Tag: Kenny Dillingham

ASU coach Kenny Dillingham made sure his team shook hands with Texas despite heartbreaking Peach Bowl loss

That’s how you handle defeat with class.

Heading into Wednesday’s Peach Bowl as heavy underdogs, Arizona State wasn’t given much of a chance against Texas. But when a team that is picked to finish last in a conference ultimately wins said conference, there’s a culture of belief that starts with the head coach.

That remained true even in defeat. There’s always a lesson to teach.

ASU rallied from down 16 points to tie Texas and force double overtime in an electric Peach Bowl. But when Texas picked off Sam Leavitt to ice the game, it would have been easy for ASU players to head straight to the locker room at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

ASU coach Kenny Dillingham wasn’t going to let that happen.

Speaking to reporters after the game, Dillingham was asked about the exchange he had with some of his players. He directed them back onto the field to shake hands with the Longhorns, explaining that you show respect to your opponent — win or lose. He would have wanted his players to do the same had the Sun Devils pulled off the win.

Dillingham, who turns 35 in April, had the college football world impressed, especially in how he handled defeat. That’s exactly how it should be done.

This was how Twitter/X reacted

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Coach Prime congratulates Kenny Dillingham on Arizona State’s exceptional season

Coach Prime gave praise to Arizona State for representing the Big 12 well in the College Football Playoff

Arizona State’s impressive season came to a close in the College Football Playoff quarterfinals as head coach Kenny Dillingham’s Sun Devils lost to the Texas Longhorns in a double-overtime thriller, 39-31.

Predicted to finish last in the Big 12 preseason media poll, ASU shocked many by winning the conference and advancing to the CFP. Despite falling short of the ultimate prize, the Sun Devils have much to celebrate.

Colorado football head coach Deion Sanders took to social media following ASU’s loss to congratulate Dillingham, the Big 12 Coach of the Year, on an exceptional season. Here’s what Coach Prime wrote on X (formerly Twitter):

“@KennyDillinghamYou represented all of us from the @Big12 well my brother. We are proud of u and your team. God bless u all. You’re awesome COTY.”

After beating Arizona State in Tempe last season, Colorado will welcome Dillingham and the Sun Devils to Folsom Field in 2025.

Contact/Follow us @BuffaloesWire on X (Twitter), and like our page on Facebook for ongoing coverage of Colorado news, notes and opinions.

Marcus Freeman named one of five finalists for Dodd Trophy

He deserves this for sure.

Notre Dame easily could have folded after its shocking loss to Northern Illinois in its home opener. Instead, [autotag]Marcus Freeman[/autotag] got the Irish back on track, and they haven’t lost since. That put the Irish in the College Football Playoff, and Freeman’s reward was a contract extension that locked him up for the next six years.

Now, Freeman has another reward coming his way. He has been named one of five finalists for the Dodd Award, which is given to the coach whose team best excels on the field, in the community and in the classroom. This is his first time making the final cut alongside all the other finalists, consisting of Army’s Jeff Monken, Arizona State’s Kenny Dillingham, Oregon’s Dan Lanning and South Carolina’s Shane Beamer.

Brian Kelly is the lone Irish coach to win this award, doing so in 2018. Given the current environment, it’s very likely Irish fans would be much happier seeing Freeman win it.

Here’s Freeman news conference this past week in case you missed it:

Obviously, the real goal is a national championship, but this is a nice one to have at the moment.

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes and opinions.

Follow Geoffrey on X: @gfclark89

Kenny Dillingham sent a fierce message to the playoff committee after Arizona State’s Big 12 title win

Kenny Dillingham had the receipts ready to go.

No. 15 Arizona State absolutely smashed No. 16 Iowa State in the Big 12 championship game, 45-19, on Saturday, and if the College Football Playoff selection committee wasn’t playing close enough attention, Sun Devils head coach Kenny Dillingham delivered a message directly to them once the rout was over.

“Last year, [the committee] kept Florida State out because their quarterback didn’t play,” Dillingham said on the field. “We’re 11-1 with our quarterback. 11-1. And we’re Big 12 champs. I think we should be treated like an 11-1 team.”

