Todd Graham

He is the 27th head football coach in Golden Hurricane history. For his offensive coordinators, Graham turned to his good friend Gus Malzahn, then offensive coordinator at the University of Arkansas, as well as then WVU tight ends coach Herb Hand. He also hired former Tulsa quarterback and Tulsa Union HS coach Bill Blankenship as wide receivers coach. Read Less

Less than one year from his hiring, on the evening of December 13, Graham informed Athletic Director Steve Pederson that he had discussed a head coaching opportunity at Arizona State. After being informed he did not have permission to talk to the school about the job and refusing conversations with Pederson and another administrator, Graham resigned and subsequently accepted the head coaching job at Arizona State University. Graham informed the Pitt players of his departure the following day in cowardly fashion by having a text message forwarded to the team by director of football operations Blair Philbrick. Two weeks prior to leaving the University of Pittsburgh, Graham referred to assistant coaches who left to join the staff of Rich Rodriguez at Arizona as "nothing but mercenaries." In later interviews, Graham claimed those comments were taken out of context. He said he wasn't referring to the coaches who left Pittsburgh and that he was having a conversation with reporters generally about college football coaching and said, "A lot of times coaches jump around everywhere, they're like mercenaries." Read Less