Kenny Dillingham On Why Arizona State Is On The Rise + What Makes Him Different Than Other Head Coaches

Ladies, gentlemen, Welcome to another episode Up the Bust, one with the Boys Spring Tour. We are with Coach dilling Ham. Let's talk about Chevy for a second. Chevrolet the most durable, reliable vehicle on the market. Chevrolet is a trusted company that has been innovating for the past one hundred years. Up to now, most electric vehicles have been either too expensive, too small, too or too limited in capabilities for most people.

Do you want to talk about what just happened out there? You guys are seeing the first few interviews. I assume that's how we're gonna drop them. Yeah, but this one last battle the Boys Spring Game champions That.

One hurts, too, hurts. I'll tell you.

I'm never won in ASU Stadium. I'm never won in Sun Devil Stadium.

Ever.

I've state championship dumb Me thirty eight to zero. Buffalo Wallwing's Bowl dB me like forty four thirteen against Kansas State, but this one hurts the most. A state championship and a bowl game, and this one hurts the most. Go back to Arizona where I'm from, Shaptown coach to him, goes to Chaptown, Charlie Rago's my head coach, and it's like, I legit thought you guys were gonna really make it so I could win.

Yeah, where about character?

Yeah? I needed to win the other day.

I lost this quarterback challenge and like you can just tell Taylor and I low key are.

Super competitive against each other. Irided about that quarterback challenge. I do have that, Yeah, you do have that.

And low Key when we put the headsets on everything, I'm just telling the boys, like, hey, we gotta win this fucking game.

You guys understand that.

Right, I've been catching too many w's, Dude, I feel like l was in my future.

How to take one? Yeah? What was it?

At the end seventeen fifteen and they're fucking I'm kneeling at the coordinator.

I'm like, no, we're not taking a knee. We're running the ball.

He's like my boss, saying, my boss said, we're taking a knee, and so I run up the middle the field. I'm like, hey, we want to score, and he's like, go ahead, go score. Like what do you want to do? And the guy was like in the knee formation or victory formation. I'm like, score, just run a play and score and he's like, hey, I'll throw you a fade. Now that happened, I.

Know because as soon as we new Year's an knee, and I really thought to myself, was gonna go try to run this thing up because it was in the red.

Day carline, I know. I was like, no, wait a minute, We're not taking a knee. We gotta run this thing up. He caught it too, dude, he did catch it. I was gonna caught the ice bath.

Oh was that? I thought that was sweat? I thought that was the start the start of a coaching career one and oh I would not be a good coach. I found that out today.

Your coaches trying to take over for me, like you called the place, but yeah, let me get this play and they call one, and then all of a sudden they start calling the place. I'm like, hey, hey, what's the play, And the coach wouldn't.

Listen to me. He would just be like, just say, I probably called two plays.

Yeah, that was probably why they didn't win. I mean to be honest, if they were to listen to you, I mean nothing like that.

I like the sound. That's a good way for me to spend it. I would agree with a good way for me to spend it. But hey, we're in Tempee, your home. You grew up here, You've been in so many prestigious programs. We were talking about this a little bit before we came on camera. Is historically rich traditions at Florida State, Oregon, Auburn, and you come here and

Well, I think you just look at it and tradition is just something that happened in the past, has no effect in the future, right. But what happens is social media nowadays drives where kids believe they can go to school. So I believe I can only go to a school that ESPN tells me is of an elite status, and they choose those schools were in reality, if twenty five of the best players just choose to come here three years in a row, our roster would be top five in the country.

Very very simple.

So people need to stop living in this bubble that only certain places can win and come to a place that it's seventy degree in April, sixty degrees in June. Right, they bring the Super Bowl here, they bring the waste management open, they bring tons of concerts for tired athletes to move here. Right, Why would you not live here in a place that's the fifth largest market in the country. We have a player who has his own podcast, Right, why would you not choose to come here?

Right?

Just because we may not have the tradition in nineteen ninety six, Right, that's so short minded. We're trying to teach people, Right, we can be the tradition. Come here and be the tradition twenty years from now.

How do you sell them on that?

When you walk around and obviously your facilities, Like we talk about tradition everything else, but even facility wise, and walking around, you can just tell that money isn't poured into this place yet.

No question. And you know the places I've been this is.

