Arizona State hires Oregon OC as head coach

TEMPE, ARIZ. — Kenny Dillingham’s rapid rise through the coaching ranks took him from the Southwest through the South, into Florida and up to Oregon.

His successes along the way pushed him to become the youngest head coach at a Power Five program, a 32-year-old tasked with resuscitating an Arizona State program mired in mediocrity.

Back in the Valley of the Sun, where he grew up and graduated from college, Dillingham had a hard time containing his emotions Sunday after being introduced as the Sun Devils’ next coach.

“I’m home,” said Dillingham, pausing several times to compose himself. “I say that because this place is special, this state is special, the people in this room are special. Pretty emotional. That’s just who I am. That’s one thing about me, I am who I am. I’m the same person every day I show up for work. I’m fired up to be here, fired up to be a Sun Devil.”

Dillingham takes over a program in need of a jolt.

Arizona State’s Herm Edwards experiment fizzled out after five years and interim coach Shaun Aguano, while well respected, was not able to turn things around. Arizona State went 2-7 under Aguano and finished 3-9 for its worst non-pandemic season since 1994.

Arizona State also is in the NCAA’S crosshairs for hosting recruits on campus during an Ncaa-mandated COVID-19 dead period in 2020.

The reigns are now in the hands of Dillingham, the enthusiastic coach who played and coached at Scottsdale’s Chaparral High School before being hired as an offensive analyst by former Arizona State coach Todd Graham in 2014.

Dillingham spent two seasons at Arizona State before following Mike Norvell to Memphis, where he spent three seasons. Dillingham was named Auburn’s offensive coordinator in 2019 and spent two seasons in the same position at Florida State.

He joined Dan Lanning’s staff in Lanning’s first season at Oregon and helped turn the Ducks into one of the nation’s most explosive offensive teams.

Texas State fires coach after 4 years, 13 wins

Texas State coach Jake Spavital was fired Sunday after four seasons in which the Bobcats won just 13 games.

Texas State finished its second consecutive 4-8 season on Saturday with a 41-13 loss at home to Louisiana-lafayette.

The Sun Belt program has had only one winning season since moving up to the FBS in 2012.