Arizona State coach Kenny Dillingham will start the 2025 season on Saturday against Northern Arizona. While ASU enters the year as co-favorites with Texas Tech to win the Big 12, Dillingham is staying grounded and finding inspiration from other coaches, including Kansas coach Lance Leipold.Leipold and Kansas began their season with a 31-7 win at home against Fresno State on Saturday. The new stadium along with the energy around the team made an impression on top recruits.“I remember going to a KU game two years ago at the old stadium, and the difference in the program since then is huge," four-star safety James JJ Dunnigan Jr. said (via On3)."The new stadium is incredible, but what really stands out is how much the vibe of the players and the overall atmosphere has completely changed. Coach Leipold has done a great job and I’m excited for the future.”Dillingham also praised Leipold’s work with the tweet:"Program builder!"Meanwhile, Leipold was pleased with how his squad stayed focused throughout the game.“You could tell they came down this morning, and when we do some walkthroughs and meetings, they’re very locked in,” Leipold said (via On3).Kenny Dillingham shares his take on ASU's next stepArizona State’s impressive 11-3 record in 2024 pushed the program into the Big 12 championship game. It set a new standard of success for the Sun Devils, but Kenny Dillingham is keeping his approach grounded.In fact, Dillingham stressed during ESPN’s pregame coverage that winning ultimately comes down to the players, not the coaches."Let's not kid ourselves, players win - not coaches," Dillingham said on ESPN's pregame coverage on Saturday. "So talent, right? You have to be able to look out there and say 'okay, we're talented enough to win.' So, we have that."Then, the second thing is the team coming together and being bigger than the individuals - and that's the adversity piece, and we try to create some adversity throughout camp at some point to try to see if people are going to be broken apart or come together."For his part, Dillingham made sure to give tough lessons to players in off-season, this year’s camp pushed the Sun Devils harder than ever Dillingham noted that nearly every transfer admitted it was far more demanding than what they experienced at their previous schools.