Kenny Dillingham
Kenny Dillingham went 25–20 as a head coach, 2023–2026, at Arizona State. Wikipedia’s season articles record one season differently (2026, 3–2); by them his record is 25–19. Share
- Record
- 25–20 career
- Seasons
- 4
- Schools
- 1
- Final AP top 10
- 1 season
- Alma mater
- Arizona State 2013
- Best season
- 2024 11–3, No. 7
Season by season
| Season | School | Record | Conference finish | Bowl | AP final | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Arizona State | 3–9 | T–9th | |||
| 2024 | Arizona State | 11–3 | T–1st | Peach Bowl, CFP Quarterfinal L | 7 | |
| 2025 | Arizona State | 8–5 | T–4th | Sun Bowl L | ||
| 2026 | Arizona State | 3–3 (Wikipedia: 3–2) |
Each season links to the team’s season page; bowls and playoff games link to the game. Conference finishes from the Wikipedia article’s record table.
Players he coached
Jordyn TysonNo. 8 pick, 2026- Max IheanachorNo. 21 pick, 2026
Every player from his seasons with a Heisman top-five finish, a national award, consensus All-America honors or a first-round pick. Photos: Wikimedia Commons, free licenses; credits on each player’s page.
How his teams did
| Kind of game | Games | Record | Won |
|---|---|---|---|
| Against ranked teams | 14 | 6–8 | 43% |
| Against top-10 teams | 7 | 1–6 | 14% |
| Against rivals | 6 | 2–4 | 33% |
| Conference games | 30 | 16–14 | 53% |
| Bowls and playoffs | 2 | 0–2 | 0% |
| Decided by 8 points or fewer | 21 | 13–8 | 62% |
| At home | 24 | 15–9 | 63% |
| On the road | 17 | 8–9 | 47% |
| At neutral sites | 4 | 2–2 | 50% |
| As our Elo’s favorite | 22 | 16–6 | 73% |
| As our Elo’s underdog | 23 | 9–14 | 39% |
His own 45 games on file, 2023–2026, as played (vacated wins counted, ties as half a win). Ranks are the AP poll going into the game; rivals are the ones either program’s Wikipedia article names; favorite and underdog by our own Elo rating, which reads only scores.
Against other head coaches
| Coach | Record | Their schools | Games | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kyle Whittingham 2023–2025 | 1–2 | Utah | 3 | |
| Joey McGuire 2024–2026 | 1–2 | Texas Tech | 3 |
Kenny Dillingham’s record against the head coaches he met three or more times, from the games on file, as played.
Most-faced opponents
| Opponent | Games | Record |
|---|---|---|
| Arizonaseries | 3 | 1–2 |
| Utahseries | 3 | 1–2 |
| Texas Techseries | 3 | 1–2 |
| Iowa Stateseries | 2 | 2–0 |
| Texas Stateseries | 2 | 2–0 |
| Kansasseries | 2 | 2–0 |
| Coloradoseries | 2 | 1–1 |
| Oklahoma Stateseries | 2 | 1–1 |
How he was hired
- Hired by Arizona State for the 2023 season from Oregon, where he was offensive coordinator. He had a prior connection to the school.
Power-conference head-coaching hires since 2010, with each coach’s previous job and ties to the school as collected by hand from Wikipedia: Hiring facts: M. Schuckers, cfb_coach_analytics.
Career
| Years | Team | Job | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007–12 | Chaparral HS (AZ) high school | Quarterbacks coach | |
| 2013 | Chaparral HS (AZ) high school | Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| 2014–15 | Arizona State | Offensive assistant | |
| 2016 | Memphis | Graduate assistant | |
| 2017 | Memphis | Quarterbacks and tight ends coach | |
| 2018 | Memphis | Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| 2019 | Auburn | Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| 2020–21 | Florida State | Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| 2022 | Oregon | Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| 2023–present | Arizona State | Head coach |
Every job as the infobox of his Wikipedia article lists it (CC BY-SA), assistant jobs included.
Coaching tree
Worked under
- Todd GrahamArizona State
- Mike NorvellMemphis, Florida State
- Gus MalzahnAuburn
- Dan LanningOregon
Assistants who became head coaches
- Beau BaldwinCentral Washington, Eastern Washington, Cal Poly
- Brian WardBowling Green, McPherson
- DeWayne WalkerUCLA, New Mexico State
- Marvin LewisCincinnati Bengals
- Shaun AguanoArizona State
- David GibbsHouston
- Marcus ArroyoUNLV, Arizona State
Worked under (4)
| Head coach | Team | Years | His job | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Todd Graham | Arizona State | 2014–15 | Offensive assistant | |
| Mike Norvell | Memphis | 2016–18 | 2016: graduate assistant; 2017: quarterbacks and tight ends coach; 2018: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| Gus Malzahn | Auburn | 2019 | Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| Mike Norvell | Florida State | 2020–21 | Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| Dan Lanning | Oregon | 2022 | Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach |
Coached under him, later head coaches (7)
| Coach | With him | Head coach at | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Beau Baldwin | Arizona State, 2023: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | Central Washington, Eastern Washington, Cal Poly | |
| Brian Ward | Arizona State, 2023–25: defensive coordinator and safeties coach; 2026: defensive coordinator | Bowling Green, McPherson | |
| DeWayne Walker | Arizona State, 2023–25: analyst; 2026: special advisor to the head coach | UCLA, New Mexico State | |
| Marvin Lewis | Arizona State, 2023: special advisor | Cincinnati Bengals | |
| Shaun Aguano | Arizona State, 2023–26: running backs coach | Arizona State | |
| David Gibbs | Arizona State, 2024–25: analyst; 2026: safeties coach | Houston | |
| Marcus Arroyo | Arizona State, 2024–26: offensive coordinator | UNLV, Arizona State |
Other assistants under him (1)
| Coach | With him | |
|---|---|---|
| Juston Wood | Arizona State, 2023–26: offensive analyst |
From coaches’ Wikipedia infoboxes (CC BY-SA) and each season’s article for its coordinators: an assistant’s seasons at a school count under its head coach in our records; jobs in the NFL and elsewhere, under the head coach whose own article lists the job that year. Names without a page here link to their Wikipedia articles.
How he coached
Dillingham’s teams went for it on 35% of fourth downs and on 56% of those where the model said go for it, passed on 50% of plays and took 26.4 seconds a play, 2023–2026.
| Season | Went for it on fourth | When the model said go | Pass rate | Seconds a play | EPA a play | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 12 g | 38 of 106 36% | 53% | 58% | 26.0 | −0.06 | |
| 2024 13 g | 33 of 86 38% | 58% | 41% | 28.1 | +0.16 | |
| 2025 13 g | 37 of 114 32% | 61% | 50% | 25.5 | +0.05 | |
| 2026 6 g | 16 of 50 32% | 40% | 56% | 25.9 | +0.04 | |
| All 44 g | 124 of 356 35% | 56% | 50% | 26.4 | +0.05 |
His seasons as a head coach from 2004 on, from ESPN’s play by play: fourth downs where he went for it out of every fourth-down decision; how often he went when SportsDataverse’s fourth-down model said going for it was the better call; the share of his offense’s plays that were passes; seconds of game clock per offensive play (lower is faster); and expected points added per offensive play (EPA, a measure of how much each play moved the offense toward points). The season in progress counts its games so far. SportsDataverse’s coach tendencies, from ESPN’s play by play; the EPA and the fourth-down model are SportsDataverse’s.