There's some spots I have.

This is actually probably the middle of the road facilities of the places I've been at Shockley enough.

It's not Oregon, right, and no places Oregon.

Think anybody's Oregon. Yeah, back Nebraska.

The support here from the community, I mean from the city is there. We have the ability financially to compete because we have the fifth large most pulitinera in the country. We just got to get everybody back involved.

In college sports.

Yeah, how do you do that? Yeah? Yeah, well if I winning games right and stuff?

We did today you guys, Yeah, what got.

You onto that? I feel like that was like, uh, you know, I want to say innovative, but also I don't want to say innovative because it was us, Like what puts you on the trail to do something like that?

Because we were promoting like Hey, where do you guys want us to go?

And then all of a sudden, you just without a show, like without any questioning, like, hey, we want you guys to come here, and like coaches spring game, we want to build it around you guys. Because I feel like the majority of that coaches wouldn't wouldn't do something like that.

Yeah, One, I don't need to be the star of the show. I actually would rather be in the background, right, So it's great for me. Two Right, what are the scores did you guys go to?

We went to LSU, We went to South Carolina, Ohio State Texas?

What was the other one? Really? Go to Bull and then where? And then here here?

All five of those have something in common, right, tradition except for.

Right.

So we have to be creative and innovative to get our brand out, to change the narrative.

Here.

You guys were the creativity and the innovation, and your guys is following in just who you guys are as people to create a culture here that we can change it and get those players necessary to be one of these teams that I want to build this program into.

When you're looking at this town being it's a pro football town, how do you get people to transition from pro football into college football?

I don't think you'll transition people. I think you got to teach. I think there's enough room for both. I think not everybody's going to be able to go to a Cardinals game on a Sunday, right, But I do think there's enough people that if you can't go to a Cardinals.

Game on a Sunday and can come to an ASU game on a Saturday.

Right.

I think there's enough people in this city that we can have both. And people forget ASU was here first thirty years ago, the Jake Plummer there was actually these plays. All the games sold out seven years ago, all the games sold out. Right, This town just likes winners because there's so many options. Whichever team's winning is what they choose. Right, So we've got to put a product on the field that produces winning. And if we do that, the fans will come, the recruits will see it, and then the

That's true, that's fair.

Well as far as for coaching, like finding your process here, your senior year at Chaparral, you get hurt, you're dealing with that, you're trying to think of Regel was talking about you were going to come here become a lawyer, like your dad and kind of keep moving forward. What made you pivot into becoming a football coach?

Yeah, Coach Regel grabbed me and said, hey, you should just try this out.

Start coaching.

And I started coaching, and I just love the impact you could make on people. I love people. I love being around people. I'm a p person. Right, All these excess and the o's people think they matter, and they do. You have to know what you're doing. But what wins is can you get people to come together and can you motivate people to do more than they normally would.

That's what wins.

All the other stuff sounds fun, right, Yeah, we're gonna run power versus weak rotation, whatever that is. That's everybody could do that. I could teach my wife right, what good play calls are?

Right.

I wanted to coach because I love seeing that it click for a player. I loved it when a player, maybe off the field or on the field in the classroom, he couldn't get something or he didn't know how to be successful, and then it clicked.

And once it clicks, it clicks, and you know you know how to manage it.

Whether that's your life and your work life balance and all of a sudden, they're like, hey, you've got to find balance here.

You're not balanced yet, You're not gonna be successful.

Then all of a sudden, it clicks, Like I love, I'm addicted to that click.

Yeah.

When you have a guy like Charlie Orriegal who got you into coaching football and now you employed him, essentially you snagged it from Idaho State, you know, like, hey, come down to ASU when he was a head coach, Like what is that relationship like now when at one point he was your superior?

Notes flipped.

Yeah, I mean, it's just the guy I lean on to ask questions too, like is this stupid?

Like we have a dance off in the middle.

Of a scrimmage or scrimmage three we paused for a dance off, and I'm.

Like, is this stupid? Like I want to do it, but is it stupid?

Like should we be doing this?

We bring a basketball hoop out to the third practice and then the practice we have a shootout.

I'm like, is this like?

So I just bounce ideas off a ham like I wanted to run one on ones in the middle of a practice like one v one basketball. He's like, any they're in cleats. They're not used to the movements and cleats. That would be stupid shootout. So he's kind of the person that tones me down because I'm the guy that wants to go one hundred miles per hour all the time and everything.