Shamari Simmons: Needless targeting penalty puts Arizona State at a massive College Football Playoff disadvantage

The subtext here is Arizona State likely missing out on a first-round bye in the College Football Playoff to Boise State. In the most recent rankings revealed on Tuesday, Arizona State was the lowest-ranked conference champion, meaning it would have to play a first-round game. Mountain West champion No. 10 Boise State would instead earn the the bye.

Dillingham didn’t even wait for the confetti to fall at AT&T Stadium before he started to make his case.

Boise State won a home game against UNLV, 21-7, on Friday night to claim the Mountain West title and finish the season 12-1 with the only blemish a three-point loss at then-No. 7 Oregon in Week 2. Friday was the Broncos’ first ranked victory of the season.

The Sun Devils — picked to finish last in the Big 12 — went 11-2 with ranked wins over No. 16 Utah, No. 16 Kansas State and No. 14 BYU before Saturday’s victory over No. 16 Iowa State in Texas.

According to ESPN, Boise State played the 82nd strongest schedule in the FBS. Arizona State’s schedule was ranked 72nd. Playoff seeding for the Sun Devils and Broncos will all come down to whether or not ASU made a strong enough statement against Iowa State.

Dillingham thinks there’s no question that’s the case.

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Kenny Dillingham’s shocked face after an Arizona State near-disaster became an instant meme

Kenny Dillingham looked like his whole life flashed before his eyes.

Arizona State coach Kenny Dillingham saw his life flash before his eyes as his team nearly entered disaster territory against Iowa State on Saturday.

As the two teams faced off in the Big 12 championship game at AT&T Stadium, Arizona State running back Cam Skattebo took a direct snap in the first half and scrambled the wrong direction with Iowa State defenders in pursuit.

In a last-second decision to prevent a massive loss, Skattebo threw the ball into no man’s land and nearly saw it picked off by an Iowa State defender.

Dillingham’s face recapped the close call as well as anyone’s could, and it turned into a delightful meme for your enjoyment.

Feature photo courtesy of ESPN. 

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Arizona State coach Kenny Dillingham apologizes for blasting kicker

Arizona State coach Kenny Dillingham had to apologize for ripping his kicker

Arizona State fell into a first-half hole against Cincinnati and wasn’t about to climb out on Saturday.

After the 24-14 loss, coach Kenny Dillingham went off on kicking. Ian Hershey was 0-for-2 on field goal attempts.

Hershey missed wide left on attempts from 48 and 41 yards, respectively.

“You know you hope you can make a kick one of those, but our kicking game is atrocious,” Dillingham said. “If you can kick and you’re at Arizona State, email me. We’re going to have kicking tryouts on Monday. Seriously, let’s go. We’re going to put it out on social (media).”

Once Dillingham had a chance to cool if he took to social media to apologize.

Joyous Kenny Dillingham vanishes into sea of Arizona State fans after upset of Utah

Arizona State coach Kenny Dillingham was jubilant after upset of Utah

A season ago, Utah pounded Arizona State, 55-3. Coach Kenny Dillingham and his Sun Devils served a plate of revenge to the Utes on Friday, upsetting them 27-19 in Big 12 play.

After the win, the coach was fired up as were ASU’s fans. What followed was a classic, fantastic interview and great TV.

The Sun Devils are 5-1 and heading to a stop in the Top 25. Hopefully, Dillingham resurfaces before next week’s conference game at Cincinnati.

Familiarity with Kenny Dillingham is helping Ra’Shaad Samples settle in Eugene

Ra’Shaad Samples’ familiarity with Kenny Dillingham has definitely made the transition in Eugene a bit easier.

After former Oregon Ducks running backs coach Carlos Locklyn departed for Ohio State, the state of one of the Ducks’ most dominant position groups was, for a moment, unclear. But quickly, Oregon hired Ra’Shaad Samples, giving Ducks’ fans the fun offseason surprise of bringing in one of the best young coaches in college football.

Before coming to Oregon, Samples was the wide receivers coach at Arizona State, where he worked under head coach Kenny Dillingham, the Ducks’ former offensive coordinator. After Oregon’s second spring scrimmage on Saturday, Samples spoke to the media for the first time as a member of the Ducks, and he had great things to say about his time under Dillingham.

“Oh, it helped a bunch because there was definitely some crossover between the programs and how we did things,” Samples said. “Kenny was awesome to work for. So, he was good to me too as a head coach but it helped a bunch. I think the transition from Kenny to here made it so much easier.”

