Kenny Dillingham talks transfer portal, fundraising and more on Burns & Gambo.
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Welcome back to the burnson gimbo show here on Arizona Sports the local sports leader for the I think second or third time in his tenure now it is our absolute pleasure so welcome in studio with us the head coach of Arizona State University’s football program Kenny Dillingham joining us here in studio for
Not one but two segments to talk a little shop about the sundevils right now on the state of college football coach good to see you happy New Year merry Christmas happy holidays all that stuff how you been man I’ve been good just you know working through the the
The new age of college football in terms of the holiday days are essentially work from home time so I’ve been on the phones and uh it’s great holidays good and time to get back to work yeah okay I I know you’re all about looking ahead and not looking back but I’m curious was
There any wistful kind of feelings last night watching the last ever football game involving a Pack 12 football team as we know it there was I mean when I was watching the game that’s really what I was watching it saying man what I grew up watching is over over yeah I mean
It’s over me too I felt the exact same way that was my childhood right it’s over there’s no more and that’s really weird Eerie feeling when it’s absolutely over and uh that’s the feeling I had last night did you feel that Washington had a chance in that game going into the
Game 100% they got manhandled physically in that game yeah I mean usually there’s a few plays Washington’s super explosive and there’s a few explosive plays in there that could have gone either way way you know the fourth down is one that that comes to mind in the first half oh
Because the offsetting penalties in the second half that hurt too exactly right and when you play a team like that that dominates at the point of attack you have to hit your explosive plays uh when you’re an explosive offense if you don’t you’re in trouble let’s talk about this
Off season for you um very busy with the portal I think I’m counting what 21 guys that you’ve been able to get some really good players you got a five-star running back out of UFC you got players from BigTime programs that you were able to add for you added from Arizona you add
It from Florida State San Diego State Cincinnati LSU Arkansas Purdue how has it gone do you feel like you’ve been able to address some of the major concerns for this team going forward through the portal 100% I think uh one of our biggest concerns last year was
Our depth we had no depth on our football team uh when we got into the second half of a game there was a major drop off uh second half of the Season there was a major drop off because of our depth I think we addressed that I
Think we became a deeper football team we became a bigger football team and bigger football teams stay healthy and that was another issue we had was the depth and then staying healthy I think we address those needs uh across all positions I think a lot of people look
At offensive line and say that that that was an area a depth area last year and I’m looking it looks like you added three offensive linemen got a kid from New Mexico got a kid from Arkansas another kid from Hawaii how do you feel about those additions for the o line
Yeah huge they’re all over 320 Pounders they’re big people which is what we needed and uh two of them were starters last year and the other one was a young buck uh so getting experience you know the the kid from a similar conference we signed last year Lee fanu started at
Center was obviously our our best offensive lineman last year so going back to the the mid- major level to get one of the best offensive linemen on those teams that those coaches believed are borderline NFL guys uh and put them on our roster because they have the size
Necessary to play at this level I think they’re both going to help us and I think Joey the Young Buck from Arkansas who’s originally from here ironically uh he’s actually a local kid that nobody knows about because he moved uh when he was about 13 uh I think he’s going to be
Able to help us as well is that offensive line was that going in kind of identified as the most competitive position among programs when it came to finding guys getting guys not losing guys competing for right that that’s had to be the spot right 100% nobody in the country likes their offensive
Line I’m just being honest nobody I I mean maybe five did Michigan not like their offensive line I guarantee you if you ask their coach they say we could use a tackle oh my God they rush for 300 yards there is every team feels like they can do better every team says we
Need a tackle I mean that’s every coach in the country so every coach in the country when those offensive linemen go in they try to get them yeah pie chart I’m a pie chart guy pie chart this for me in a perfect world when you’re when Kenny Dillingham is constructing a
Roster how much of that roster is guys you’ve recruited and how much of that roster is guys who are coming in from the portal I would love at the end of the day for it to be like 7030 70 recruited 30 uh portal but you have to
Sign the best players and I think that’s the biggest thing is people want to put portal kids in a box in terms of a portal kid is a mercenary he’s going to come and be here for one year then leave no if you look at the kids that we sign
In the portal only one kid does not have two to three years left we didn’t Target portal kids to go win next year only we targeted portal kids that had two three sometimes four years left to build a culture so I don’t think I I box it into
Portal vers high school it’s how many years do they have left because some high school kids only you are there three to four years what’s the difference between that and a portal kid who has three do you think same same do you ever think you’ll achieve that that
