The best turnaround job in the Big 12 does not have the Heisman Trophy frontrunner or talented family members or a non-stop hype machine.
Rather, the best turnaround job in the Big 12 is mired in NCAA probation and was kick-started with all of $60,000 in the NIL budget a couple of years ago.
The difference is the coach of the Big 12’s best turnaround job doesn’t want to talk much about it — well, compared to the coach at Colorado, who wants to talk about everything.
“We’re not horrible anymore, so there’s that,” Arizona State’s Kenny Dillingham concluded.
That’s one way of putting it. The Sun Devils shocked Kansas State Saturday night, suddenly moving into contention for its first conference title since 2007. This week’s BYU game has just as quickly become an elimination contest for what would be a College Football Playoff berth for that Big 12 winner.
Who would have thunk it? Colorado and its run to 8-2 may be the better story with camera-ready Deion Sanders as its ambassador. With the same record, however, the Sun Devils’ coach just might have the better accomplishment.
It’s certainly been a tougher road. We should have known when the former ASU coach (Herm Edwards) was hired by his former agent (Ray Anderson as ASU athletic director). Both are gone, thankfully, having systematically run the program into the ground.
“I definitely feel like I kind of got thrown into the fire,” Dillingham said, “in a good way.”
On NCAA probation and picked 16th (last) in the Big 12 preseason media poll, Arizona State doesn’t quite control its destiny to the CFP, but it’s darn close. The Sun Devils have beaten more AP-ranked teams (two) than four of the top five teams in the CFP Rankings (Oregon, Ohio State, Penn State, Indiana). A win over BYU would make three wins over ranked teams … and make ASU one of the more accomplished teams in the country.
“Whatever happens is supposed to happen,” said Dillingham, a former Arizona State assistant now in in his second season. “If we don’t get in, you know what people are going to say? ‘Dang, how do we leave out this 10-2 team … who’s had three wins over top-20 teams in the country? We’re going to get in as the No. 12 seed. That’s my mind set.”
Considering Arizona State is not currently ranked by the CFP, it could be the last team in, but so what? Having suffered through consecutive 3-9 seasons, that probation and a coaching change, no one in Tempe would be complaining.
Folks just paying attention would be good enough. The program’s last conference title was 17 years ago when it was the Pac-10.
We already live in a world where the likes of SMU and Boise could be getting first-round CFP byes (by winning their conference) while Alabama and Georgia could be playing in the first round. For entertainment’s sake, the possibility of Arizona State even mattering has been captivating.
When every team in the old Pac-12 had two losses, it was a disgrace. When every team but one in the Big 12 has at least two losses, it’s a Jackson Pollock acid trip. Ah, but when 14 of the 16 teams in the SEC all have at least two losses it’s “competitive.”
Rant over. Now back to the Big 12.
Colorado has a showdown itself this week against Kansas, but take away the swagger, commercial endorsements and a son who is Heisman-worthy himself. Dillingham has had a different hill to climb than Coach Prime.
The mess Edwards left behind cannot be understated. There were only 47 returning scholarship players on the roster when Dillingham took over. Seven of them were former walk-ons. The scandal itself was a like a lead weight dragging down the program for years. Two separate investigations found that former assistants had been central figures in bringing recruits in during the COVID-19 dead period. A home in an upscale part of town had been rented off campus to entertain recruits.
Dillingham jumped at the chance to take his dream job, leaving as Oregon offensive coordinator. This son of the Valley of the Sun had been a high school offensive coordinator at age 21. For 13 years, he drove to work in various coaching jobs practicing his ASU acceptance speech in the car.
At the time, the youngest FBS coach (age 32), thought he knew fully what he was getting into. He was wrong.
There was a self-imposed bowl ban in 2023, that caught everyone – including Dillingham – by surprise.
“It definitely hurt us in recruiting. It hurt us because people used it against us,” the coach said. “People are still telling recruits we can’t go to a bowl game, which is a lie … They didn’t realize we took it last year so people are still lying.
“It creates so much misinformation because it’s a sneaky business. We have to reeducate people constantly on [schools] negatively recruiting us.”
The four-year probation included recruiting restrictions; there was no communication with recruits this past summer.
“We could not talk to a recruit for five weeks between June and July, zero text messages,” Dillingham said. “No high school coaches, no players. The worst punishment on the planet.
“[That’s] five weeks where everybody is trying to get your kids to flip, who are committed,” he continued. “And you’re getting five weeks behind on every recruit in the next class.
“We’re still catching up. We’re still getting out of the hole.”
It’s safe to say Edwards and Pierce, both given lengthy show-cause penalties, will never coach in college again. Not that they care.
Dillingham told CBS Sports he thought this season’s “floor” would be four or five wins. Better to overdeliver than underachieve. Dillingham has also chipped away at ASU’s reputation as the ultimate sleeping giant that couldn’t wake up.
“We were under NCAA sanctions,” Dillingham said after Saturday night’s win. “Most head coaches, to be brutally honest, you get fired if you take a job under sanctions. You don’t survive. You’re hired to be fired. That’s the nature of the beast. Right now, we’re sitting here at 8-2 and couldn’t be prouder.”
With all the hosannahs being thrown Coach Prime’s way, Arizona State is indeed in the middle of the Big 12’s biggest turnaround this season to date. The five-game improvement from 3-9 to 8-2 marks the Big 12’s biggest from 2023.
The Sun Devils are a sum of their parts. Only 11 other teams have a special teams touchdown, a pick six, and a fumble return for a touchdown. Going into Week 12, they were tied for the best record nationally in one-score games (eight points or less) at 5-1.
Michigan State transfer quarterback Sam Leavitt is the second-highest graded freshman player in the country, according to Pro Football Focus. While at Florida State under Mike Norvell, Dillingham was the first coach to offer Leavitt.
“Then we saw him at Michigan State,” Dillingham said. “He has some shit to him. I love how he plays the game.”
When Leavitt was out with a rib injury, ASU went from averaging 32 points per game to scoring 14 in a loss to Cincinnati.
Only Colorado and Texas each have a pair of offensive linemen graded in the top 15 for pass-blocking. But the heart and soul of the Sun Devils is tailback Cam Skattebo. The Sacramento State transfer has both rushed for 1,000 yards (this season) and started a game at quarterback (2023).
Not surprisingly, Dillingham has jumped into the portal with both feet. There are 60 newcomers on this year’s roster. Only three players who started their careers at Arizona State are in their final year of eligibility. Next season, Dillingham loses only nine players from the current three-deep.
That once depleted NIL budget is now at least competitive.
Colorado was picked 11th in the preseason Big 12 poll, BYU 13th. Those are your two teams tied for the conference lead at the moment. Don’t forget Iowa State — picked sixth — which seemingly was out of it after losing two in a row but currently holds a three-way tiebreaker to get into the Big 12 Championship Game.
That’s looking ahead, which fits at Arizona State. Given what it has been through, that’s all the Sun Devils can do.
