Following a disappointing season for ASU men’s basketball, coach Hurley’s contract remains unsigned.

The men’s basketball team from Arizona State University lost to Utah in the Pac-12 tournament on Wednesday, capping off a disappointing season. The Sun Devils placed second to last in the league with a 14–18 overall record.

Because of all of that, some supporters have started clamouring for a new head coach; Bobby Hurley has a 155-130 record since joining ASU in 2015. However, Hurley and the school did not sign the contract extension they agreed to last year.

Jason Wolf, an investigative sports writer for USA Today Network and the Arizona Republic, joined the programme to discuss a variety of topics, beginning with Hurley’s new contract’s provisions.

MARK BRODIE: What conditions were included in this new agreement for Hurley?

JASON WOLF: The most crucial thing to remember is that a year ago, a two-year extension was announced. He was scheduled to stay on at Arizona State through the 2025–2026 season in 2023. This year, it increased his base compensation by $100,000 and included a number of other incentives that may reach other cash amounts. But until Penn is officially put on paper, none of that—aside from his $100,000 compensation increase—takes effect, according to Arizona State.

BRODIE: So you discovered that didn’t happen?

WOLF: That’s right.

BRODIE: Do you understand why?

WOLF: My impression is that Arizona State is the cause of the hold-up, having spoken with his agent. It’s supposedly almost finished, but the main issue is that some references to the Pac-12 conference need to be changed to the Big 12. It’s also said that Ray Anderson’s dismissal as athletics director in November of last year contributed to the delay, but neither of those explanations seems very plausible given that, you know, changing the Pac-12 to Big 12 format is as simple as finding and replacing it in Microsoft Word.

Like if you just knock that out and Ray Anderson resigned eight months after the contract extension was announced, the extension was announced in March 2023. It was approved by the Arizona Board of Regents in April 2023, and then Ray Anderson did not resign until November. So there was a 7-8 month delay between the time of the extension and it’s the term being approved by ABOR and Anderson stepping down. There was a four-month gap between, you know, ABOR’s approval in April and the university announcing that it was moving to the Big 12 in August. So I don’t understand how four, even four months went by without this deal being finalized.

BRODIE: Well, so one of the things that’s really interesting as you report is that even though this contract is not signed, it sounds like Bobby Hurley was still getting the, the higher salary. Is that right?

WOLF: That’s right. The general counsel of Arizona State claims that although they saw the parties and signed a term sheet at the time the extension was announced and approved by ABOR, this document is not legally binding. He has started receiving his higher income as a result, but Arizona State claims that none of the other conditions of their agreement will go into force until the full form contract is actually signed. Additionally, Arizona State will not reveal his contract or the term sheet until everything is finalised. That is normally a public record, and the reason it came to light in the first place was the university’s persistent refusal to produce his contract in response to a request for public information.

BRODIE: Well, so has anybody said why the university paid him the higher salary when none of the rest of the terms of the new contract were being enforced?

WOLF: Well, from what I understand, it’s fairly typical, right? Like every coach that signs a new deal or agrees to an extension, there is a term sheet or in MOU or, or some type of non-binding document that both parties sign and agree and there’s a drop dead date on negotiations and these are typically short-lived documents that lead to a signed contract. I spoke to a sports contract attorney, a longtime expert who’s been around for has been in the business for the last 50 years in fact, he told me that it was extraordinarily unusual for a term sheet to not result in a full form contract 12 months after an extension was announced.

BRODIE: So what does this mean for Bobby Hurley now? Because it had been a rather poor season for ASU prior to signing the extension, and his contract was set to expire at the end of June, this was a concern. Many supporters are demanding that he be fired as head coach. Do you know, for example, where all of this is going to leave him?

WOLF: Well, both parties, both Hurley’s agent and Arizona State University have told me that they remain committed to the terms of the deal as they were announced and as they were approved by the Board of Regents and they expect that the contract will be signed imminently. Imminently was a term used by Arizona State. So it seems as though the contract will get signed. What that means for his long term future, it’s hard to say. First of all, until it’s signed, it’s not signed, right? And it does that the legally binding contract that’s currently in force does expire June 30. If he does sign the contract, obviously, he is extended for another two years and there is a $2 million up to a $2 million buyout that was attached to that extension.

I don’t want listeners to believe that Bobby Hurley is the bigger picture in this situation because, in my opinion, it raises some very legitimate questions about the way the Arizona State Athletics Department conducts business. This is a bad time for questions about ASU’s business practices, given that its fiercest rival, the University of Arizona, is currently under intense scrutiny for financial mismanagement that is partially related to its athletics department. If he refuses to sign the contract, of course, he owes nothing, the current contract expires, and he walks.

So, I know that UA and, and, and ASU like, you know, whatever one does the other wants to do the opposite. ASU does not want to join UA in, in, in this regard, in terms of the level of scrutiny that they have. But it, it is curious that the head men’s basketball coach, again, this is not a minor oversight, this is one of the highest paid public employees in the state and you’re sitting there a year after announcing an extension and the deal is not done. So there are lots of questions that should come from that, not only for Arizona State but for the Board of Regents.

BRODIE:Sure. All right. That is Jason Wolf, sports investigative reporter for the Arizona Republic and the USA Today network. Jason, thank you very much. I appreciate it.