7030 you think you’ll get there or do does the current landscape of college football make that that number really hard to get to I think we’ll get to 7030 of guys being in our program for three plus years which means that’s including transfers that are transferring in with
Three plus years like Cole Martin who was a fourstar top 200 player in the country who went to Oregon played there for him but he’s from here from bash High School transfer back home yeah that’s a high school transfer he’s a freshman he came back I
Rule that in my mind as signing a freshman because he’s going to be in our in our program to build the culture he’s in there long enough what are you hearing from all the you you’ve brought in over 20 guys on the portal that are
Going to be a able to help you you know you look at the schedule you know I was at a lot of your games last year you you played close against Oklahoma State you you played close against Cal you played close against Colorado both of those three-point games Washington who just
Played last night that was an eight-point football game you beat Washington State you beat UCLA what are you hearing now there was some blowout games too you just didn’t have the depth but what are you hearing from players about what they’re excited about coming to issue and playing for you in this
Program just the work like they understand last year you know we you can only change so much and we changed as much as we could and we stabilized the program we took a program that wasn’t stabilized and it’s stable cups were bare they were bare yeah and uh we’re
Stable now did you have cupboards it was it’s not that there weren’t any the C covers were be did you even have covers I’ve been here for a long time no coach left another coach in a worse position than you’ve been and I’ve been here for a while okay I go
Back to when Bruce Snider was here he goes back even for nobody left it worse than when you got it so there was a lot of work to do and there was some signs of progress last year there were a lot of signs of progress but I’m just
Curious is to when you’re out there and you’re talking to these kids you’re selling them the opportunity to play the opportunity to go play a new conference the excitement what are you hearing back from them about what they like about ASU I think the the one the place sells
Itself I mean Phoenix who doesn’t want to live in Phoenix I mean in the winter when you come on visits is there a better place in the country than Phoenix Arizona so that’s one two the energy and the staff and how we all get along with each other people feel that they feed
That three the style of play they love the aggressiveness on offense and the aggressiveness on defense with Coach Ward and the fact that our staff wants to be here because seven of them have roots to the valley naturally so there’s not going to be a lot of Staff turnover
So so I think and then when they talk to our players I think this is the key to why we’ve been able to sign the class we did having the season we’ve had the players that play for us that are on our team sell the program not me they’re the
Ones that say he will never lie to you if he tells you something it’s going to happen he’s not always going to tell you what you like to hear but it’s gonna be the truth those guys our teams sell our program and that’s why we’ve been able
To put together the class we have is our current players Kenny Dillingham joining us in studio on the burns and Yambo show he’s going to be with us a seg second so when we come back in the next segment we’ll get into more nil and the money
And the fundraising and the things like that kind of the the meat and potatoes of that part of the program I do want to ask you though since we’re talking about players in the program um Jaden rashada Sam levit a a legit quarterback okay
Here we go kind of moment for you in the program tell me about kind of what was the Genesis behind that and and how Rashad is reacting to that right now yeah I have exit interviews with every player every coach every person in our organization so over 180 exit interviews
When the season ended and my meeting with Trenton my meeting with Jaden uh were hey I’m going to bring another quarterback to compete for the job good point playing and if you want to leave leave and if you don’t stay and compete but regardless if you run you’re going
To run forever from competition can’t be afraid of it eventually be afraid of it just beat it out beat him out beat him out and Jaden and Trenton both said great no no issue no problem let’s go bring somebody in so I went and I found
The best person to go compete with them for the job and I found him and I said listen it’s an open competition you can ask them I told them the same thing now am I going to guarantee you a job to get you here no are other schools going to
Promise you a job to get you to transfer there yes they’re full of crap because nobody can promise you a job eventually you’re GNA have to win something so you can come here you know who you’re competing verse I’m not going to take another transfer win the job Point Blank
Sam love got a lot of talent so it should be a good quarterback competition you would expect that right 100% he’s got a lot of talent he’s he’s young I think we have a good balance of the youth with Trenton who’s going to be a coach and I mean Trenton loves the
Program loves this place wants to be a coach here when he’s done playing so you have that guy in the room with these other two guys and it’s a really really good combination just to see the growth I want to play a sound bite if I could
From uh your colleague Bobby Hurley over with the sundevil program men’s basketball coach he was a guest on the morning show today and talked about this when talking about the importance of the nil for his program it’s critical really I mean we’re on the lower end right now
Based on just everything that I’ve been able the data I’ve been able to accumulate from other programs and what what they have to operate with uh you know going into this year so we’re certainly on the lower end right now for for for our program we’re doing the best
