Journalists Need to Stop Talking About Coach Dillingham Leaving ASU: Opinion
- Amelia Thompson
- Nov 16
- 3 min read
Auburn fired the head coach of their football team, Hugh Freeze, last Sunday following a disappointing loss to Kentucky–sinking their record to 4-5. Almost immediately, however, suspicion that Kenny Dillingham would depart from ASU to take Freeze’s place arose—and not for the first time this season either. Journalists need to stop talking about Coach Dillingham leaving. Like seriously. Stop Talking about it.
From an outside perspective, it would seem probable that coach Dillingham could leave if the right opportunity came. He was offensive coordinator and QB head coach for Auburn in 2019 where he oversaw Bo Nix’s SEC Rookie of the Year accomplishment. Apart from his time at Auburn, he stacked his resume with Quarterback coaching and Offensive coordinator positions at Memphis, Florida State and Oregon. His performance last year in ASU’s run for the National Championship made him a household name.
Dillingham’s enthusiastic, player-focused coaching style put all eyes on him this off-season, especially the eyes of schools with coaching openings like Penn State, UCLA, Alabama, LSU and Florida. However, it doesn’t appear as though the crowds fantasizing about his departure actually care about hearing or even learning about Kenny Dillingham himself.
Dillingham is an Arizona native and played high school football at Chaparral, which is also where he landed his first coaching job at 21 years old. He then attended ASU for Interdisciplinary Studies and Business Communication where, shortly after, he was hired by ASU football as an offensive assistant. His wife, also an ASU alumna, is oftentimes seen on the sidelines with Coach Dillingham and imparting wisdom upon the team when she can; notably telling RB Cam Skattebo, “It takes a team,” following their Big 12 Championship win over Iowa State last year.
Dillingham's connection to Arizona State University runs deep. In his first press conference as head coach of Sun Devils Football, Kenny said “I’m home,” highlighting that “this place is special.” From the get-go, Kenny Dillingham has been “all in” for ASU. In this press conference and the ones following, he created the slogan ‘activate the Valley,’ which has continued to ring throughout every Arizona sports team beyond ASU.
His dedication to Arizona State and its football team has shown itself countless times and, until his contract was up at the end of the 2024-25 season, his loyalties had never been called into question. But in the finale, people wanted to know: “If this guy can take a team from bottom dogs to Big 12 Champs, what can he do for our team?” It’s only natural to conspire and talk hypotheticals. However, when presented with a returning contract, Dillingham quickly signed to the 5-year extension, solidifying himself as a voice for the valley and the Sun Devils.
But that doesn’t mean people are done talking. Whispers that the aforementioned teams were just one interview away from taking Kenny away from Arizona completely ignored everything he had been saying of his commitment to ASU.
This leads me to my point that, since the start of this year’s preseason, sports journalists have found it impossible to stop toying with the idea of Dillingham parting ways with his Alma Mater. In just about every press conference since then, he has been tasked with fielding the “Are you going to leave ASU?” question at least once, and every time it is the same answer: no–that has been his answer since he signed.
It has come to the point that his own team, despite his best efforts to reject rumors, can't even tell for sure what their head coach has planned for the upcoming season. He had to shut down these suspicions again, among his own players, preceding their faceoff against Iowa State last Saturday.
A parent of an ASU player told On3.com that Dillingham was walking into position meeting rooms and telling players that, “he [isn’t] going anywhere next year, and that it’s going to be business as usual.”
So, what is the line? How many times does Kenny Dillingham have to say that he is for sure not leaving ASU for the sports media to believe him? It would be conceivable if he didn’t appear happy at ASU, or if he actually considered the questions of the press, or if he had taken any of the interviews.
But he hasn’t–and until he does, I’m putting my money on him sticking around until 2029 at least, when his current contract expires. Until then, it would be a lot more productive for the journalists in the press box to stop asking when Dillingham will leave ASU–if he does–and instead start asking what his presence means to ASU, to the greater Valley area and to Arizona sports as a whole.
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