Covering Key Arizona State Athletic Developments Over Weekend
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TEMPE -- The last several days have been quite eventful in the world of Arizona State athletics - that is to say the least.
It was reported that football head coach Kenny Dillingham had agreed to a new contract with university brass on Saturday morning, while Arizona State's men's basketball dropped a game to Oregon State on Sunday afternoon.
ASU on SI breaks down what was said by basketball head coach Bobby Hurley after the loss, as well as what AD Graham Rossini had to say about the football program developments.
Hurley on Arizona State's Setback
“It’s awful because no one thought anything of us. Maybe we’ll win a handful of games this year…We were in a really good position to get double-figure wins here heading into conference play and fell short.”
The Sun Devils officially fell to 9-4 on the 2025-26 season with the 78-75 loss to Oregon State, a former Pac-12 foe that opened the game with a 6-6 record.
Arizona State not only fell short of the win after being up by as much as 11 points in the second half, but they also fell to a team that went into Sunday ranked 197 in the NCAA NET rankings - making this a quadrant four loss for the time being for Hurley's squad.
Arizona State entered Sunday firmly on the bubble of the NCAA tournament - they are likely to remain in the range even with this loss, but now need to win at least nine Big 12 games to be in a position to reach the goal of a tournament berth come March.
AD Discusses Closure on Dillingham Contract Saga
Graham Rossini left no stone unturned when asked about the process of retaining Dillingham, making it clear that retaining the 35-year-old head coach has always been a top priority - and that they were never worried that it would come to the point that he would depart.
“Keeping Kenny is an absolute priority for me. It’s an absolute priority for Dr. Crow. It was never a concern that we had about letting him move on…It was more about giving our coaches the tools to do their job at the highest possible level.”
The contract that Dillingham has agreed to will reportedly include a bump in salary pool for assistant coaches to north of $11 million, which would place the program at or near the top of the Big 12 in terms of that support. Other aspects of support are in the works as well, including the indoor practice facility that is supposed to be finished ahead of the 2028 football season.
AD Discusses Support for Football Program
“If someone wants to write a $20 million check, l’m all for it. I’d love to find those people. But more importantly, when you look at almost 700,000 ASU alums all over the world. There’s almost a million people that have attended this university. That’s where a little bit can start to go a long way in terms of feeding the momentum that we are starting to create. And it's a credit to our coaches, it's a credit to our athletes, it's a credit to the fanbase that's so plugged in."
Dillingham suggested that powerful Arizona State alumni such as golfers Jon Rahm and Phil Mickelson step up to the plate, becoming even more immortalized in the history of ASU in the process. Rossini is one hundred percent correct in his own right, as every little contribution matters - especially when it gets compounded by the high volume of individuals associated with the school.
At the end of the day, there's little doubt that the administration is committed to taking Sun Devil athletics to completely uncharted heights - this development has potential to be a career-defining move by university President Michael Crow.
Read more on why the Arizona State men's basketball team will exceed expectations in the 2025-26 season here, and on why the bright future of the football program isn’t dimmed by the loss to Arizona here.
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Kevin Hicks is an Arizona State alumni and now serves as the Arizona State Beat Writer On SI.