When does Zeke leave ASU?

[CHROMEBIRD]

  On 2/20/2025 at 4:19 AM, SunDevil said:

Chris Pendleton.   Pritts is a stud and will be here forever hopefully. 

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Pandleton would be a pretty good deal, and likely wouldn't cost ASU much if at all. I was just thinking about this with the Bobby Hurley drama going on and all.

[Tom formerly Tofurky]

I wonder if the administration, seeing that Zeke is long in the tooth, so to speak, goes the Okie State route and makes a play at someone like Dake or Snyder.

Mark Perry? It's clear he can coach, but can administrators and other coaches work with his ego?

Here's a thought: Tervel Dlagnev?

Also, does the program have anyone remotely resembling Art Mortori who could revive Sunkist Kids? Their demise clearly had a large, negative impact on the program.

[Fletcher]

  On 2/19/2025 at 12:30 AM, pokemonster said:

Arizona state has too many hot chicks to seriously be good at wrestling. They'll distract the wrestlers. It's why all the blue chippers this year went to institutions where the average is about a 4 or 5 out of 10. 

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Good for recruiting; bad for development.

[pokemonster]

  On 3/6/2025 at 12:24 AM, Fletcher said:

Good for recruiting; bad for development.

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I randomly watched the Bubba Jenkins / DT final and went down a bit of a Bubba rabbit hole... He definitely said heading to Arizona State was a challenge in its own due to all the distractions. We'll see if Zahid has a step up after heading to Stillwater...

[Idaho]

Zeke has two more years on his contract...they just moved conferences.... He's not going anywhere until after the 2026-27 season.  Two yeas is a long time in NCAA years... a lot could happen. 

The loss of Sunkist and the money hits hard at ASU.  I don't know about their current donors or money situation, but it may be harder for them than an Ok State to go the same route with a Dake, Burroughs, Snyder, etc. Not only do. you need the money to get the coach, you need the money to then bring in the team they want to build. 

[CHROMEBIRD]

Zeke is paid pretty well and makes a lot more than Pendleton does, so there's that. ASU has a good chunk of money coming in from the CFP, but the AD seems to have had it with Bobby Hurley. It would cost around $3M to buy out Hurley's contract, plus whatever the new coach's contract will cost. ASU is trying to raise funds for a new basketball stadium and get themselves setup for pay for play; they'll also have to hire a co-GM or give the current NIL GM a raise or support staff if she's going to be managing all the other revenue sharing. Seems like money might be tight, so in the unlikely event that Zeke were to leave before his contract is up, I don't know if ASU can or would open up its wallet for a very high level replacement. 

[Tripnsweep]

  On 3/5/2025 at 11:22 PM, Tom formerly Tofurky said:

I wonder if the administration, seeing that Zeke is long in the tooth, so to speak, goes the Okie State route and makes a play at someone like Dake or Snyder.

Mark Perry? It's clear he can coach, but can administrators and other coaches work with his ego?

Here's a thought: Tervel Dlagnev?

Also, does the program have anyone remotely resembling Art Mortori who could revive Sunkist Kids? Their demise clearly had a large, negative impact on the program.

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Perry has too much baggage and likely won't coach again anywhere. His activity is part of why Sunkist went away. 

[Tom formerly Tofurky]

  On 3/7/2025 at 12:27 AM, Tripnsweep said:

Perry has too much baggage and likely won't coach again anywhere. His activity is part of why Sunkist went away. 

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I had not kept up on that, and I am sorry to read that. I got the impression that he, while a competent coach, was merely arrogant and unlikeable, but little more than that. That really sucks that he his actions, in any shape or form, had such a negative impact on so many people.

[Tripnsweep]

  On 3/7/2025 at 12:46 PM, Tom formerly Tofurky said:

I had not kept up on that, and I am sorry to read that. I got the impression that he, while a competent coach, was merely arrogant and unlikeable, but little more than that. That really sucks that he his actions, in any shape or form, had such a negative impact on so many people.

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It was a big discussion during the Open last year. He put all his chips in with who he happened to be boinking. 

[Tom formerly Tofurky]

  On 3/7/2025 at 1:41 PM, Tripnsweep said:

It was a big discussion during the Open last year. He put all his chips in with who he happened to be boinking. 

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[Interviewed_at_Weehawken]

  On 3/7/2025 at 1:41 PM, Tripnsweep said:

It was a big discussion during the Open last year. He put all his chips in with who he happened to be boinking. 

