Kenny Dillingham Confirms He Reassured Michigan State Fan He Wouldn’t Go to Michigan

The Arizona State coach had a laugh after re-upping with the Sun Devils.

Kenny Dillingham is staying at Arizona State in 2026. / Nirmalendu Majumdar/Ames Tribune / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Any college football fan who has spent unholy amounts of time on the Internet is familiar with Message Board Geniuses, an X account that collects and broadcasts to the world the most deranged takes from the sport’s durable message-board-verse.

Once in a blue moon, however, the account will unearth a post grounded in fact. That’s precisely what happened Friday as Arizona State fans fretted over the possibility of losing coach Kenny Dillingham to Michigan.

First, Message Board Geniuses shared a post from a Michigan State fan who claimed to have run into Dillingham at their local coffee shop (that would jive with their screen name, Desert Green). The fan, per their account, implored Dillingham not to leave to coach the Wolverines, and Dillingham “laughed and said ‘don’t think that’s going to happen.’”

On Saturday, Dillingham—newly extended by the Sun Devils—confirmed that the interaction indeed took place.

"This is a true story! Which makes this even funnier! #2026," he wrote on social media, before deleting the post minutes later.

Arizona State is scheduled to play Duke in the Sun Bowl New Year's Eve, while Michigan continues to look for a new boss after firing coach Sherrone Moore under sordid circumstances.

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