Where did Kenny Dillingham play college football? Looking at Arizona State HC's playing career
Kenny Dillingham is in his second season as the Arizona State Sun Devils coach, which is his first head coaching gig. At 34, he's the youngest head coach at the FBS level. His first season had a losing 3-9 record, but let's not forget that the Sun Devils were rocked by the scandal surrounding Herm Edwards' recruiting and subsequently the self-imposed bowl ban during the 2023 college football postseason.
Kenny Dillingham was considered the man to tackle this situation; as an alumnus of Arizona State, few would care more than him. However, Dillingham did not play for the Sun Devils, as he tore his ACL when he was 17 in his high school senior year. He played as a quarterback for Chaparral High School in Scottsdale, Arizona.
In 2012, he earned a bachelor's degree in interdisciplinary studies/business and communication at Arizona State University while coaching at Chaparral High School, where he was an offensive coordinator.
Which were Kenny Dillingham's prior coaching jobs?
Kenny Dillingham worked with Chaparral High School from 2007 until 2013, becoming the team's offensive coordinator at 21. In 2014, he earned a position as the Sun Devils' offensive assistant under then-offensive coordinator Mike Norvell.
After two seasons, Dillingham moved on to Memphis as a graduate assistant alongside Norvell, who became the Tigers head coach. He remained with the Memphis Tigers until 2018. In that final season, he was the school's offensive coordinator.
For the 2019 season, he moved on to the SEC with the Auburn Tigers, where Dillingham was the school's offensive coordinator for a year. A highlight of his time at Auburn was helping quarterback Bo Nix win the SEC Rookie of the Year Award and crafting what was then considered the most improved offense in the conference.
In 2020, Kenny Dillingham reunited with Mike Norvell at Florida State. He was chosen to replace Kendal Briles as the Seminoles offensive coordinator. In that shortened 2020 season, the Seminoles earned an awful 3-6 record.
In 2022, he moved on to work under Dan Lanning at Oregon as the Ducks offensive coordinator. Once again, he worked with quarterback Bo Nix, whom he helped settle in the Pac-12 in a season where the signal-caller recorded 3593 passing yards with 29 touchdown passes and seven interceptions.
Dillingham also put Nix through the passes on the ground game, with the quarterback earning a career-high 510 rushing yards.
The Sun Devils start their 2024 season on Saturday, Aug. 31, when they host the Wyoming Cowboys at Mountain America Stadium in Tempe, Arizona. The game kicks off at 10:30 p.m. ET and will be broadcast live on FS1.