WHEN KENNY DILLINGHAM speaks, it’s exhausting to not pay attention. The sound of his voice, nevertheless, is just half the portrait. Watching him converse paints a much more full image.
Dillingham’s eyes appear to widen and ignite as if they’ve been flickered on by a match. Sometimes, his arms be a part of the get together whereas his eyebrows shoot as much as the sky and his head bobs up and down, all of it harmonizing with the cadence of his phrases, which frequently really feel like they’re being spoken a mile a minute.
This season, Dillingham’s postgame interviews after wins have turn into a fascination and a small, however important manifestation of his character. Whether baptized by a vat of celebratory Gatorade or just worn out by being planted for three-plus hours below the Arizona solar, Dillingham usually seems drenched and out of breath, as if he has gone via a whole recreation himself or run via a psychological marathon. But even so, that solely faucets right into a portion of the vitality he possesses. Whatever stays, he appears to channel into his public talking.
Even via a display, Dillingham comes alive. His teaching workers and gamers gravitate towards the mix of youth and bravado that makes him distinctive. And for many who determine to make use of the phrase “quirky” to explain him, they shortly observe it up with a caveat.
“He marches to the beat of his personal drum,” ASU assistant head coach and particular groups coordinator Charles Ragle stated. “But he is aware of who he’s and I believe that that mixture is what makes him particular.”
Once in a press convention room, Dillingham could be barely extra subdued, however he would not maintain again. He requires his gamers to receives a commission “what they deserve,” and he has no drawback referring to them as “underpaid.” He’ll announce an impromptu kicker tryout in the midst of the season, or he’ll clarify matter-of-factly why he’ll assist Arizona State gamers who determine to enter the portal whereas letting them keep on the roster all through the playoff run.
In this new, evolving period of the game, Dillingham has little problem saying the quiet half out loud. The 34-year-old’s filter is extra like a sieve, an method that stands out towards the backdrop of monotone coachspeak machines that equate any show of persona as antithetical to their mission.
Whether he’s waxing poetic about his gamers on nationwide TV or leaping with the ASU scholar crowd and even arguing with referees after they put one second again on the clock, like they did towards BYU, Dillingham — and by extension the Sun Devils — have turn into the game’s Energizer Bunnies, dashing previous expectations with a mixture of fearlessness and chemistry that takes applications years to attain.
“I like to compete. If you do not wish to compete, you are not going to love it right here,” Dillingam stated in a latest interview with ESPN. “That’s actually what began the turnaround was simply getting guys who’re aggressive.”
Arizona State has a working again in Cam Skattebo who has supercharged its offense. It has a protection that has improved leaps and bounds in a yr, and a quarterback in Sam Leavitt, who may very well be a Heisman contender subsequent yr. But how the Sun Devils went from being picked to complete final within the Big 12 to convention champions and College Football Playoff quarterfinalists (the place they’re going to face Texas within the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl on Wednesday at 1 p.m. ET) cannot be defined with out Dillingham, who’s on the heart of the wonderful frenzy he has created. The Arizona native’s edge and aggressive zeal have permeated this system and turned the dire state of affairs he inherited right into a profitable one in a single day.
“He’s anyone that stays true to himself. He’s not making an attempt to evolve to a picture,” cornerbacks coach Bryan Carrington stated. “He’s making an attempt to do that in a singular, honest, natural method, and for him being a Sun Devil, you may inform that he is very keen about this place, he is very calculated about this place. He treats this place like his child, as a result of it is his dream.”
CHARLIE RAGLE SITS in Arizona State coaches conferences lately and listens intently. His mind usually fluctuates between nostalgia and delicate disbelief.
Ragle is not simply the Sun Devils’ assistant head coach and particular groups coordinator. He is not only a longtime soccer coach who has coached up and down the ranks of Arizona highschool soccer. He’s, perhaps most significantly, the one accountable for Dillingham being right here, on the head of a gathering room in entrance of a whole teaching workers, and never anyplace else — particularly not a courtroom.
