Kenny Dillingham Makes Standards Clear to Sun Devils

TEMPE -- Kenny Dillingham has been a stalwart in the Tempe community for much of his life - that reached a peak when he accepted the head coach position of the football program at Arizona State.

Dillingham has overseen a perceptible overhaul in culture, roster management, and engagement with the fanbase at-large in his two-plus years in the role - the ultimate payoff of the tireless work was an 11-win season in 2024.

Now, Dillingham is tasked with putting together a roster that can prove that the previous season wasn't a flash in the pan - that quest officially began on Wednesday with the opening of fall camp.

Day one was met with endless praise by Dillingham in post-practice media availability - day two wasn't quite the same.

The 35 year old head coach began his talk by lamenting on the lack of energy and passion that he saw from the team - the offensive group in particular - on Thursday.

"We just gotta play with more passion. Not passionate enough today. Defense the last three periods - really passionate... but we already got our butt kicked. So today was bad... offense had no leadership... bad day."

Dillingham further clarified what went wrong during the course of the morning - imploring his players to come to future practices re-invigorated:

"Yeah, we got to be better. I mean, yeah, like I said, too many drops on offense as a group... it was a really, really bad day on offense. It all stems from the passion we play with... Don't be mad going 5-7, don't be mad going 6-6, don't be mad going 3-9 cause somebody has to go those records... why not us?"

The third-year head coach is truly a go-to when looking for a coach that truly possesses wisdom and who knows exactly what to say in any given situation - the harsh words are almost surely going to motivate the roster moving forward, especially since the 105-man group shares deep admiration for the man that oversaw a College Football Playoff appearance in 2024.

The Sun Devils are set to continue fall practice until midway through August - then will begin to fully gear-up for the season opener against Northern Arizona on August 30.

Read more on the case for Leavitt to be an All-American selection at season's end here, and if Dillingham has any built-in recruiting advantages in his role here.