ASU Football: “This is home” for emotional Kenny Dillingham

(Photo: Cavan Malayter/WCSN)

TEMPE – On Sunday morning, Arizona State Football announced its next head coach will be Kenny Dillingham, who declared former interim head coach Shaun Aguano will be retained on his staff.

The hiring process for Dillingham was an extensive process, according to Athletic Director Ray Anderson, who added the importance of finding a candidate who understands the modern landscape of college football. ASU has been slow to adopt Name, Image and Likeness, providing athletes with the Sun Angel Collective as its only NIL collective. The new rules surrounding NIL have changed how college athletics are perceived.

“We are in a new era of college football,” Anderson said. “And we expect changes to continue. It is going to evolve. But for the foreseeable future, it will continue to change. And so, the future is name, image and likeness. To talk about name and likeness. The future is about the transfer portal. Conference realignment and media rights that continue to create disparities between the haves and the have-nots.

It is in our view; the new era head coach must be prepared to deal and embrace all of these challenges. And the opportunities presented by this changing world. And so, we at Arizona State are a unique and special place. It will take a head coach like Kenny Dillingham to get us there.”

Dillingham is an Arizona native, playing and coaching at Chaparral high school in Scottsdale, allowing him to understand the impact The Valley can have on his program. A priority for him is to recruit athletes at Arizona high schools, to keep them home.

To accomplish that, Dillingham plans to keep Aguano on his staff.

“I think Coach Aguano is one piece of that,” Dillingham said. “I mean, he’s a guy who’s extremely rooted in The Valley. Extremely respected.

“We’re going to be rooted in Arizona, we’re going to hire a staff that has roots here. That has connections. How do you sign kids? How do you build a roster? Relationship.”

Recruiting high school athletes is only half the battle. The transfer portal’s rules have changed, allowing players to move freely across the collegiate levels. Now, it is the staff’s responsibility to keep the players it has on its roster, while also adding pieces via the portal.

“You were very positive about the portal,” President Michael Crow said. “And what the portal has done to open up the freedom of movement of young men to find places to advance their talent, where they had in the past been stuck.”

Before the new transfer portal rules were implemented, athletes could be deceived into committing to a program that did not follow the promises made to the recruit. Now, players can transfer out of a program if they feel it is the right thing to do.

To keep players on his roster, Dillingham will resort to honesty during recruitment.

“I am a firm believer in the transfer portal,” Dillingham said. “I am the number one advocate for it because what happens in recruiting is you have a whole bunch of people tell kids what they want to hear for 2-3 years. And in the past, those kids would get told what they wanted to hear, then get stuck.

“Now, you better be the person you say you are. You better come through with those promises. I am a firm believer in the transfer portal for that reason is it gives the power to the kids. And that’s who needs the power in this deal.”

The Arizona native called his new job “literally home,” moving him to tears. Dillingham took a few moments to gather himself, prompting Crow to jokingly say “there’s no emotions in football.”

But Dillingham assured he is an emotional person.

“I’m pretty emotional, right? It’s just who I am,” said Dillingham, who was choking up. “But one thing that you’re gonna get from me. I am who I am. I am who I am. I’m going to be the same person every single day I show up to work. I’m going to be fired up to be here. Fired up to be a Sun Devil.”

The support from Sun Devils fans is an aspect Dillingham emphasized, believing the backing will fuel success in the program.

“We need The Valley behind us,” Dillingham said. “We need the state behind us. We need butts in seats. We need everything that this Valley has. All in. Because I am all in.

“This place can be special, and it is special. We’re gonna hire people who believe in it. We’re gonna put our hearts into it. Right, and we’re gonna maximize every drop that we can get out of it. Right, and this is my dream job.”