Arizona State football emphasizing family as it preps for difficult road game

Shaun Aguano is a week into his tenure as interim football coach at Arizona State but his message isn't any different than it was when he was first introduced following the departure of Herm Edwards. Aguano is focusing on a family atmosphere which makes it easier to stick together through good times and bad.

On Sunday night, a day after a 34-13 loss to Utah in the Pac-12 opener, the team gathered for dinner. That meant players, coaches and the families of the coaches, about 170 people total.

There was little to no talk about football. Aguano wanted his team to have a respite, at least for a day.

The season isn't going to get easier for Sun Devils (1-3, 0-1), who now prep for No. 6 USC (4-0, 2-0) on Saturday at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. It will be the third nationally ranked foe ASU has played this season, with one other on the horizon.

More: Utah routs Arizona State football in ASU's first game without Herm Edwards

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"If was for them to understand we are all behind them and we're ready to go for this week and be competitive in our game coming up," Aguano said. "I've always had something like that, dinner with the family, since I was a little kid. That's important to celebrate the successes we had in the week and to go over things we need to work on.

"Last night I felt all of our coaches brought their families and spent time with the kids, just to now when things don't go right we're all here for you. That's the biggest thing I'm trying to promote with our kids, I love their fight. I love what they're giving me and I want to make sure they know they're supported from outside."

The dust has settled from the tumultuous week and Aguano finds himself handling the duties of the head coach rather than just being responsible for the handful of running backs in his room.

Aguano said he's not set into a routine and will change things up when need be.

“I'm in a learning process, too, and so I'm going to make changes every single day, subtle changes that I think that will help our team," he said. "I want to make sure that our coaches and our kids are on their toes all the time. I don't believe in doing the same thing over and over all the time. There has to be a sudden chaos, a little bit. The heart of the practice, the game should be easier. And I want to make sure that Tuesday practices and Wednesday practices and Thursday practice has to be harder than what we're going to see on come Saturday."

Aguano doubled down on a key point he made last week, that he'll personally go out and recruit the top talent from Arizona. He is setting some time aside to recruit this week, just as he did last week when he attended two high school football games on Friday night.

Since the team will be on the road this week, he'll try and get in a game in Arizona on Thursday, then plans on spending Friday night in Southern California watching a game involving an athlete that has verbally committed to ASU.

"I personally wanted to make sure that I get up to every single one and the guys that I think that can help us immediately next year are guys that I pay close attention to and let them know that I want them as a head coach, I want them. And I think that's, from a personal standpoint, it comes differently from a position coach than from the head coach," he said.

Personnel updates

The Sun Devils were without several players Saturday night due to injury and Aguano is hoping to have most of those back. The list of injured included defensive lineman Omarr Norman-Lott, cornerbacks Ro Torrence, Ed Woods, safety Elijah Gammage and wide receiver Zeke Freeman.

The Sun Devils were so thin in the secondary Isaiah Johnson got his first career start.

Twins Keon and  Kejuan Markham, both of whom have started, are not expected back. The two were on the sideline Saturday but did not dress.

“It's a personal situation that I'm going to keep them away from the team for right now," Aguano said. "But it's just a personal thing for both of them. I think it's hard on them in regards to the coaching change, so we've been talking, however.”

Times set

Game times have been announced for Pac-12 games on Oct. 8. Washington at Arizona State will kick off at 1 p.m. and air on the Pac-12 Network. Nine of the previous 10 games going into that contest will have been night games.

Other games: Utah at UCLA, 12:30 p.m., on Fox or FS1, Washington State at USC, 4:30 p.m. on Fox, Oregon at Arizona, 6 p.m. on Pac-12 Network and Oregon State at Stanford, 8 p.m. on ESPN.

Reach the reporter at Michelle.Gardner@gannett.com or 602 444-4783.  Follow her on Twitter @MGardnerSports.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: ASU football emphasizing family as it preps for difficult road game