Arizona State HC Kenny Dillingham talks Florida State opening

Arizona State Sun Devils head coach Kenny Dillingham. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Arizona State HC Kenny Dillingham talks Florida State opening, Mike Norvell connection

By Andrew Kulha | Last updated Nov 2, 2026 9:38 PM ET

Current Arizona State Sun Devils head coach Kenny Dillingham has a close relationship with now-former Florida State Seminoles head coach Mike Norvell.

Dillingham, 36, started his coaching career in earnest when Norvell was hired at Memphis in 2016. He hired Dillingham as a graduate assistant, and by 2017, the young assistant was Memphis' quarterbacks and tight ends coach.

When Darrell Dickey left Memphis for Texas A&M, Dillingham was promoted to offensive coordinator, and the rest was history — for both Norvell and Dillingham.

Norvell went to Florida State, and after a stint as his offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in Tallahassee and a year under Dan Lanning at Oregon, Dillingham was hired by Arizona State to be the Sun Devils' head coach.

Now, nearly four years later, Norvell has been fired by FSU amid a 3-5 season and Dillingham is getting asked about the Seminoles' opening because of that aforementioned tie to that program.

"We've done this before, Dillingham said with a laugh when asked about the Florida State job. "I'm trying to find a way to beat Colorado."

Kenny Dillingham when asked about the Florida State opening:

"(Laughing) We've done this before... I am 100% of the mindset of let's go play our best game vs Colorado."

He's said "probably not" about Mike Norvell, one of his close mentors, coming to ASU. pic.twitter.com/Fb3fyrAcMV
— Jakob Brooks (@Jakobrooks) November 2, 2026

Mike Norvell likely won't end up as a consultant at Arizona State

Arizona State is 4-4 and coming off a tough loss to No. 8 BYU on the road. The Sun Devils are just 2-3 in Big 12 play, so Dillingham doesn't have a ton of wiggle room for thinking about anything but his team's next game, against Colorado, at the moment.

One would imagine he'd jump at the opportunity to coach at Florida State if it came his way, but the young head coach isn't ruminating on that right now...at least publicly.

And what about bringing in Norvell as a consultant at ASU?

That question brought out another laugh from the Arizona State head coach.

"Probably not. That's probably not going to happen. He's not going to come back here. He's going to have a lot of opportunities to go be a head coach somewhere and I'm rooting for him," Dillingham said.

Andrew Kulha

Andrew Kulha is probably the only sports writer you know who also doubles as a mortician. Spooky! @KulhaSports

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