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Arizona State head coach Kenny Dillingham is one of the hottest head coaching prospects in all of college football. Dillingham, 34, took over his alma mater a year ago with the program in dire straits. Fast forward about 18 months and the Sun Devils are on the precipice of reaching the college football playoffs.
But while Dillingham is unquestionably a remarkable coach on the field, he seems as if he’s just as good a person.
“Pay these guys what they deserve to be paid because right now our team is underpaid. We’re doing more with guys who just got it out the mu. But eventually, you should get what you deserve,” Dillingham said after the ASU topped No. 14 BYU last Saturday.
“Our guys deserve more and that’s why I wore this,” he said of the sweatshirt he wore representing the Sun Devils’ NIL collective.
Kenny Dillingham Gives Out Bonuses To Staff Members Out Of His Own Pocket
Well, Dillingham put his literal money where his mouth is to some extent this week.
According to Sun Devil Source publisher Chris Karpman, Dillingham received a $200,000 bonus when the Sun Devils won their ninth game of the season last weekend. But Dillingham didn’t keep the bonus. He’s not allowed by NCAA rule to give it to his players. So instead, he told 20 off-field Arizona State staffers that they would all get $5-10K bonuses this week. What he didn’t tell them was that their bonuses would come from the $200,000 that the university initially gave Dillingham.
Who knows where Dillingham’s career goes from here? He came to ASU after an extremely successful stint as the offensive coordinator at Oregon. But one thing is clear, if and when he does leave Tempe, he’ll have plenty of suitors. And any fan base in the country should consider themselves lucky if Dillingham gets the opportunity to lead their football program.