Kenny Dillingham is exactly what Arizona State football needed

Fairy tales rarely come true in college football.

But there are 40,000 freshmen enrolled at Arizona State University, a revolution waiting for a cause. There is a football team that just pounded Wyoming 48-7 in the season opener, a performance that instantly changed forecasts, betting lines and the mood of giddy alumni. And there is a homegrown head coach with a strong voice, irrepressible energy, and a wisdom that belies his age. A head coach with a rare combination:

Kenny Dillingham has it. Kenny Dillingham gets it. And after 27 years of mostly mediocre football in the Valley, you wonder if he’s the one to make it right. If this is the guy that will emerge as Tempe’s version of Lute Olson, strong enough to build a collegiate powerhouse in the desert and crazy enough to never leave for greener pastures.

Forgive me if you are coughing up bile or rolling your eyes. But I have seen it all. I have seen the great flirtation, when Bruce Snyder trekked through Idaho snow to recruit Jake Plummer, ruining a $300 pair of shoes; when Pat Tillman rode his bike to the stadium and meditated from the top of a light tower; when the Sun Devils came within 100 seconds of a national championship.

I have seen the subsequent failures and false starts, from Dirk Koetter to Dennis Erickson, from Todd Graham to Herm Edwards. None of them had what Dillingham brings to the table.

For starters, Dillingham has real tenacity and real appetite. He fired his hand-picked offensive coordinator halfway through the 2023 season and took over play-calling duties.

He shuffled his assistants again this season, upgrading the staff at defensive line (Diron Reynolds), offensive coordinator (former UNLV head coach Marcus Arroyo) while importing a celebrity wide receivers coach (former Steelers great Hines Ward).

He is not stumbling with the culture and its catchphrases. He is not overindulging or co-opting the memory of Tillman. He has authenticity and sincerity because he knows what it means to be a Sun Devil.

Dillingham is not playing scared. He is pushing the envelope, challenging the fan base, publicly pining for a return to the glory days when college football was a point of pride in the Valley. When Saturdays were meant to be spent at Sun Devil Stadium.

Maybe it’s folly to believe a saturated professional sports town can return to its collegiate roots. But this is also a great time to bang the drums and make some noise. The Valley has lost its NHL franchise and is no longer considered a big-league market. We could use a fourth major sports team right about now, and a resurgent bunch of Sun Devils would feel nostalgic and fresh at the same time.

Hopefully, ASU’s debut performance on Saturday was a revelation and not a mirage. The dominance was breathtaking, and certainly not the slog everyone was expecting. The student section was teeming with people, with reports of actual gridlock on the concourse. It spoke to a promise we’ve heard many times before, about the awakening of a sleeping giant in Tempe.

Maybe this team will be different. Twenty-seven years later but right on time. And if we’re really lucky, maybe we’ll all thank Ray Anderson for his parting gift to ASU, for the head coach he hired after Herm Edwards.

Reach Bickley at dbickley@arizonasports.com. Listen to Bickley & Marotta weekdays from 6 a.m. – 10 a.m. on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM. 

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