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And appears to still be boinking.

[Tripnsweep]

  On 3/7/2025 at 3:34 PM, Interviewed_at_Weehawken said:

And appears to still be boinking.

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[GreatDane67]

Any info on what happened to Sunkist?

[forkemaz]

  On 3/7/2025 at 7:06 PM, GreatDane67 said:

Any info on what happened to Sunkist?

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Art said he wanted to retire and focus on his family. 

[Saylors_Tiny_Willie]

  On 3/8/2025 at 12:24 AM, forkemaz said:

Art said he wanted to retire and focus on his family. 

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That timing is super suspicious.

[Tripnsweep]

  On 3/8/2025 at 2:13 AM, Saylors_Tiny_Willie said:

That timing is super suspicious.

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Not being sued is probably Art's priority. 

[Tripnsweep]

This was a bad tournament for ASU. Only 3 of their 9 wrestlers won a match and they didn't bring a 174. They brought backups at 141, 149, 184. Really not a good look at all. 

[SunDevil]

Get Zeke out. The time is now. 

[Jimmy Cinnabon]

  On 4/7/2025 at 12:38 AM, SunDevil said:

Get Zeke out. The time is now. 

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Spencer Lee to replace him. 

[Tripnsweep]

  On 4/7/2025 at 12:38 AM, SunDevil said:

Get Zeke out. The time is now. 

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Hearing things about this already

[Hammerlock3]

he was really living his best life as the senior level coach. He doesn't build instruments, he tunes them, and thats not an insult its a really hard person to come by....I'm not trying to be inflammatory when I say I'd rather have Zeke coach up a senior world team member than Cael, though Cael takes the cake at every other level.

[Barracuda141]

For all the heat that Bono gets, and rightly so, I really can't think of someone else who has run a program into the ground like Zeke Jones. Had a big donor in Art Martori and squandered that. Apparently never set up any type of account to help with NIL or transfer portal. This next year their results will show they've officially hit Kevin Jackson/Kerry McCoy level rock bottom. 

[suddendeathOT]

He’s familiar with WVU… maybe once Flynn retires

[CHROMEBIRD]

  On 4/7/2025 at 2:19 AM, Tripnsweep said:

Hearing things about this already

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Details? IIRC, Zeke just has a year or two left on his contract and Rossini likes him. It wouldn't be the biggest buyout, but ASU's athletic department is already a little strapped for cash because of their new WBB coach and arena renovations. The AD was also under a lot of donor/fan pressure to give Bobby Hurley the boot this season, but they just couldn't afford to. 

I don't think ASU can afford, nor are they interested in bringing in a better wrestling coach. My guess is that Rossini will restructure Zeke's contract with more performance-based incentives when it's time to discuss an extension, like he's doing with Hurley.

A possible complicating factor is that Rossini's contract is up for renewal soon, and ASU is proposing a salary bump for him from $650K to $950K with $100K/year annual increases (up from $50K currently), not including performance bonuses. I think the new WBB coach's contract still needs approval by the Board of Regents, a little less than $1M/year, somewhere around that ballpark. 

[Tripnsweep]

  On 4/7/2025 at 7:07 PM, CHROMEBIRD said:

Details? IIRC, Zeke just has a year or two left on his contract and Rossini likes him. It wouldn't be the biggest buyout, but ASU's athletic department is already a little strapped for cash because of their new WBB coach and arena renovations. The AD was also under a lot of donor/fan pressure to give Bobby Hurley the boot this season, but they just couldn't afford to. 

I don't think ASU can afford, nor are they interested in bringing in a better wrestling coach. My guess is that Rossini will restructure Zeke's contract with more performance-based incentives when it's time to discuss an extension, like he's doing with Hurley.

A possible complicating factor is that Rossini's contract is up for renewal soon, and ASU is proposing a salary bump for him from $650K to $950K with $100K/year annual increases (up from $50K currently), not including performance bonuses. I think the new WBB coach's contract still needs approval by the Board of Regents, a little less than $1M/year, somewhere around that ballpark. 

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If what I am hearing is accurate, and this is from multiple people who are in different circles, if they bought him out it wouldn't come from ASU. Zeke isn't under the same scrutiny as Hurley is. UofA doesn't have wrestling, so there's not a lot of pressure to do much other than have an AA or more per year, and nobody gets arrested off the mat. It's really a sweet gig Zeke has, and him not wanting to leave is a sign of how good he has it.