Kenny Dillingham Discusses Loyalty, Direction of Program

TEMPE -- Arizona State football head coach Kenny Dillingham spoke with media following Saturday's walkthrough practice, discussing the Michigan opportunity that is now behind him, building towards an optimal future in Tempe, and more.

To watch the full availability, view below.

Below is a partial transcript from the Saturday exchange - with added commentary.

On Blocking Outside Noise Out

"I never really let it distract me. I don't let stuff like that distract me at all. I don't fall into, you know, all the game of this thing. I just go about my business. Go do what I need to do today to be better today, roll them in and you rock and roll. So it really wasn't a distraction for me personally, it was just another day doing what I do and operating it is a reality show, though, so I understand that it can be distracting to other people, but to me, it's like I'm an episode on the show. So just just another episode."

Dillingham has never been one to shy away from questions or speculation when talking to media, but he does block the outside noise out when it comes to preparing his team to play.

On Direction of Program

"Right now in college, you can be as good as you want to be, you can be as bad as you want to be. It's that simple. I mean, I think what we've done in the last three years, we've created a level of expectation where we can be competitive. We can be on the upper echelon of competitive in some areas. We can be in the middle area of competitive in other areas where we can be competitive.

But in this city, I mean, all it takes is a couple people to say, wow, what's going on? That's it. We've yet to get that. That's that's the one thing we're short on right now. We're yet to get that, that person to really just dive in, or those three people to really just dive in, jump in, and they're out there, and it's and it's gonna come when that comes."

Arizona State is on the brink of being a consistently great program, but there is still work to be done to fully realize this goal. Dillingham specifically mentioned golfers Phil Mickelson and Jon Rahm when pleading for more support of the football program.

On Support From University President Michael Crow

"Yeah, I mean, he's stepped up. And I don't think I've ever said they haven't since I've been here, I've alluded to like, more and more and more, and I'll always say that if I'm not saying that I'm doing something wrong, right, we should always up more to a point where we're the best in the country. And are we? Are we getting better and better and better 100% has he rung the bell and answered the bell over and over again?

Yes, but at the end of the day, you know, the university can only do so much alone, right and right now we're lacking in some areas that you know, me and him have a plan to try to raise more money here together, to do it together. He's committed to doing it with me together. And, you know, I've got unbelievable belief that he can get it done."

Crow has been incredibly adaptive in these situations ever since Graham Rossini took over as AD - the paradigm shift is a potentially significant one in the equilibrium of the university as a whole.

On Stepping Up to Support Assistant Coaches

"And this was never about me. Like I said, I'm not gonna this is never about me. It was not the intent is not about to be me. This was about everybody else. It's about getting the program what it needs. It's about getting the players. It's about, you know, trying to put a plan together in this new era for the players, and it's about our coaches. This was never about me, and I never wanted to make it about me, and I hope I know by naturally it does, but that's just the unfortunate part of the role I'm in."

Assistants such as RB coach Shaun Aguano and DL coach Diron Reynolds have firmly entrenched themselves as integral pieces from within the program, and efforts to keep them are of paramount importance moving forward.

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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