CBS Sports gives Kenny Dillingham ‘A’ grade for second season

ASU shocked the college football world this season with a berth to the first-ever 12-team College Football Playoff. CBS Sports’ Tom Fornelli graded second-year head coaches in college football and gave Kenny Dillingham the best grade possible for turning a 3-9 team into Big 12 champions.

Fornelli gave Dillingham an A grade, and he was the only coach in the FBS to receive an A. The next closest coach was Louisville’s Jeff Brohm, who received an A-.

How quickly things can turn around. After a 3-9 debut season with the Sun Devils, Dillingham’s squad went 11-3 in 2024, won the Big 12, and took Texas to overtime in the College Football Playoff quarterfinals. It’s both a testament to Dillingham’s coaching ability and the unpredictable nature of the Big 12: all the favorites stumbled this season, and Cinderellas popped up everywhere. Dillingham will head into the 2025 season with one of the most promising QBs (Sam Leavitt) in the country, so expectations will be high.

We all know the story by now: ASU was projected by the media to finish last in the Big 12 out of 16 teams. They were amongst the biggest sports betting upsets in history.

A bet on ASU to win the Big 12 was at +10,000 odds in August, meaning if you placed a $100 wager, you would have won $10,000 when the Sun Devils raised the trophy in Arlington, Texas.

Dillingham had ASU as the 30th scoring offense in the nation at 32.9 points per game, which was good for fourth in the Big 12. The Sun Devils’ ground attack finished 20th in the nation at 199.9 rushing yards per game, fourth in the Big 12.

On the other side of the ball, ASU was third in the Big 12 in scoring defense, allowing 22.6 points per game.

Dillingham has a history of developing successful quarterbacks throughout his college career: Riley Ferguson at Memphis, Bo Nix with Auburn and Oregon, and Jordan Travis at Florida State.

Dillingham now has the opportunity to continue that success with Sam Leavitt after the quarterback’s impressive first season as the starter for the Sun Devils.

After ASU won its ninth game of the year with a victory over BYU, a $200,000 bonus kicked in. Dillingham decided to split his bonus to a group of 20 off-the-field personnel.

“I’m one piece of this,” Dillingham said on the Jim Rome Show. “Like, I’m the guy who goes on your show and talks for the brand. I’m not the guy breaking down the film right now, putting in 100s of hours doing that. I’m not the guy meeting with our players 24/7. I’m not the guy putting together cutups. I’m not the guy talking to every single one of our recruits.

“We need an army, we need a group of people together to get this accomplished. I wanted to reward the people who really got us to this point.”

Dillingham received a five-year contract extension before the quarterfinal playoff game versus Texas. Offensive and defensive coordinators Marcus Arroyo and Brian Ward were each rewarded with extensions earlier in the season, as well.

ASU finished the season ranked No. 7 in the final 2024-25 college football AP poll.