Kenny Dillingham (born April 28, 1990) is an
American football
American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...
coach who is currently the head football coach at
Arizona State University
Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public university, public research university in Tempe, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 as Territorial Normal School by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, the university is o ...
. He previously served as the
offensive coordinator
An offensive coordinator (OC) is a Coach (sport), coach responsible for a gridiron football team's offense (American football), offense. Generally, the offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator and special teams coordinator represent the second ...
at the
University of Oregon
The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a Public university, public research university in Eugene, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1876, the university is organized into nine colleges and schools and offers 420 undergraduate and gra ...
,
Florida State University
Florida State University (FSU or Florida State) is a Public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preeminent university in the s ...
,
Auburn University
Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama, United States. With more than 26,800 undergraduate students, over 6,100 post-graduate students, and a tota ...
, and the
University of Memphis
The University of Memphis (Memphis) is a public university, public research university in Memphis, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1912, the university has an enrollment of more than 20,000 students.
The university maintains the Herff Col ...
.
Coaching career
Early coaching career
Dillingham began coaching at age 17 after he tore his ACL during his senior year. He started working with the junior varsity team at
Chaparral High School before being promoted to offensive coordinator of the varsity team at 21 years old.
While coaching at Chaparral, he went to
Arizona State University
Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public university, public research university in Tempe, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 as Territorial Normal School by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, the university is o ...
, graduating in 2012 with a degree in interdisciplinary studies. He was hired as an offensive assistant at Arizona State in 2014 under offensive coordinator
Mike Norvell, whom he met while coaching at Chaparral.
Memphis
After Norvell was hired as head coach at
Memphis in 2016, Dillingham was hired as a graduate assistant for the Tigers. Dillingham spent the 2016 season as the de facto quarterbacks coach, since the team did not have an official quarterbacks coach. After Tigers offensive coordinator
Chip Long left to be the offensive coordinator at
Notre Dame, Dillingham was named the official quarterbacks coach for Memphis and added tight ends coach to his duties for 2017. After Long's successor
Darrell Dickey left for
Texas A&M
Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, TA&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of ...
, Dillingham was promoted to offensive coordinator for the 2018 season. In 2017–2018 Memphis had back-to-back top 5 offenses in college football. While at Memphis, Dillingham was rated the #1 recruiter in the conference by the
24/7 recruiter rankings.
Auburn
Dillingham was hired by
Gus Malzahn to be the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Auburn in 2019, replacing
Chip Lindsey. During his time at Auburn, he helped
Bo Nix become the SEC Rookie of the Year while leading the most improved offense in the SEC. He spent one season with the Tigers, where they recorded a 9–3 record while averaging 33.2 points per game. Auburn also had its highest recruiting ranking in the 24/7 recruiting ranking era during Dillingham’s year as offensive coordinator.
Florida State
After Norvell left Memphis to be the next head coach at
Florida State
Florida State University (FSU or Florida State) is a Public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preeminent university in the s ...
, Dillingham joined Florida State as their offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, replacing
Kendal Briles.
Oregon
On December 17, 2021, Dillingham was hired as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at the
University of Oregon
The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a Public university, public research university in Eugene, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1876, the university is organized into nine colleges and schools and offers 420 undergraduate and gra ...
under head coach
Dan Lanning.
Arizona State
On November 27, 2022, Dillingham was named the 26th head coach at
Arizona State University
Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public university, public research university in Tempe, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 as Territorial Normal School by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, the university is o ...
, replacing
Herm Edwards.
He is the first Sun Devil alumnus and native Arizonan to hold this position.
In his second season, Dillingham's team was projected to finish last in the
Big 12 according to the conference’s preseason media poll. However, they exceeded expectations by winning the
Big 12 Championship game, defeating
Iowa State and earning a first-round bye in the
2024 College Football Playoff. For this effort, Dillingham was runner-up in AP coach of the year.
Personal life
Dillingham and his wife, Briana, have one child.
He has wanted to coach Arizona State since he was young as it is his hometown team.
Head coaching record
References
External links
Arizona State profileFlorida State profile*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dillingham, Kenny
1990 births
Living people
Arizona State Sun Devils football coaches
Auburn Tigers football coaches
Florida State Seminoles football coaches
Memphis Tigers football coaches
Oregon Ducks football coaches
High school football coaches in Arizona
Arizona State University alumni
Sportspeople from Phoenix, Arizona
Coaches of American football from Arizona