ASU coach Kenny Dillingham wants these BYU game vibes in Tempe every week
Nov 22, 2024, 8:46 AM
Kenny Dillingham landed his dream job as Arizona State’s head football coach before the 2023 season with a vision of cultural goals over football ones. It helped that he grew up down the road and understood the uniqueness of ASU’s place in a big city alongside what was then four pro sports teams.
Not even two years in, he doesn’t believe he’s reached those cultural goals aligned with his “Activate the Valley” mantra. But he’s starting to see what could be as the football product has turned around quickly.
“I’ve dreamt and — not manifested — but I’ve thought about that moment of we’re playing meaningful games in a soldout crowd here for, like, forever,” Dillingham told Arizona Sports’ Bickley & Marotta on Friday before the Sun Devils host BYU for a lead in the Big 12.
“For, I mean, 10 years, I’ve thought of these types of moments and getting this program to where this is not a flash in the pan. This is just a Saturday,” he added. “That’s the part, for me, that’s exciting. I hope we can make what this environment’s going to be Saturday, we can make this a normal Saturday in Tempe, Arizona, for four months straight. That’s what college towns do. That’s what great programs are. Not that just this game is big, but every game, people show up with the intensity and passion they’re about to show up with on Saturday.”
Kenny Dillingham is getting questions about maintaining ASU’s success with this season far from over
Arizona State (8-2) hosts BYU (9-1) at Mountain America Stadium for a 1:30 p.m. MST kickoff Saturday with a win giving the Sun Devils a near-clear path to the conference championship game. ASU would need to beat rival Arizona to end the regular season and have a shot at fighting for the Big 12 title.
Even with those ifs left, it’s natural for Sun Devil fans to start asking questions about what happens five steps down the road.
How will Arizona State football maintain and build on this season, regardless of how it ends? Can a refreshed athletic department led by AD Graham Rossini and under a new structure from a university standpoint get things done to amp up recruiting and NIL support?
Specifically about Dillingham: Will Arizona State University president Michael Crow and the university leadership group that dragged its feet firing the last coach and replacing the athletic director act like they appreciate what has happened since the head coach’s arrival?
And will Dillingham personally seek an extension even though his contract already runs through 2028?
“I’m worried about our staff, I’m worried about our players,” Dillingham said Friday. “I’m worried about keeping our core of this together. I mean, we’re not winning these games because of Kenny Dillingham.
“I’ve said it multiple times and people want to, like, argue with me. I’m like, I’m the one telling you and I’m Kenny Dillingham. It’s not me. It’s our staff and our players. It’s the players, the players, the players.”
To that point, Dillingham’s cultural foresight deserves credit. His top players appear to have strong bonds with him. He’s recruited coaches who’ve been there, most notably offensive coordinator Marcus Arroyo, who has been a college head coach, and receivers coach Hines Ward, who has won a Super Bowl.
“We truly have good people in the building. You can’t say that at every stop that you make,” Dillingham told Bickley & Marotta. “You have good people that truly care about people and the players know that the coaches care about them. There’s just a connection that’s stronger than transactional.
“Then when you have guys who have been head coaches, you have guys who have won Super Bowls and they’re the ones showing up at 5:15 a.m., (players are) like, ‘Woh, you don’t need to do that. You guys have already made it, you’ve done what I wanted to do. … Maybe I need to listen to everything you say.'”
That’s why Dillingham’s biggest long-term worry is losing who he’s brought in.
