The question in the Valley of the Sun all these years has been, how could Arizona State not win?

It has the intangibles -- climate and scenery coming out the wazoo. There are certainly worse places to play than Sun Devil Stadium. The list of impressive alumni could fill a roster (Jake Plummer), ballpark (Barry Bonds) or television screen (Steve Allen).

New Arizona State coach Dirk Koetter will be counting on Sophomore quarterback Jeff Krohn. (AP)

The school's a winner, the football program is not -- at least not consistently in recent history.

It has won more than six games only twice since 1987. The coach who pulled off the last Rose Bowl season in 1996, Bruce Snyder, became a victim of that mediocrity in the offseason. And don't remind the Sun Devils that the Ohio State quarterback who won that Rose Bowl with last-minute heroics, Joe Germaine, is from nearby Mesa.

So when Dirk Koetter hears his new program referred to as a "sleeping giant," he is wary.

"I get nervous when people say that," Koetter said. "Everybody says that about Missouri, too."

The connection with Missouri is obvious to Koetter but probably no one else in the Valley.

Similar to Arizona State, the Tigers have won more than six games only twice since 1983. As offensive coordinator with the Tigers from 1989-93, Koetter coached three of the program's top five career passers. Columbia, Mo., isn't Phoenix, but it was a place where the Sun Devils' 42-year-old first-year coach cut his teeth.

"Half the game you couldn't run your offense because you had a 40-mile-an-hour wind," Koetter said of the climatic vagaries of the old Big Eight.

Koetter might have been ahead of his time running a spread offense 10 years ago at Missouri but might have been in over his head. The Tigers never won and the reputation of head coach Bob Stull's hot, young staff almost died on the vine.

Almost. Look close at football in the new millennium. Sometimes you have to get fired to re-invent yourself. Koetter and his coaching buddies who were let go in 1993 look like a dream staff today:

• Offensive line coach Andy Reid is now coach of the Philadelphia Eagles.
• Reid was replaced at Missouri by Marty Mornhinweg, now first-year coach of the Detroit Lions.
• Secondary coach Ken Flajole is an assistant with the Seattle Seahawks.
• Defensive line coach Mo Lattimore is the long-time line coach at powerhouse Kansas State.

Koetter has his dream job and all the intangibles that go with it. It just took some time.

"Dirk can score points," said Stull, now the Texas-El Paso athletic director. "He'll get them excited. He's a tremendous offensive mind, really well respected around the country in college and pro. He learned a lot, even after he left Missouri. There's no doubt they'll move the ball."

History says that Koetter is something more than a flavor of the week. Coming off a 9-2 season at Boise State, Koetter was getting 15 phone calls a day during practice from the likes of Rutgers, TCU, Oklahoma State and Arizona State.

His arrival in Tempe came down to Dennis Franchione choosing Alabama over TCU and Arizona State, two other schools that ostensibly had contract offers on the table. Koetter had committed orally to going to Oklahoma State in late November but changed his mind when Franchione went to Alabama in early December.

Two-timer? Not quite. It's the hard truth for Oklahoma State but any coach worth his whistle probably would choose Arizona State over the Cowboys.

"I told Oklahoma State that the Pac-10 was my first choice," Koetter said. "I worked a lot of years to get in position to be there. My answer to changing my mind is, 'It's my life.' I love the Pac-10, the style fits what we do."

Arizona State began two-a-days Monday armed with a coach who has seen it all at the relatively tender age of 42. The boyish-looking son of a longtime high school coach began workouts at Arizona State's traditional "Camp Tontozona", two hours northeast of campus near the Tonto National Forest.

While the temperatures in the mountains are not exactly cool, they are cooler than Phoenix where the mercury hit 113 degrees last week. That means a lot to a first-year coach watching players die around the country.

"People in general, from a lifestyle standpoint in Arizona, understand this heat thing," Koetter said. "Up until Oct. 1 we practice at night. I take a lot of my cues off Frank Kush. If the sun is not beating on you, there's a big difference between shade and sun. We begin practice about sixish and the sun drops behind a mountain."

Kush ran some of the most brutal practices in the history of college football but never had any of his players die. Koetter did.

Two years ago during two-a-days at Boise State, defensive lineman Paul Reyna was blocked by two offensive linemen during a play. He fell back on his head, left the field under his own power but later died because of a brain injury.

"It's bad enough on the family," he said. "That is just a rough, rough road I don't wish on anybody."

So if you don't think Koetter is ready, think again.

After Missouri, there were stops for Koetter at Boston College (under Dan Henning) and Oregon (under Mike Bellotti) before he landed his first college head coaching job at Boise State in 1998.

The obscure Big West did nothing to dim Koetter's star. Last year's Broncos led the nation in scoring offense, were second in total offense and fourth in passing offense.

Last year's Sun Devils were 49th in scoring, 50th in total offense and 20th in passing offense. Sounds like a good marriage.

"Arizona State has a nice tradition," Koetter said. "They've done a lot of good things. As short ago as the 1996 season, if they beat Ohio State they probably win the national championship. But they've kind of slipped into this 5-6, 6-5 rut. Part of that is the Pac-10 is strong right now with the resurgence of three Northwest schools."

Oregon and Oregon State are clearly the class of the Pac-10, possibly the best conference in football this year. But in the Pac-10 no one is far behind. In the past seven years, seven different Pac-10 teams have advanced to the Rose Bowl.

So why not Arizona State and why not now?

Koetter has 16 returning starters. Sophomore quarterback Jeff Krohn threw for a freshman-record 432 yards last year against Bellotti and the Ducks. All-Pac-10 center Scott Peters is back. Koetter lured special teams guru Tom Osborne away from Oregon. Even with a late start, Koetter was able to land a talented recruiting class.

"We've tried to outwork everyone else in the country," Peters said, "which has pretty much been our attitude."

Then again, this is The Valley where the giant continues to sleep, but for how long?