Torey Lovullo on Kenny Dillingham’s message to Diamondbacks: ‘I see what makes him special’

SCOTTSDALE — Arizona State head football coach Kenny Dillingham spoke to the Arizona Diamondbacks at spring training on Monday, and manager Torey Lovullo called his visit “as good as I’ve seen.”

Lovullo, a self-described elder statesman among the Valley professional sports managers/head coaches, contacted Dillingham, one of the fastest rising coaches in college football a couple weeks ago. The Diamondbacks have hosted guest speakers on a fairly regular basis, but Lovullo felt Dillingham’s message particularly resonated with his players at Salt River Fields.

“I believe in sharing messages,” Lovullo said. “It’s my first time actually meeting him. I’ve been on the phone with him and texting with him, and to finally get him in the building, I see what makes him special. There’s a ton of energy, there’s a ton of passion, there’s a ton of direction. And when he left this building today, we got better with his message.

“What I saw is there’s a lot of common denominators between what he’s doing there and what we’re doing here. So that just reinforces some of the beliefs that you have, that you’re doing things right.”

ASU head coach Kenny Dillingham visited the Diamondbacks on Monday and left an impression on Arizona manager Torey Lovullo and the team.

"To finally get him in the building, I see what makes him special," Lovullo said. "There's a ton of energy, there's a ton of passion, there's… pic.twitter.com/h6n8KPZnlP

— Arizona Sports (@AZSports) February 24, 2025

The Sun Devils zoomed past preseason expectations this past season to win the Big 12 championship in Dillingham’s second year in charge. The 34-year-old head coach and Valley native led his program to its first appearance in the College Football Playoff.

The run in some ways is reminiscent to the Diamondbacks in 2023, who stunned MLB by reaching the World Series two years after a 110-loss campaign. Both teams captivated the Valley and their respective seasons with elevated expectations. Setting standards are heard frequently around both entities.

Dillingham’s age and accomplishments struck the players a bit differently than speakers past, ace pitcher Zac Gallen explained.

“I got a chance to play golf with him last week … and I joked around I said, ‘You following me around or what?'” Gallen said. “I was actually going to ask him if he had any plans to come to talk to us.

“He was great. I think with his age and what they’ve done, he’s very relatable. I think we’ve had some speakers in here, they’ve been good, but maybe a little bit un-relatable. I know it’s harder sometimes across sports, but I think his message and the culture they’re building over there translates directly with what we’re trying to do here.”

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Lovullo did not want to disclose the exact message, but he credited Dillingham’s room presence and authenticity.

The skipper said he’d been thinking about bringing in Dillingham for a while, especially after ASU’s dominant Big 12 title game win over Iowa State. MLB.com reporter Steve Gilbert actually passed along the phone number.

“He called me coach. ‘What’s up, coach?’ It’s a big thing in football industry. To every head football coach I know, I am coach to them,” Lovullo said. “I’m like, ‘Kenny, it’s Torey Lovullo.’ He’s like, ‘I know who it is. Let’s go. What do you want?’ So, we got to it right away.

“I told him what’s been inspiring me lately. Shared with him a little screenshot of my notes … and he said got it and then he nailed his own message. He overlapped a little bit, but it was definitely his core beliefs that were overlapped with mine.”

Lovullo did not want to end his conversation with Dillingham, deferring to his coaches to monitor pregame spring training work along the backfields.

“We really hammered away at some really deep stuff that I’ll take with me,” he said. “What’s going on at ASU is not an accident.”

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