When Dillingham was getting into his senior yr of highschool soccer at Chaparral High in Arizona, his father John — a lawyer and member of the college’s booster membership — requested Ragle to present Kenny a shot regardless of him coming off a knee surgical procedure. But as soon as Ragle, then the pinnacle coach at Chaparral, noticed Kenny struggling to maneuver on the sphere, he supplied him a unique alternative.
“His knee was screwed up, and he got here to me sooner or later that spring and was identical to, ‘I can not play. I can not do it,'” Ragle stated. “”I’m principally accomplished with soccer.'”
Ragle did not need to see Dillingham stroll away from the game, so he requested him to remain, to not play, however to assist as a scholar coach. Dillingham agreed. Once the season was over, nevertheless, he advised Ragle of his unsure plans: go to Arizona State and perhaps turn into a lawyer, like his dad. Ragle did not need to get in the way in which, however he requested Dillingham to take his lessons after which make his method over to Chaparral within the afternoons to proceed serving to him.
“I simply form of took a liking to him,” Ragle stated. “He was stuffed with vitality, identical method he’s now.”
If Ragle was the one who began the fireplace inside Dillingham to educate, neither he nor anybody else needed to do a lot to stoke it. Dillingham was hooked and poured all the pieces into teaching. He shortly went from scholar coach to quarterbacks coach from 2007 via 2012 at Chaparral. He was the offensive coordinator for the college in 2013 when he willed himself right into a job at Arizona State.
“The vitality that he has proper now is similar vitality he had again then,” stated Todd Graham, who was the Sun Devils head coach on the time. “He would come round our program each day and simply put on me out wanting to come back and sit in on conferences.”
Graham and Mike Norvell, who was then the offensive coordinator at ASU, lastly relented and let Dillingham be a part of. The 23-year-old requested if he may attend each day and Graham agreed, not anticipating him to really do it.
“Sure sufficient, he got here each day,” Graham stated. “I bear in mind me and Mike watching him and speaking about, ‘Man, this man desires it, he loves ASU, he loves the youngsters, he loves this system.’ So we let him come round and the following yr we employed him as a [graduate assistant].”
Dillingham’s large break was a tidal wave of promotions. When Norvell went to be the pinnacle coach at Memphis in 2016, Dillingham adopted as a graduate assistant. A yr later he was the quarterbacks and tight ends coach. A yr after that, he was the Tigers’ offensive coordinator at simply 28 years outdated.
“People all the time advised him he was going to be an ideal coach. That often means you are not an excellent participant,” Ragle stated. “But he stated they have been telling him that when he was a bit of child in little league. So I simply assume that the additional he went on this, I believe that he noticed the success he was having in that. I believe he realized he may very well be fairly good at this.”
Over the years, Dillingham made a reputation for himself as a youthful persona who may get probably the most out of quarterbacks resembling Jordan Travis and Bo Nix. From beginning at Memphis to changing into the offensive coordinator at Auburn, Florida State and Oregon, he was charting a path that appeared to be on an eventual collision course with a head teaching gig. Then, just some months after he turned 32 years outdated, his alma mater known as.
WALK INTO THE Arizona State locker room on any given day and also you may not be capable of differentiate participant from head coach so simply. Between the fracas of music blaring and Madden enjoying, Dillingham is commonly proper within the center, sticks in his arms, making an attempt to do what he does on Saturdays: win.
“He can be head coach one minute after which he’ll be the man that is kicking the participant’s ass in Madden within the locker room an hour later,” Carrington stated.
“He’s positively a coach that is a full-time competitor,” graduate offensive lineman Ben Coleman stated. “And I believe that is actually cool, as a result of in case your coach desires to compete so unhealthy and all the pieces, how are you going to present as much as follow and never need to compete?”
Whether it is video video games, pingpong or some other aggressive discussion board, Coleman and his teammates have observed one thing else, too: Dillingham is not afraid to lose.
“He does care if he wins, however he is not scared to place himself ready the place he will not be favored in a state of affairs,” Coleman stated. “I believe that was a very good factor this yr, as a result of we noticed it on a regular basis. He’s not scared to place himself in a state of affairs the place, ‘I do know you guys do not assume I’m favored. I do not actually care. I’m assured in my work and my skills.'”
