Kenny Dillingham is not only the youngest head coach on the FBS level of college football, he may be the most excitable. The 33-year-old is in his first year at Arizona State and never fails to bring the energy.
That was certainly the case during a press conference ahead of this weekend’s matchup against USC.
The Trojans are the fifth-ranked team in the country and the Sun Devils will hope to play the spoilers for their College Football Playoff hopes. It’s a tall task and the fine folks in Tempe are well aware.
Arizona State is 1-2 through its first three games after a win over Southern Utah and losses to Oklahoma State and Fresno State. Last weekend’s 29-0 loss to the Bulldogs was about as ugly as they come.
Dillingham’s offense recorded just 230 yards in total. It did not find the end zone.
Fortunately, the expectations are not high for the Sun Devils in 2023. They are on the heels of a mass player exodus during the offseason and self-imposed a one-year bowl ban as the NCAA continues to investigate possible violations committed under the previous regime and Herm Edwards.
Although nobody outside of the program believes that Arizona State will beat USC on Saturday, Dillingham does. He expects to win. Nothing short of a win will do.
Ironically, to convey that message, Dillingham channeled his inner Edwards.
Edwards, while with the Jets in 2002, famously said “YOU PLAY TO WIN THE GAME!”
Dillingham said, essentially, the exact same quote earlier this week. To say that he was fired up while channeling his inner Edwards would be an understatement!
Dillingham lost his mind. He doesn’t care if he’s playing Michael Jordan in basketball, he’s not playing to lose. Otherwise, why would he play?!
The Sun Devils are not going to play because it’s fun… NO! What’s fun is competing to win.
Edwards failed at Arizona State. Dillingham is tasked with turning the program around.
Based entirely off of their two very similar press conferences, Dillingham is already taking things up a notch. Edwards’ quote is famous, but his successor brings even more juice to the table!
The full, extremely excitable press conference can be found here: