Do you know the tag that Arizona State quarterback Sam Leavitt gave to head coach Kenny Dillingham? He called him “the GOAT.” Well, he had enough reasons to do so. The Sun Devils have hit the ‘REVAMP’ mode under Dillingham. After all, they were picked to finish last in the Big 12 in 2024. And what did they do instead?
Dillingham and his boys won the conference in their first year following a move from the Pac-12. Plus, with Dillingham guiding the pack, they punched the first College Football Playoff ticket in the school’s history. And the head coach received due credit. On June 17, he was named Frank Kush Coach of the Year. But what better achievement for a head coach than your staff talking highly about you? In that case, Dillingham is a lucky man.
2025 Chick-fil-a Peach Bowl: Arizona State vs Texas Jan 01 January 1, 2025: Arizona State head coach Kenny Dillingham during the first half against the Texas in the CFP Quarterfinal at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, GA. Scott Kinser/CSM/Sipa USA Credit Image: Scott Kinser/Cal Media/Sipa USA Atlanta Mercedes-Benz Stadium Ga United States NOxUSExINxGERMANY PUBLICATIONxINxALGxARGxAUTxBRNxBRAxCANxCHIxCHNxCOLxECUxEGYxGRExINDxIRIxIRQxISRxJORxKUWxLIBxLBAxMLTxMEXxMARxOMAxPERxQATxKSAxSUIxSYRxTUNxTURxUAExUKxVENxYEMxONLY Copyright: xCalxSportxMediax Editorial use only
On the June 17th episode of the Speak of the Devils podcast, they interviewed Dillingham’s tight ends coach, Jason Mohns. The head coach appointed Mohns after he stepped down from his position as head coach at Saguaro High School in 2022. So, on the podcast, he was asked to enlighten about 35-year-old Dillingham’s growth who is still one of the youngest coaches in the nation. Mohns started with how Dillingham always makes it a priority to accept criticism, leaving room for self-improvement. “He’s so humble and he asked things, ‘Hey where can I get better and what can I do?’ And I just told him like, ‘Hey listen, usually a employee doesn’t tell their boss they’re proud of him.’”
The tight end coach continued, “But just for knowing him for as long as I have and last year was his first year at any level being a head coach and so to see the growth he’s made in from year one to year two now going into year three, I’m not surprised. Because the dude is so smart and he’s so calculated and he’s so willing to look in the mirror and point out his mistakes and work to fix them.” Being an Arizona native and Sun Devil alum, as Dillingham took up Herm Edwards’ hot seat, he injected the squad with sorely missed energy. He shot up the Sun Devils from a 3-9 overall record in 2023 to 11 victories and a top 10 finish last season. While Dillingham being open to feedback is one reason behind his growth, there is another reason, too.
There is no feeling of superiority or ego embedded within him. As Mohns highlighted, “He’s got no ego. I think that’s one of the things that allows him to be so successful in modern college football is that he doesn’t have 10 or 15 or 20 years of this is how I always did it and this is how I’m going to do it. He’s kind of learning on the fly as college football evolves.” Now, after all this, one must have a notion that Dillingham is a no-nonsense head coach who is driven by his mission. But wait, he is the “quirky” one.
Kenny Dillingham follows the ‘success speaks louder than typos’ path
Do you remember Dillingham’s press conference after the Sun Devils had beaten the BYU Cougars in their 28-23 heroic feat? The head coach opened up about his approach towards social media. That’s when he made a funny confession, “I operate it, obviously. So if there are spelling errors, it’s 100% on me. That’s how you know it’s genuine. It’s the world we live in.” Now this was also mentioned by Mohns, and it came with a seal of approval from Dillingham himself.
On the podcast, the tight ends coach shared how he had to accommodate himself to a change. “He’s definitely quirky. I think the last thing I’ll share is like the thing that drove me n–s is. I was raised, my mom was English major and big into spelling, and spelling was always so important. And spelling things properly, and the way Kenny’s brain works is like if you could spell something wrong to make it make sense, for the players, then you know the spelling doesn’t matter. And so when we were installing our offense and naming things and we were spelling things, the wrong way on purpose. Because it coincided with the route concept, and it was so hard for me.”
But Mohns no longer cares for the spellings anymore. He has now tapped into Kenny Dillingham’s ways of things. “We don’t take pride in spelling things right, we take pride in doing things right but definitely not spelling them right.” This did not go unnoticed as Dillingham re-shared the clip on X with a funny caption, “FAKTS!! #ThisIsAJoke.” Well, the head coach is indeed doing things right. A year ago, Dillingham was ranked 64th out of 70 total coaches. However, in the latest edition of Tom Fornelli’s annual ranking of all Power 4 head coaches, he cracked the Top 25, earning a No.18 rank. The doubt stops here — Dillingham is about to silence every last skeptic.
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