Arizona senator T.J. Shope Jr. calls for investigation of ASU athletic director Ray Anderson

Arizona Republican state senator T.J. Shope Jr. is calling for an investigation into Arizona State athletic director Ray Anderson. Per AZ Central, this is for a “raft of improprieties and frankly embarrassing issues.”

Shope Jr. told this to Arizona Board of Regents President Fred DuVal in a letter on Wednesday. The Arizona Senate Republican Caucus posted the letter to social media. In the letter, Shope Jr. explained he sent this to DuVal instead of Arizona State President Michael Crow because he has lost faith in the university to take action.

“TODAY: @TJShope sends letter calling for investigation into disastrous leadership of Arizona State University’s athletic department and the fallout for their student-athletes at this publicly funded institution,” the caption read.

TODAY: @TJShope sends letter calling for investigation into disastrous leadership of Arizona State University’s athletic department and the fallout for their student-athletes at this publicly funded institution. pic.twitter.com/sNY0tMbR0i

— AZSenateRepublicans (@AZSenateGOP) August 30, 2023

There were several issues within the athletics department under Ray Anderson that T.J. Shope Jr. highlighted. That includes the hiring of Herm Edwards, as well as paying his buyout when he was fired last year. Anderson, it should be noted, was once Edwards’ agent, and given the NCAA investigation into the program, it may have been possible to avoid paying his buyout.

Earlier this week, Arizona State chose to self-impose a bowl ban. This was another point of criticism for Shope Jr. He wondered why it was the right decision to spend millions on a buyout before admitting to wrongdoing and the bowl ban. On top of that, he questioned if Ray Anderson and ASU purposefully waited until after the transfer deadline to announce the ban.

“Reputational harm is being done to ASU, both home and nationally. These series of events have become insults to the hard-working student-athletes who are trying to prove themselves this season, as well as the new coaching staff who resurrected the program, and ultimately, the Arizonans who wish to take pride in their local universities,” Shope Jr. wrote.

Shope Jr. is an Arizona State alumni and described himself as a Sun Devil fan in the letter. In February of last year, Shope Jr. called for Michael Crow to fire Ray Anderson and Herm Edwards.

Andy Staples criticized Arizona State for the timing of its bowl ban

One person who took the time to criticize Arizona State’s timing on the one-year bowl ban was On3’s Andy Staples.

“Here’s where this is kind of messed up: They didn’t decide to do this to the team until now where nobody can transfer because the season has already started. Class has already started so they can’t go anywhere. It’s pretty messed up. You could have been a little more honest and forthright with your players but that’s what we’ve come to expect from all the schools and from the NCAA – they don’t really care about the players. So this is how it works,” Staples said.

“The smarter thing to do would have been, in the spring of 2022, because you already knew about all this stuff? They’d been being investigated for a while,” explained Staples. “You know you’re probably going to fire Herm Edwards in 2022, which they did. You’re probably not going to be very good in 2022, which they weren’t at 3-9. You should have done it then! That’s when you should have done it!”