Since Dillingham took the Arizona State job in 2022, he’s maintained strong connections with Oregon football. After the Ducks crushed the Sun Devils in Tempe in November 2023, Dillingham showed encouragement for his former team, urging them to go win the national championship.

And, after the news broke that Samples would be taking the RB coach job at Oregon, Dillingham gave congratulations to Samples on Twitter.

The Oregon Ducks RB room looks loaded for 2024, with veterans Jordan James, Noah Whittington, and Jayden Limar returning, and with newcomers like Jay Harris coming in. There is bound to be a period of adjustment for the RBs as they transition from Locklyn to Samples, but so far, Samples seems primed to be a great leader of the Ducks RBs.

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Dante Moore opens up about decommitment from Oregon, transfer back to the Ducks

Oregon Ducks quarterback Dante Moore broke down his decision making when transferring from the UCLA Bruins to the Oregon Ducks.

Dan Lanning, Kenny Dillingham, and the Oregon Ducks were rolling with a full head of steam during the summer of 2022. They had just picked up a commitment from Dante Moore, the highest-rated quarterback to ever commit to the Ducks in the modern era. Getting ready for their first official season in Eugene, vibes were high up in Oregon.

Fast forward a few months, and that excitement around the quarterback position had changed slightly. After a successful season saw Dillingham leave the Ducks to take over as the head coach for the Arizona State Sun Devils, Moore announced that he would be decommitting from Oregon. Not long after, he announced his commitment to UCLA, joining Chip Kelly and the Bruins.

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Fast forward another year, and Moore was back in the transfer portal after a bumpy start to his career in Westwood. This time, he came back to Oregon, the place that he fell in love the first time around.

“Many people say there’s many reasons why I left but the real reason why is because Coach Dillingham left,” Moore said on Thursday after practice. “You know, as a quarterback, your OC needs to be your best friend and really at the end of the day when they hired Coach Stein, I didn’t know much of Coach Stein.”

Moore details that he talked with Oregon’s new offensive coordinator a bit before making his decision, but he ultimately felt like going to UCLA and joining Chip Kelly was the right decision.

Things didn’t go smoothly at UCLA, though, where Moore played in nine games, throwing for 11 touchdowns and 9 interceptions. After getting in and out of the starting lineup, Moore decided that it was time for a change of scenery after his freshman year, one that had a better chance to develop him.

“When I hit the portal, you know, I contacted Coach Lanning and he texted me back. I kind of knew where I was going already,” Moore said. “At the end of the day, out of high school, if things were right, I would have been here right now.”

Now, while Moore is competing with Gabriel for the starting QB spot, he says he feels happy to be where he feels like he belongs, around players who he helped recruit to Oregon when he was a commit.

“Just being out here, you get the best facilities in the world,” Moore said. “Got a great coaching staff. Best playmakers out here on the field. Just have everything around here.”

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Oregon Ducks to hire Arizona State’s Ra’Shaad Samples as new RB coach

Welcome Ra’Shaad Samples to Eugene, the Oregon Ducks’ new RB coach.

It didn’t take long for Dan Lanning and the Oregon Ducks to find a new running backs coach after Carlos Locklyn left to join the Ohio State Buckeyes at the start of April.

Sources tell me that the Ducks will officially be hiring Ra’Shaad Samples, the former running backs coach for the Arizona State Sun Devils. The first report came from 247Sports’ Matt Zenitz.

Samples currently holds the title of pass-game coordinator and wide receivers coach at ASU, but he was previously the youngest RB coach in the NFL, working under Sean McVay with the Los Angeles Rams as a 28-year-old.

Samples also spent time with SMU and TCU at the start of his coaching career.

While Lanning said after the coaching position opened up that the team wasn’t in any rush to hire someone, it’s not hard to see that their ability to move relatively quickly by bringing in Samples is of benefit to the players on the roster, who are currently in the middle of spring practices. You also have to consider the fact that the transfer portal opens up in less than two weeks, so having a new coach in place before that is never a bad idea.

We will see when Samples gets to town, and how quickly he can settle in at Oregon and take over what looks like an incredibly strong backfield with Jordan James, Noah Whittington, Jayden Limar, Jay Harris, and Da’Jaun Riggs.

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