As Arizona State went into the season coming off back-to-back 3-9 campaigns and into the Big 12 with out a lot fanfare, coaches and gamers say now that they thrived off letting Dillingham’s self-belief seep into the remainder of the roster. It does assist, Coleman provides, that Dillingham’s youth is extra than simply relatable; it is magnetic.
Motivation and self-belief can solely carry you up to now in a recreation determined by slim margins and execution. But Dillingham’s perspective goes hand in hand together with his soccer acumen. Players and coaches rave about his skill to assume outdoors the field on the subject of something from offensive formations to trick performs.
“It’s simply how he seems at issues and the way his thoughts works. He sees issues in another way, he is actually good at seeing numbers, and I believe he is higher than most individuals that I’ve been round on the subject of what soccer is — a math drawback,” Ragle stated. “He has a present with numbers and the way his thoughts works. Sometimes you are like, ‘Dude, that is utterly ass backwards.’ You know what? Nobody else in right here sees it that method and that is OK.”
“He’s a genius. He is a genius forwards and backwards on each side of the ball,” Carrington stated. “The method this recreation involves him and how briskly he can regurgitate info, discover a aggressive edge and search to be artful.”
Carrington, who accomplished his variety teaching fellowship below Los Angeles Rams coach Sean McVay, usually sees the similarities between Dillingham and McVay when it comes to their considering, wittiness and deep wells of soccer data and ideas.
“From discovering methods to use groups, to get offenses or defenses in battle, he is all the time acquired concepts,” Carrington stated. “Some of the stuff that we have tried this yr is sort of like he is enjoying video video games identical to he performs Madden towards the youngsters. If that is a artistic area objective pretend or a punt, pretend or onside kick, he is all the time looking for a aggressive edge.”
The edge can usually be tangible — a play right here, a formation there, a matchup over there — however for Dillingham and ASU, the intangible benefit they’ve employed this yr has include ease. All season lengthy, Dillingham’s pulpit has professed an often-used “no one believes in us” mentality that has resonated with a congregation ripe for listening to that message.
Last season, this system had nothing to play for due to a self-imposed bowl ban that adopted coach Herm Edwards’ tenure, which was being investigated by the NCAA due to allegations of repeated recruiting violations. The Sun Devils introduced in 23 gamers within the switch portal final season (solely certainly one of them was a four-star recruit). Seventeen of them began within the Big 12 title recreation.
“I believe we have embraced being the underdog, as a result of he is allowed .us to try this and has ignited a hearth inside all people to embrace us being picked sixteenth,” Carrington stated. “We’re within the College Football Playoff a yr after having a group with nothing to play for and a catastrophe state of affairs. We have been behind the eight ball. So yeah, the blokes that selected to come back right here already had a chip on their shoulder and so they wished to flip the script.”
Not even these inside, nevertheless, anticipated it to flip this shortly.
In the span of a yr, the Sun Devils practically doubled their mixed win complete of the previous two years. Their offense is averaging over 100 extra yards per recreation than it did final season whereas practically doubling its factors per recreation complete. Their protection, in the meantime, ranks within the high 30 of SP+ and has pressured 22 turnovers this season. Last season, it pressured 9 — a mark that was higher than solely 4 groups in all of FBS.
“I’d’ve thought we might’ve in all probability been in all probability one yr away from it, however I knew with the joy and plan Kenny introduced into this program, I knew it will occur fairly shortly,” working backs coach Shaun Aguano stated. “We knew [winning] was going to come back alongside someday. It simply occurred quicker than we thought.”
THE MORE GAMES Arizona State gained this season, the extra Aguano’s telephone saved buzzing with calls and texts from native highschool coaches.
Aguano, a longtime staple of the Arizona highschool scene and one of many winningest highschool coaches within the space, turned the interim coach at ASU after the college fired Edwards in 2022. In and across the metropolis, there was a variety of assist for Aguano, and conserving him on workers was certainly one of Dillingham’s first choices. It did not take lengthy for Aguano to see that Dillingham had the proper mindset for this system.