It's pretty terrifying that guy like Charlie Reigal has to be the one to say hey, when we were sitting here, he was saying earlier, he's there fifth garriers in part.

So that's he tells the speed. He's the speech guy in me. Oh he is. It's incredible. Speeches are all time.

Brother.

I was trying to tell you, I know.

You remember the one about the dog and not through the ball and the dog kept running and then through it again. The dog kept running. The dog never came back because he wanted that ball.

He want to run through a fucking wall when he does that, dude, you when you're looking at this program and you guys are expected years are predicted to win four games this year, how do you think going into this season with the development you've seen from spring ball, how do you see the season going for you guys?

Yeah?

I mean I think our players.

I haven't even talked about that because I think our guys are invested, like I think our guys.

You heard Jalen.

Said earlier what his expectations are, right, not even close to the same, because I don't think people understand or how much our team grew together. People look at forty five new kids, forty five old kids that are all probably selfish is what people think, right, Kids that just came here to get theirs. That's why you transferred to get yours. And what they fail to see is the community.

And I think that's the secret sauce to winning in college.

Look at Kansas State right, look at Utah right, Look at the teams that win, right, it's the culture that wins.

Yeah.

And you can tell too, Like when the kids were on here talking and doing their interview, they also alluded to you being excited like this was your dream job. Can you talk about like YASU is your dream job? And if you you know, if you're if you're saying that and not planning on going anywhere else, uh speak a little bit on that.

Yeah, so obviously, I'm born and raised here. I grew up going to games. You know, my family moved out here, my parents when they were you know, fifty years ago.

My wife's born and raised here. We were neighbors in high school.

So I grew up rooting for Arizona State, and then I coached high school ball here. Right then I coached college ball here, and then I moved around the country. But this is always home. So home is home, like there's nothing like being home. Like you talk about ultra motivation, like I used to clean up dog crap at Chaparral Park.

That was my job when I coached.

I drive by Chaparral Park on my way to work. So when you talk about all those things that add up. And then with my families here, I believe this place can win championships. I believe the city, what it's growing to, what it can become. All we have to do is teach kids it's okay.

To come here.

That's it, because if you showed up here, you're gonna be like, dang, I want to live there. That's not a debate. You just got to teach people it's okay to come here. That's it. It's okay, don't listen to the media. Come here, live the life you want to live. Live the life retired professional athletes live in Chandler, right, and let's.

Go do something special.

You say, like juicy, Yeah, what as you used to is like tell them it's okay to come here. Why do you think asus that stigma of being like, hey, if you're if you're a five star guy, unless you're like grew up an ASU fan, don't come here.

I think the media chooses what's okay and where's okay for people to go to eitherink when you watch TV, when you look at Twitter, they tell you, they tell these five and four stars you can only go to blank. You're too good for blank, right, That program's not good enough in history for you. Why like why like that

That's it.

And if you get twenty five elite players living where they want to live with coaches they trust, that's an elite team. Just like that, it's a very very simple process. But you've got to you've got to break the narrative.

Yeah, when you're as a head coach, being such a young head coach, what do you attribute your success to at such a young age, Because there's a lot of coaches out there that are in their fifty sixties that have never sniffed a head coaching job. How did you get to this point at such an early age in your life.

Yeah, I would say I have a bad I'm very bad at not being honest. So everybody thinks, oh, young energy players coach, right, that's what the players think. Players coach, right, But I'm also the dude that tells you what you don't want to hear.

Like, I have no problem saying you can't play here.

Yeah, you know, make it, you're not you're not gonna play for us. I have no problems saying that was laziest crap. Yeah, Like that doesn't bother me. That's just how I was raised. So I think the combination of my youth and understanding that kids haven't changed. Right, People say kids have changed, Kids have changed, just like the narrative, right, all these new kids are different. No, they haven't, right, Adults have lowered the bar because they think kids can't hit the old standard, so.

They just lower the bar, lower the bar, lower the bar, lower the bar, and then you hit the bar.

No, you can hit the bar that's always been set, just do it in different ways. Kids like social media now. Don't hide from it. Right, we have people saying, oh, social media is the devil. Hide from it. No, embrace it. Show them all their tweets of people calling them the worst player on the.

