One year ago today, we lost the man who put @FootballASU on the map, Coach Frank Kush. pic.twitter.com/ApVs6lBThV
— Arizona State Sun Devils (@TheSunDevils) June 22, 2018
Following a season that saw Arizona State softball reach the College World Series for the 12th-time in program history, second-year head coach Trisha Ford has been named the first winner of the Kush Award.
The award will be presented around the anniversary of Coach Kush's passing (June 22, 2017) and for 2017-18 was voted on privately by each of 22 Sun Devil head coaches.
It follows the tradition set by outstanding Sun Devil Club members Carl and Cher Maltese, who this past spring worked with several members within Sun Devil Athletics and the Wings of Gold Committee to create, establish and award the inaugural Linda Vollstedt Coach of the Year award. The Vollstedt Award was designed to be given to the ASU coach who best represents the temperaments, talents and convictions fostered by Coach Linda Vollstedt and who continually strives to ensure that the young women entrusted to him/her achieve overall excellence as students, athletes and citizens.The inaugural award was presented to Sun Devil Women's Golf head coach Missy Farr-Kaye.
Kush led the Sun Devils to six victories in seven bowl games, including the 1970 Peach Bowl and 1975 Fiesta Bowl where the team capped off two undefeated seasons. The Peach Bowl marked ASU's first bowl game in 19 years and the Fiesta Bowl win pushed the Sun Devils to second in the national rankings, the highest ever under Kush. With Kush's 1975 team finishing second in the national rankings, he was named the National Coach of the Year by the American Football Coaches Association and the Walter Camp Foundation. Aside from producing winning teams, Kush coached nearly 40 All-Americans and more than 125 NFL players, including 10 first-round draft picks and 17 Pro Bowlers.
An Arizona State and College Football Hall of Fame inductee and the winningest coach in Sun Devil Football history, Coach Kush passed away on June 22, 2017, at 88. He started his career at ASU in 1955 as an assistant under former head coach Dan Devine. Three seasons later, on Dec. 22, 1957, Kush became the 15th football coach in Arizona State history and the rest is ASU, Phoenix, college football, Tempe and state of Arizona history. He went on to win 176 games, the most in school history, across 21.5 seasons and was elected into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1995. He led his team to seven Western Athletic Conference Championships and guided the Sun Devils to winning seasons in 19 of his 22 years.Ford's honor adds to a season that saw her earn Pac-12 Coach of the Year accolades following the 2018 regular season. In just her second season at the helm of the Sun Devil softball program, Ford and her staff has cultivated a competitive spirit that put the rest of the league on notice. When Ford first stepped on campus, the Sun Devils were fresh off a 32-26 season that saw ASU pick up just six conference wins.
MOST SUN DEVIL PAC-12 WINS
18-3, 2008
18-4, 2012
17-4, 2011
16-8, 2018
16-8, 2013
NEW KID ON THE WORLD SERIES BLOCK: Coach Trisha Ford was the new kid on the WCWS block this year as she made the WCWS in just her second season at ASU. Oklahoma's Patty Gasso finished her 24th year in Norman to lead the way. Georgia's Lu Harris-Champer (17), Washington's Heather Tarr (14), Florida's Tim Walton (13), UCLA's Kelly Inouye (12), and Florida State's Lonnie Alameda (10) also had at least a decade of service, while Oregon's Mike White is in his ninth year in Eugene. ASU is the last Pac-12 team to win the title (2011)
PAC-12 IN WCWS (2011-2018)
Oregon (5): 2018, 2017, 2015, 2014, 2012
Arizona State (4): 2018, 2013, 2012, 2011*
UCLA (4): 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015
Washington (2): 2018, 2017, 2013
California (2): 2012, 2011
*last Pac-12 team to win NCAA Championship
--MORE ON COACH KUSH--
College Football Hall of Fame Inductees Coached by Frank Kush
Bob Breunig (1972-74, inducted in 2015)
Mike Haynes (1972-75, inducted in 2001)
John Jefferson (1974-77, inducted in 2002)
Pro Football Hall of Fame
Curley Culp (1965-67, inducted in 2013)
Mike Haynes (1972-75, inducted in 1997)
Charley Taylor (1961-63, inducted in 1984).
After his coaching career ended in 1979, he went back to ASU 21 years later and served as a special assistant to the Athletics Director and then as an ambassador for Sun Devil Athletics. Since then, Kush won multiple awards and honors, including being inducted into the Peach Bowl Hall of Fame, the Michigan State Hall of Fame, and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Lott Impact Trophy. Away from football, Kush has served the community in many entities and on numerous boards, and was the former executive director of the Arizona Boys Ranch.
After ASU Kush served as Head Coach of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the CFL in 1981 and as Head Coach of the Baltimore/Indianapolis Colts from 1982-84. He was the Head Coach of the Arizona Outlaws in 1985.
Kush is of Polish descent and was inducted into the National Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame.
Preceding his coaching career, Kush served as a first lieutenant in the United States Army, while simultaneously coaching the Fort Benning football team.
Kush was born on January 20, 1929 in Windber, Pa., and went on to attend Michigan State University, where he became a star football player. Kush was a two-way player and went 26-1 in his collegiate career. He earned a spot on the Look Magazine All-America team in 1952 and won a national championship in his senior season.