Jordan Simone just learned the hard way the risks of not serving as a cheerleader for the team/school that employs you.
Simone played at Arizona State from 2013-2015 and was an all conference safety. He was hired by the school ahead of the 2018 season to serve as a reporter for the Sun Devil Radio Network. Simone remained in that role until this week.
Simone announced on Thursday that he had been fired for his criticism of ASU’s football coaches during an appearance on a podcast.
Simone was a guest on the “Speak of the Devils” podcast episode that was published on Wednesday. Entering the season, Simone had huge hopes for the team entering the season and said it was “Rose Bowl or bust.” But his opinion of the team has changed.
In the episode, Simone said he felt the Sun Devils lacked discipline. He was critical of the ASU coaching staff and said the Herm Edwards experiment wasn’t working.
“It ain’t working. It was a good experiment. No disrespect to any of those coaches as men and as people … but it just ain’t working. The fans deserve better. The players deserve better,” Simone said on the podcast. “These players don’t even realize that they’re being coached so poorly.”
Simone argued that ASU fans deserve better.
“It’s bad right now. It’s not what the fans deserve. It’s not what the alumni deserve.”
Arizona State is 5-3 and has lost two in a row. The most recent loss was particularly troubling. ASU had a week off before facing Washington State at home. Mind you, Washington State has been playing without a full coaching staff since the Nick Rolovich incident.
ASU fell behind 34-7 before scoring a few garbage time touchdowns to make the score a respectable 34-21. Two weeks prior, ASU blew a 21-7 lead to Utah and lost 35-21, getting outscored 28-0 in the second half.
There are a few factors at play.
Simone played under Todd Graham and the team won 10 games twice in Simone’s three years. ASU fired Graham after a 7-6 season, despite Graham proving he could win double-digit games, and brought in Edwards, who hadn’t coached for years. Edwards’ winning percentage is .579, compared to Graham’s .590. Some never thought the coaching change made sense, and Simone seems to be part of that group.
Also, Simone is now learning that if you’re a team or school employee, there are great risks that come with criticizing the team/school as if you’re an outside media member.
More must-reads: