Kenny Dillingham Praises Oregon Coaching Staff

TEMPE -- Kenny Dillingham has been around the country in the years between leaving Arizona State as a grad assistant and taking over as head coach after the 2022 season.

Every one of those stops has shaped who he is now - as a coach and a person - but Oregon has perhaps the most profound impact, wise.

Dillingham had nothing but praise for his former colleague in Dan Lanning and the Oregon program when asked by media member Chris Karpman if any programs he had previously been with utilized the same scout team system that he employs.

What Dillingham had to say:

"A little bit with with Oregon and Dan, with some good on good, and then just trying to verbalize it more, and have coaches that can teach both sides of the ball while they're going, Yeah, Dan (Lanning) and Matt (Lubick) tree, like I said, I learned a lot from my time with Dan (Lanning) and that defensive mindset and more the safe his background with Kirby (Smart) and Saban, and I took a lot of a lot of what he did. I think he's the best coach in the country. And I took a lot of those things, and I've tried to apply them in my own way and in our own way."

The approach that Dillingham takes to the Arizona State program is an exact reflection of what he said after practice on Monday - he is undeniably set in his ways when it comes to being incredibly focused on the minutia of the game and being more open to the "grit" over "glam" approach that a coach such as Georgia's Kirby Smart has.

The Oregon program is a perfect blend of flair and proficiency - the team is typically looked at from the outside as one that does things the right way with style simultaneously. Dillingham's one-year stop with a high-level program in Eugene, being able to work with Bo Nix once again, and proving that he can recruit at a high level virtually anywhere on the map, prepared him to take over the Arizona State program exactly when he was needed to.

The pairing between Arizona State and Dillingham truly feels to be destiny, and year three of the partnership is set to open up on August 30 against Northern Arizona.

Read ASU on SI's exclusive interview with Jordyn Tyson here, and on where Sam Leavitt lands on the NIL merchandise sales leaderboard here.