"I'm way beyond comfortable": When Kenny Dillingham got blunt about NFL transition possibility

The Arizona State Sun Devils brought in Kenny Dillingham as their coach in 2023. He replaced Herm Edwards after spending one season as the offensive coordinator of the Oregon Ducks.

After making the transition, Kenny Dillingham, on the Bussin' with the Boys podcast in April 2023, was asked if he wanted an NFL coaching job. Dillingham had a very straightforward answer: the thought never crossed his mind.

"Not really," Dillingham said. "I like making impact on kids. I like seeing kids like, its the switch. ... It's not as much about football as it is about the people." (TS-21:00 onwards)

Dillingham also said that he would never "dabble" in the thought of coaching at the professional level, regardless of the money he could get.

"I want to be here (at Arizona State)," Dillingham said. "I want to be here. I mean, at the end of the day, I always tell people like there's a certain amount of money to make you comfortable. I'm way at the number.

"Then there's a certain amount of money that just gonna, what are you going to do with it? ... Here, I'm way beyond comfortable. So at this point, I'm very very happy, and I plan on being here." (21:30 onwards)

During his debut campaign, Kenny Dillingham mustered a 3-9 campaign with Arizona State. They joined the Big 12 conference last season, where the Sun Devils turned heads with impressive performance.

In their first season in the Big 12, Kenny Dillingham's team secured the Big 12 title with a 45-19 victory over Iowa State. They also qualified for the 12-team playoffs with an automatic bid to the quarterfinals. But the Texas Longhorns eliminated them from a national championship run in the Peach Bowl quarterfinal.

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Kenny Dillingham believes in turning ASU into a "blue blood program"

In his second year at Arizona State, Kenny Dillingham proved his value as a coach. When talking about long-term plans, he believes that the Sun Devils could go on to become a 'blue blood' program in college football.

In February, during an interview with Adam Breneman, Dillingham talked about his plans to help the Sun Devils attain blue blood status over the next 10 years.

"Every decade, there's a team. 2000 to 2010, Oregon showed up, 2011 to 2020, Clemson showed up. People look at those teams as Blue Bloods now. ... All they've known is those schools winning.

"Who's going to be the team from 2020 to 2030? Who's going to be this era of the team that shows up and the next generation of kids looks at them differently? I really think we can do that here," Dillingham said.

The Sun Devils begin their 2025 campaign against Northern Arizona on Aug. 30. It will be interesting to see if Dillingham and his team can defend their Big 12 title and once again qualify for the playoffs.