Planet, so they get used to it.

Don't tell them, don't look at it because they're gonna like, you have to embrace the new age that we are in, right, and then find a way to hit the same high bar in a new era. And I feel like I've been able to find a balance. And then I genuinely care about people like I have relationships. I have a group chats on all my former quarterbacks. I think they can feel that. So all those three things combined, have you gone?

Sorry?

I was just gonna say, where do you feel like you've picked up on those things overtime and over your career, Like what philosophies or what things have you read, what things have helped kind of cultivate that mindset?

About it.

I think one, I mean coach Regel. I mean he's a guy who cared about his players. I mean he would do anything for his players, but he coached them hard.

Right.

He was passionate, like he brought it every single day. So getting to c under him at a young age. We had another guy from a football standpoint, Conrad Hamilton, right, who was an unbelievable defensive coach.

Right also coach of Chaperl YEP.

Also a coach of Chaparral.

Yeah, we had a squad, dude, We'll get on that later, but we had we had a squad.

Right.

It was probably the goat squad of all time in the history of high school football.

But that's just my personal opinion.

But I combine that with guys like Mike Norvel, and I think I've learned more what to do, but I've learned more what I wouldn't do along the way, Like, hey, I love this, but I don't like this, And I've just kind of marked off all the things I wouldn't want to do as a head coach because at the end of the day, people know fake. That's one thing I firmly believe people know fake, people know real people know if a head coach walked in.

If I walked in and gave.

A speech like Charlie Ragel and say we're gonna chase the dog, I'd be laughed out the roof. I'm five nine, I'm an athletic, like I'm the goofball. I got no chance to give that speech. If I give that speech, I'm a fraud. I have to play into me as a head coach. The culture is going to be what I am because if you're not, people feed off of it and they know your full.

Crapy phenomenal energy. Phenomenal energy.

When you're talking about kids looking at Twitter and you're like, go ahead and look at the negative comments. Have you ever showed players. Have you ever gone into a team meeting room and been like, hey, they're saying this about you.

Not yet, but we have showed what they retweet and like, So I do just from like, hey.

I wish I think, I just scroll and.

This is what you like.

So if somebody is trying to draft you or hire you for a job and they look at your Twitter, this is you, bud, just.

Know that dark right, So that's hilarious exactly. So I do some or all the positive.

Ego, feeling shit that they get tweeted at and they like or retweeting stuff, and it's like, hey, you know the whole quote live for the cheers, died by the booze. It's like, you know, the moment people say bad stuff about you, you're gonna we know, you're gonna be looking and feeding into that because you get so hyped to like and retweet and engage with everybody who you want to see.

Oh, look what so and so said about me? Correct?

I mean there was a year in years past, just as an example, I pulled up my name for my team and rolled at all the hate so they can see, Look, this is what people say about me calling reverse on the minus ten.

That was a TfL fumble.

Probably not a great call, right, Look, people hate me, but horrible call. We were the number two offense in the country, right, So they loved me, loved me, loved me. Hate hate hate, hate hate, And the whole goal is

I agree with them, Yeah you should, you know, but you don't.

Don't take it as a negative. Take it as a laugh like joke about it.

When you're going through a crew process of Arizona. How do you get guys? What's your selling point on a su over something like you of A or anywhere else in the PAC twelve?

Well, I think for us specific one, we don't recruit for U of A.

Yeah, uh, that's just that's a no brainer. What do you come here? That's a no brainer to come here? Oh, like they just ain't.

Yeah, that's a no brainer to come here. You should come here.

Yeah, that's not a debate. Yeah, And I and I'm gonna hate that mark.

We gotta clip that from and I'm gonna and I'm gonna be here Yeah, there's I mean, you're you're choosing a U of a or a SHU with a guy who's passionate about actually being here forever. Yeah, it's not a debate because you know you're gonna Jeed. Fish's a really good football coach. He's a really good football really good football coach. You guys have got in a fight. Who do you think would win?

Oh?

I would win? Yeah, Oh yeah, I would win.

Yeah.

I'm thirty two and I am fiery.

Yeah I will bite ankles. Did just say you're unathletic and goofy?

I'm unathletic, but I'm fiery and you could hit me over and over again.

I'm probably I'm gonna go all day.

