We have saturated this state since we've been here. We switch over to the position coach as quickly as we can in the recruiting process. The area coach, that's all fine and good, but we want to get position coach to player, coordinator to defensive side of the ball and offensive side of the ball. We want that relationship to be built as quick as possible.
"There are eight people on our staff that recruit the state of California. They have an area there, eight of the 10. Dave Christensen is everywhere; he is throughout our footprint because offensive line at this stage of our program is what we have to focus on. I'm not saying that the other positions are not important. They are, but if we don't get our offensive line up to speed within the next two recruiting classes, the quality of our football will not be what it needs to be. He is the one coach on our staff that totally position recruits. You will see a decided difference in the incoming offensive linemen this fall than what you have seen previously. I'm not guaranteeing you any of these kids are going to play early, but you're going to see a difference in them physically. "
How would you describe Herm Edwards?
Luginbill: "He is a person that is so transparent. If you ask him a question he is going to give you an answer and it may not be the one you want, but it's going to be an answer. He's no different with the kids, the players. To me, that transparency is everything because I think eventually young people that are passionate about the game, they will form a union because they have something in common and that's the passion.
"He loves to be around the players. That's where he's at his best. They've got a head coach that's willing to talk to them at any time, any place on anything they want to talk about. That's a pretty good deal."
How do you evaluate the complexion of your team right now?
Luginbill: "Right now, if you look at our football team, it is not a tall, athletic football team, but they don't lack from doing what you're asking them to do and that is an extreme positive for all of us. They have their lapses but they're a group of kids that will give you effort. Sometimes that can outweigh some things if you don't get banged up and injured. I think there will always be that element, but the goal will always be height, speed, athleticism and we'll worry about the weight later. That's why we've got a strength coach and a nice training table and all kinds of help down there in that room with beautiful weights to lift.
"We sit in here two hours a day, five days a week as a total staff and we watched players. We did that for the month of January and the month of February on the days they weren't out recruiting. Every day. It was a grind but what we did is we set the tone at each position so everybody heard it. The secondary coach heard what the wide receiver coach wanted at wide receiver and what the program wanted so that when they went out we're not wasting our time looking at things that don't fit at the particular position. We have to decide what an Arizona State football player is going to look like at each position. That's going to equate to what the team is going to look like."
Are there other programs whose progression you can point to as a model to emulate?
Luginbill: "I would point to the University of Washington. Everybody forgets where they were four to five years ago. That's all forgotten because they went to what? One playoff. They won the Pac-12. They've done a heck of a job of continuing it. We look at them and they're in a big metropolitan area, not in a highly populated state, very similar. The difference is, we're much closer by a ton to a heck of a lot more good football players."
How do you view recruiting rankings?
Luginbill: "We could[n't] care less about the star rating. We don't care. If they fit our DNA at that position, we're going to evaluate them and see where they fall. We do evaluate the caliber of football they're playing. We know there's good football players out there. Have they maxed out or do they have an upside? Myself, through the years, I've made a living off the upside.
"We're not unlike probably 80 percent of the Power Five [college programs] right now. There's a few in the Power Five that can go around the country and pretty well get into a home, offer, do whatever they want. There's probably 10 to 15 schools like that. We're not in that group yet. We want to get there and we're going to work our tail off to get there, but I don't know where you'll see us in recruiting rankings; really don't care. That's not the deciding point. The deciding point is where are they when they get here and they get on the field."
What is your approach to recruiting quarterbacks?
Luginbill: "We would like to be able to have the dual threat there, but they've got to be able to throw the football. If these two guys are very, very similar but one of them throws the football better and this one runs better, we're going to take [the thrower]. Philosophically, that's where the DNA starts at quarterback. Height is important to us but again, there's exceptions. High school kids that are on the shorter side really have to be special in executing the position. If you could mold them and have them look like Tim Tebow and throw like DeShaun Watson, you've got your perfect quarterback."
How does the diversity of your coaching staff help?
Luginbill: "We love to make an impression with numbers. We love to have as many coaches [as possible] involved in recruiting a player. There were times this year where with certain recruits there would be four coaches in the home, there would be five coaches visiting that high school on a given day for one player. With [someone like defensive line] coach [Shaun] Nua, we've got to step in and take advantage of it. When you're on the road and he's seeing a Polynesian kid or he's in a home, they're talking a different language now. It's not English and if you talk that language you've got a chance with those kids. I'm not saying that's the difference but they feel comfortable. Mom and dad feel comfortable. It's all about relationships. I think diversity is important."
Herm has talked a lot about the need for passionate players. How do you evaluate that in recruits?
Luginbill: "I think it's the toughest thing to evaluate because you have to go to so many people to verify it. It's not good enough to have one person say that. It's got to be a part of that person's life. We always talk about the it-factor at quarterback. I think it's the it-factor at every position. Some people do it through enthusiasm. Some people are quiet about it. The end result is every time they compete they want to win. That's what you're looking for. If you get many of those guys together, you've got a chance."