“When he talks about activating the Valley, he is acquired the neighborhood concerned greater than I’ve ever seen within the years I’ve been right here,” Aguano stated. “That identical vitality that he reveals in these interviews is the very same factor that he initiatives when he is in entrance of the group or in entrance of the coaches. He’s bouncing across the hallways from 5 within the morning until 10 at night time, and that carries to the remainder of this system.”
When it involves recruiting and the portal, Dillingham’s spark performs nicely. As Coleman defined, not each coach has the flexibility to attach with youthful gamers and relate to them. Follow Dillingham on X, and posts and reposts will shortly replenish your timeline. If there’s something being stated about his group or his gamers that’s constructive, he’s there to amplify it, touch upon it or add to the noise. It would not be far-fetched to say the 34-year-old is among the most on-line coaches in FBS.
“How may you not need to go play for anyone who’s publicly advocating for you?” Coleman stated.
Dillingham’s method has been to embrace the sport’s evolution relatively than combat it and even begrudgingly settle for it. It’s why he has no drawback asking for cash publicly, carrying a T-shirt with ASU’s NIL collective postgame or selling his gamers on podiums and thru posts and connecting them with native companies for NIL alternatives.
“We’re doing extra with guys who simply acquired it out of the mud, however finally you must get what you deserve,” Dillingham stated after the Sun Devils knocked off No. 14 BYU on Nov. 23, whereas carrying the collective’s shirt. “Our guys deserve extra, and that is why I wore this.”
“He’s extra versed in NIL than anybody we’ve ever had right here,” Aguano stated. “He understands precisely what is going on on, the principles of all the pieces, the best way to benefit from it.”
It’s not simply the gamers’ pockets he is enthusiastic about, both. When he has been requested about his personal contract extension talks, Dillingham has shifted the main target towards assistants and gamers. And when this system reached 9 wins this season, triggering a $200,000 bonus for Dillingham, he promptly redistributed it amongst 20 off-field workers members.
“This dude is considering soccer nonstop,” Ragle stated. “And it is not simply the X’s and O’s, it is about how the sport is altering. You see guys which can be of their early 60s, late 50s, I believe rising weary of the sport and the way in which that faculty soccer is altering in actual time, and he is over right here manufacturing concepts that may assist his program.”
But these inside this system know that Dillingham’s fervor and technique, nevertheless spectacular, must be backed by substance, and that, finally, comes right down to profitable. After the Sun Devils earned 11 wins this season, coaches who’ve been out on the path or recruiting the portal have observed the distinction in the way in which ASU is perceived.
“It’s lots of people which can be answering the telephones that weren’t answering the telephone three months in the past,” Carrington stated. “We’re the flavour of the month now.”
Graham is aware of nicely what the Valley will be when it’s, in actual fact, activated. While he was in Tempe for six seasons, Graham noticed the highs and lows, together with back-to-back double-digit win seasons in 2012 and 2013 and the way in which that the town and the college have been passionate for a winner. Graham believes that Dillingham’s rent got here at what was possible the bottom level of this system after the “debilitating” errors that preceded it.
“He had a tougher job than I had,” Graham stated. “And let me inform you, a yr in the past, at 3-9, there weren’t many individuals believing in what he was doing. Now? He’s acquired an entire lot of individuals believing. It’s a magical place to be proper now.”
While Dillingham could shrink back from credit score at any flip, there’s a clear consciousness throughout the program of how essential he has been to the turnaround. Football is a group sport, however profitable program-building all the time requires greater than only a face.
“I’m like, ‘I do know you do not want credit score, however everyone knows that you are the driving drive of this entire program,'” Coleman stated. “Because when stuff goes incorrect, he is the primary person who will get checked out, so when stuff goes proper, I all the time wish to say that he is the rationale why stuff goes proper.”
Loads has gone proper for Arizona State this season, and although it’s not accomplished but, what Dillingham has been in a position to do in a flash has given the Sun Devils hope, momentum, however most significantly, a blueprint for achievement.
