ASU’s Kenny Dillingham gleaned a thing or 2 from Cardinals, Jonathan Gannon

TEMPE — It’s not hard to find similarities between Arizona Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon and Arizona State Sun Devils lead man Kenny Dillingham.

Both have built up their respective squads behind high motors, enthusiasm and team-first intangibles. ASU and the Cardinals are in better places than when their coaches found them.

So it should come as no surprise the two football minds and their coaching staffs linked up at Cardinals headquarters ahead of this season.

Cardinals 🤝 Sun Devils

Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon isn’t surprised by ASU’s run having “talked a lot of ball” with head coach @KennyDillingham and his staff this past spring:

“There’s no wonder why they’re winning. He’s on it.” #ASU #AZCardinals pic.twitter.com/HhTTjlMDCM

— Tyler Drake (@Tdrake4sports) December 2, 2024

“I know they’re lighting it up, so we’re pulling for him,” Gannon said last week when asked about ASU’s run to a College Football Playoff berth. “He’s a good dude. He came out here in the spring — him and his whole staff.

“We talked a lot of ball. It was really good. There’s no wonder why they’re winning. He’s on it.”

Dillingham and the rest of his coaching staff sat in on meetings, watched practice, picked brains and even got some inspiration on the defensive side of the football.

“Coach Gannon was awesome,” the Sun Devils head coach told Arizona Sports’ Burns & Gambo on Monday. “They do some awesome stuff on defense with how they fit their safeties. Three different safeties, three different ways. We kind of stole some of that. We’ve tried to apply it. Really blessed that he opened his doors up to us.”

The trajectories of their teams may be on different wavelengths, but overall, progress is being made.

Arizona is currently sputtering toward the finish line on a three-game losing streak, but improvement is there in the win-loss columns with four games left to play.

The vision the new regime had for this franchise has already begun taking shape two seasons in.

The Sun Devils meanwhile are gearing up for a College Football Playoff quarterfinal in the Peach Bowl after going from worst to first in what is a true Cinderella story.

“The season that they are having, it’s just been so much fun to watch and it’s brought so much excitement,” general manager Monti Ossenfort told Arizona Sports’ Wolf & Luke on Friday afternoon.

“Coach Dillingham and his staff and his players, it’s been great to follow. I was able to get out there and see them play a little bit this year. Just wish them all the luck here as they go into the playoffs. It’s been great (to see) all the success for them and more to come.”

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