Arizona State AD has revealing comments about Bobby Hurley's job status
Arizona State fans were not happy with Bobby Hurley's behavior at the end of the Sun Devils' 81-72 loss to rival Arizona last week.
Neither was Arizona State's athletic director.
In his first public comments since Hurley pulled his team off the floor before the game ended and refused to shake hands with Arizona's players and coaches, Graham Rossini said on a radio show appearance that Hurley's behavior was unacceptable.
On the Arizona Sports’ Burns & Gambo show, Rossini said Hurley's actions were "a miss" and "we've gotta maintain sportsmanship."
“I understand tensions are riding high and emotions are very heated in a game like that," Rossini told Burns & Gambo. "But we've gotta maintain sportsmanship. That was a miss, he admitted it, we admitted it on his behalf as well and we’ve tried to do our best to move beyond it and get ready for this weekend.”
After the game, Hurley criticized the officials and Arizona's players in his postgame press conference.
Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd took the high road in his postgame press conference, praising Arizona State's effort and saying "I've got a lot of respect for for Bobby (Hurley) and Arizona State."
Hurley's antics came on the heels of Arizona State football coach Kenny Dillingham making sure his players shook hands with Texas after their heartbreaking 39-31 double-overtime loss in the College Football Playoff quarterfinals. Dillingham tracked down players who were leaving the field and walked them through the handshake line.
"You lost the game. That doesn't mean you just get to leave,"Dillingham said in his postgame press conference. "Like, you shake hands. That's what you do. That's sportsmanship."
Hurley's Job Status
It has widely been speculated that Hurley is on the hot seat and needs to get into the NCAA tournament — and make a run — to save his job.
Burns & Gambo asked Rossini about Hurley's job status, and his answer was revealing.
“He’s our coach and we want to support him as we’re in the middle of the season," Rossini told Burns & Gambo. "We talked yesterday and said, ‘Hey, we just gotta exhale.’ We gotta make basketball fun again.”
When asked about making the NCAA tournament, Rossini said "It’s an expectation, it’s not a goal."
"We’re not in this for participation trophies, we’re in this to win championships," Rossini said.
“And we've gotta look hard at the reasons why we can’t be successful and look at those adjustments that need to be made ... there’s obviously a time and a place where we’re prepared to do that.”
More Arizona State & Big 12 Analysis
Ben Sherman has been covering the sports world for most of his journalism career, including 17 years with The Oregonian/OregonLive. One of his favorite memories was covering the 1999 Fiesta Bowl - the first BCS National Championship Game - at Sun Devil Stadium.