Iconic Arizona State football coach Frank Kush dies at 88

Frank Kush, who put Arizona State football on the map before a controversial end to his tenure, has died at age 88. The school announced Kush's passing Thursday.

A 1995 College Football Hall of Fame inductee, Kush led the ASU program from 1958-1979, racking up a 176-54-1 record and overseeing the program's transition to the newly expanded Pac-10 from the WAC. His Sun Devils went 11-0 in 1970 and 12-0 in 1975, finishing the latter season ranked No. 2 in the country.

Kush was fired five games into the 1979 season after punter Kevin Rutledge said the coach had punched him during a game at Washington the previous season. A statement issued by ASU athletic director Fred Miller at the time of the firing cited six witnesses who corroborated Rutledge's account of the incident. Miller also cited an apparent attempt by Kush to cover up the incident as his reason for firing the coach when he did.

Kush coached in the Canadian Football League in 1981 before taking over the then-Baltimore Colts during the strike-shortened 1982 season. He was retained despite a winless (0-8-1) campaign and ended up going 11-28-1 in three seasons, culminating in the Colts' first year in Indianapolis following their move.

Kush later rejoined the Arizona State athletic department as a fundraiser, and the school commissioned a statue of him to be placed outside Sun Devil Stadium.