You'll be like that dog.

Yeah, I'm gonna be like the dog.

You're gonna have to kill the dogs. You're gonna have to kill me. Yeah. I don't like to.

Lose anybody in the Pac twelve that you think could whoop your.

Ass we go through this. Uh, I mean, I don't know. I mean I would I mean, to be honest, you would think you. I mean, he's a professional athlete that's being real.

Losses toes. Yeah, so you don't know how that kind of hitted.

I don't know, but I would just think. I mean, I think he just benched like two twenty five twenty times or something.

I don't know, you really did that. Yeah, I was pretty impressed.

Fil with bench Yeah. Yeah, I mean he's always been talking about that. He's always been a bench press cat.

Sometimes you do videos after he gets done hit the bench press, really drop some wisdom on, you, drop some philosophy on.

Yeah, that's awesome. So you know one's beating you except for Dan maybe, Yeah.

Maybe I don't. I don't know. I'd have to Kyle Whittingham is the way his team plays.

I don't know any of these guys yet, but the way his team plays, I wouldn't want to get in to steal cage with him. You're usually a reflection of your coach, how physical and tough you are as a football team. So the way his team plays, I wouldn't want to get in a ring with him. This guy's play hard.

Has the NFL ever been something that you've thought about?

Not really. I like the I like making an impact on kids. I like seeing kids like a switch. Yeah, it's not as much about the football as it is about the people.

Do you think you would ever dabble in the NFL? No, you say not really.

It's like, what if you have great success at Arizona State, which let's just say within five years, you put a couple of years together, and then the NFL starts to poke their head in on like, hey, let's get you up to the big leagues. Yeah, I want to be here and throwing a bag at you, yeah, I want to be here.

I mean at the end of the day, I always tell people, like, there's a certain amount of money to make you comfortable, right, I am way in that number.

Then there's a certain amount of money that's just what are you gonna.

Do with it? Right?

I mean here, I'm way beyond comfortable.

So at this point, like I am very very happy, and I plan on being here, Like I want to build this, right, I want to build this for the long haul. That's why we're not cutting corners, so, I mean especially culturally, like we're not we're not cutting corners culturally, building this the right way.

What fires me up?

And you can ask you a question, but I was just gonna chime in and say, what fires me up is that I believe all the stuff he's.

Saying, yeah, and we were, we were a part of year one. Yeah, that is a good point. We're here five years though. You will get a call from us, you know, this will be on yeahs come here in the fall for a game, like a tailgate or something like that. That'd be cool.

That would be fun.

Anytime we can come Arizona.

Well, you guys will be on the raiders, so you'll just be able to drive right down right.

Yeah.

There, we do have rules. Well, we have to play together this.

Yeah, we are when you start winning here and the money starts coming into a su to really beef up this facility.

Where's the first place you're attacking.

Yeah, I mean I want to get an indoor right behind. We have a bubble over on the other side. I want to get an indoor in the fields moved over here, which is already part of our plans. But obviously that's when if you put it, we're going to take out some of the parking behind. Yeah, and we'll put an indoor right here, taking out that building and then two fields back there.

So way everything's kind of yep, everything's right here.

So that that's that's step one.

But my first step in terms of fundraising and money is fundraising for our players and nil. Everything I do right now is for our players. They said they wanted better food, got in better food. They said they wanted better snacks. Got the better snacks.

Right, you guys ate the food today, it's pretty good, right.

Uh?

They said they need nil they haven't had it. I have fundraised almost every night for an IL. Like every decision we make is players. And if you keep that the main thing that players win. That means everything you should spend money on should affect the who the players.

So I asked them what do they want? Like, what do you guys want? You want this? You want this?

You want this because that's who you're trying to get to play at the best of their ability, and that's how.

You get buy in with with ni L.

How do you attack that because you're you're basically always playing free agency? Now, how do you there's a phrase is about to start right now and aday, how do you go about attack?

Yeah?

One for us, I tell people, if you don't want to be here, leave because I firmly believe culture wins. So it's you want to be here, leave, that's fine. I really don't care like go. I don't care if our three best players into the portal. I wouldn't want it, and I don't believe that's gonna happen because we've built a good culture here. But I wouldn't beg them to stay, because that's how you build a bad culture.

Right.

