How Kenny Dillingham remade ASU's football team in just 1 year
ASU head football coach Kenny Dillingham puts on a Big 12 Championship hat after winning the conference title against Iowa State in the Dr Pepper Big 12 Football Championship game at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on Dec. 7. Photo by Samantha Chow/Arizona State University
When Arizona State University football coach Kenny Dillingham went about rebuilding his roster after a 3-9 season in 2023, the most difficult thing he had to do was say no.
Dillingham knew the Sun Devils needed more talent if they wanted to compete in the Big 12. And the transfer portal was filled with skilled athletes and physical linemen.
But Dillingham wasn’t looking for talent alone. If the player didn’t fit into the culture Dillingham was trying to build, there was no place for that player in Tempe.
“The hardest thing in this process is not saying yes to every really good player,” Dillingham said. “It’s meeting guys, and getting around guys, and if a dude is super talented, but I don’t think it’s going to fit, I don’t think it’s going to work.”
Dillingham’s ability to resist the talent temptation and recruit kids who fit into his vision has played a big role in ASU’s incredible turnaround from 3-9 to 11-2 — going from being picked to finish last in the Big 12 to playing in a College Football Playoff quarterfinal on Jan. 1 in the Peach Bowl in Atlanta.
The Sun Devils have 60 newcomers this season, the ninth-most of any Football Bowl Subdivision school. ASU’s 46 scholarship newcomers are tied for third most in the subdivision. Eight ASU starters on this year’s team — including quarterback Sam Leavitt — came through the transfer portal last year.
Those numbers more often than not portend a longer, slower rebuild. Instead, the Sun Devils went from zero to 60 in one season.
Former ASU quarterback and current radio color analyst Jeff Van Raaphorst said the accelerated timetable is a testament to the coaching ability of Dillingham and his staff.
“I think what it tells me is that he’s able to teach and get players to execute what he wants them to do very quickly,” Van Raaphorst said. “They don’t have to be in year three before learning the system.
“That’s the biggest thing to me. You could, with 60 new guys, get them to execute fairly complex concepts. These guys (the coaching staff) needed to run what they run, but they had to do it on the fly.”
Van Raaphorst said Dillingham also was smart to bring in players who were captains on their previous teams, most notably linebackers Zyrus Fiaseu and Keyshaun Elliott.
“Those guys were self-starters,” Van Raaphorst said, “and that trickles down to the rest of the team.”
Even though I’m young, I still believe that culture is important … I still believe in all those old-school principles.
Kenny DillinghamASU head football coach
Not every player Dillingham recruited through the transfer portal the last two years has paid off. But when he’s hit, he’s hit big.
Consider:
- Running back Cam Skattebo, who finished fifth in Heisman Trophy voting and was named first-team All-American.
- Leavitt, who has completed 63.2% of his passes this season for 2,663 yards and 24 touchdowns.
- Defensive back Xavion Alford, an All-Big 12 First Team selection.
- Center Leif Fautanu, another All-Big 12 First Team selection.
- Wide receiver Jordyn Tyson, who led ASU with 75 receptions for 1,101 yards and 10 touchdowns.
The list goes on and on.
In remaking his roster, Dillingham said he sought two attributes in players: They had to be good kids who were super competitive.
“That was it,” Dillingham said. “You’re a good kid, and you’re super competitive. You love ball.
“That’s our style. People that have positive attitudes or just smiles about them, right? Talking to them wasn’t miserable … at the end of the day, these coaches and players like being around each other so much. If you don’t genuinely like being around somebody, it’s going to be horrible to be around that dude for that much amount of time.”
Dillingham’s approach is unusual. Most 34-year-old, first-time head coaches have an insatiable need to prove — both to themselves and others — that they can do the job. That sort of internal pressure can lead to mistakes in talent evaluation and roster management.
Dillingham, however, won’t bend his beliefs.
“Everybody says you can’t build (culture) anymore. You’re building teams,” he said. “Even though I’m young, I still believe that culture is important … I still believe in all those old-school principles.”
One fact above all speaks to the success the Sun Devils have had this season, the culture Dillingham has built and the commitment from the university and community to invest in NIL (name, image and likeness). Not a single player in ASU’s two-deep (starters and backups) has entered the transfer portal this year.
That bodes well for the 2025 season — and beyond.
“I think people like being here,” Dillingham said. “I know it sounds so boring, but at the end of the day, I think kids are happy here. This is an unbelievable season. They’re treated well here. I think guys genuinely know people care about them.
“I mean, it’s what, 68 degrees out today and we’re playing for a championship. Where else can you do that?”
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