And on top of that, I tell everybody my job is to bring in somebody to beat you out.

Yeah, because that's the best for the team.

So it may hurt your feelings if I bring in four players and they beat out four starters. But guess what, there's another eighty five guys who are on a better team. So don't be selfish. When I make this team better and I challenge them, I just tell them that there are no guarantees on this team. Every transfer we took, right, they weren't promised anything. Zero transfers were promised to start. We're promising I own money, were promised anything. It was

I feel like we've basically hit the big one hit I do you want to hit one more? You use the phrase activate the valley? What does that mean?

It just means get everybody involved, like show up at the spring game, by season tickets, show up because the one thing that we're gonna you know, you don't have that six national titles, right, you don't have the three national titles that you have to be able to show recruits as people care. You have to be able to go to a game in the fall and see a sold out crowd and see an environment that you want to play in because that has a huge effect on prospects.

The best players to come here so we can be the best team to come here.

They need to show up and see a sold out crowd with butts in seats. They need to see people active on social media. People think it's stupid, No, it's not. Our recruits love being retweated by our fans.

It shows love.

We need everybody in the value to be activated. And the fifth largest valley with one school. All these other large and all these other large cities don't just have one school in a one hour radius.

They all have two schools.

We're the only one with one if everybody can get behind us and get activated financially with what you can give and then put your button a seat, show up right, people are gonna realize we care. And if people realize we care here, we're gonna be prety dang good.

The right man, the right man for the job here. I feel like ACU was in good hands folks. Coach. We appreciate you coming on today. Now.

No now, if you if you drop, if you don't even win four games, we might have to come back and ask about that.

But so far, like I'm sold. Who's your first game?

Our first game is that we have four home games, So our first PAC twelve game is USC here week four, so four for USC at home, we play Oklahoma State week two, and then Fresno State week three. So we've got a We've got a few few good games here at home to start, so I'm hoping it's one hundred and flat five all four of those games and we kick off at noon.

Oh yes, absolutely, this has been awesome man, Thank you. We appreciate you're rooting for you.

Man.

We really hope everything that's coming out, uh you know, let's I mean, maybe you'll have to defend your trophy next year.

Maybe I would sign up for that right now. I need that. Make that happen. I should get a little I'm not gonna touch that. We need a little wool Compton right there on the side. Put on the side.

We almost got you a second place trophy that.

Was just like a car bar. That would be so funny in your pocket, short bust a key chain or something. Yeah, this is awesome, man, this awesome. I feel there should be a punishment for me for losing.

We were bummed because somebody goes because on the pod we were like, we'll figure out what the bed is, all right, so what so what does the loser?

Would the loser have to do or give or anything like that. It's like, man, we didn't get around in doing it.

Whatever.

Don't say that, bro, don't say that.

I think.

I think the loser should have to donate his watch to a s U N I l I think that would be phenomenal.

You can figure out something. I'll tell you what next year, not the watch to watch Vegas. Yeah yeah, but that's my money. I'm gonna have to keep that. Keep that that trade a lot.

But yes, we will be back, and I think there should be some sort of n I l that next year between you and me, loser has to pay a certain amount.

Yeah, as long as we as long as it alliances whatever happens this year, like what just happened?

Okay, how much do you want me to pay this? I don't know this umber?

Next year say a number, but no, next year it's gotta be the same thing because I'll pay whatever.

You can think about it.

You don't want to say a number right now? You know money gets me, Yeah, money gives me the escalate today. Yeah, that and there was a reason that I would escalate.

Bro, you're soft now, you don't got that great po We had put the video of me and the Raft four with that set all the way back.

The big case, the big case, oh if there's a Raft four, and then the escalade. I'm thinking the big case, the caring case for all this equipment would go in to escalate. Mitch was the one in charge of it. Mitch is on team Compton. The whole thought process was we're gonna be riding in separate cars, like now's the time, now in the morning, we shouldn't be hanging out anymore. We need to separate. So I was like, let's separate

I was hot.

But yeah, coach, we appreciate you. If you want us to come back for a spring game, we'll absolutely do that. Awesome, absolutely, man, appreciate it.

Be here, Thank you. We had a lot of fun, a lot of fun. Subscribe big hugs, tiny kisses and stars and tell tell your friends to please God we need this. Oh that was fun. Appreciate it. H