We can with it the reality is that there might be a guy or two or maybe three that left the program that may not have left if uh if we had a better nil structure in place wow a guy or two or three that have left the program if we
Had a better structure in place is it the same thing with the football program yeah it’s the same thing I mean uh that’s the nature of the Beast right now is you’ve got to be able to be competitive it’s you know for me it’s
Not I don’t want to you can’t use nil to win bidding wars and all that stuff but you got to be able to get your players enough money that they want toay a part of your program and to me that’s the key is if you can get your own pay players
The amount of money that they don’t want to leave then naturally you’ll be able to replace those players spots when they open up with a number uh to fit a culture but that’s our goal right now is to is to really fill our roster with enough money that guys don’t want to
Leave are you guys behind the other programs when it comes to the nil raising yeah we are but I think I will say this I know the president Crow is completely behind it I know Jim run the acting ad is completely behind it and uh they are doing everything they can to
Make it better and at least for football it has gotten better uh in the last two two months there’s been a lot of people that have stepped up in the last two and a half three months for football we’re not where we want to be but we are
Significantly better than where we were three months ago me and you were talking before and it’s it’s not like and there’s so many sundevil alumni living here right now listening to this program and many of them own businesses and are doing well having success it’s not like
You got to write a check for 150 Grand to be a part of it I mean you could be a part of it for a minimum amount of money too I mean there are people that are coming in for $10 a month $50 a month
$100 a month and being a part of the sun angel foundation so it’s not just you would love to get the big ticket guys right but everybody could be a part of this that was a former Sun that’s a sundevil Alum my entire I mean program activate the
Valley is what you just said it’s nowadays more than it’s ever been The Valley in the community of people that support your Athletic program dictate how good that athletic department is it’s never been like that ever until right now to the last two years the last 12 months and we have the
Greatest Advantage because we have the alumni you just mentioned and we have the valley who wants to see winners we’re a front running City we want people to win that’s why you move here successful people move here when they retire so so how do people how do people
Get involved they got lot of sundevil I’m not listening now want to support the program want to see you do well in the Big 12 they you know they they can afford something how do like what’s the best way for somebody to get involved and support the program sun angel
Collective Google it just Google the sun angel Collective Angel Collective that’s it if you Google it you go to the website it’ll show you right there you can pay monthly you can make a one-time donation whatever you want to do sign up for the pat tomman $42 a month uh and so
Just hit don’t I’m on sun angels sun angel Collective and it just says donate that’s it and you can make a onetime donation or a monthly donation and you could be a part of supporting ASU Athletics that’s it and when you see somebody throw a touchdown pass you know
You are a part of it and I think that’s the thing that’s really cool now is like we need you we won’t have a team without you so regardless if you donate a dollar if you donate a million dollars it doesn’t matter life is relative to what
You can give so give what you can give that way when you watch this team play you can say man I was a part of this I did something for this and the power of numbers will take care of itself how much Trent you mentioned Trenton Borg
Earlier how much was his decision and his donation and his how symbolically and even beyond the symbolism of it the actual tangible results of it how much did that mean to you and to the program and the sun angel Collective what he decided to do and for people who don’t
Know tell everybody what he decided to do it was a big deal so Trenton essentially donated money to the uh to the collective in terms of like a match agreement to try to get raise more money for his teammates uh which is a pretty cool deal I believe it was $20,000 he
Donated in order to get people to donate for his teammates so like I said Trenton’s a Sun Devil through and through that’s been an awesome uh just stance that he’s about it and he’s for it and he’s all about the team and that’s why not only is he a good
Football player for us but he’s going to be a great coach a great ambassador of ASU football for a long time you also mentioned the interim ad right now Jim rund who is the support that he’s given and that that Dr Crow was given to all
Of this in this kind of interesting time right now for the state of ASU Athletics given that there is a search for a permanent athletic director is that adding a layer of challenge to this because I know when the season ended one of the first things you said was
Fundraise I’m going to go out and fundraise fundraise fundraise has it been I don’t want to say a handicap AP necessarily but has it changed how you would like to do this knowing that things aren’t as settled as they should be within the athletic department no CU
That’s not how I operate I’m going to go do what I got to do to get what we need to get like there’s no excuses uh extreme ownership I talk about in our program a lot figur it out and uh we have a guy Graham Rini who’s operating
Under Jim run right now who’s who’s really boots on the ground for us and he’s done a great job communicating and helping you know help the program stay afloat and and the athletic department in this time and no but for me it’s it doesn’t matter there’s no excuses find a
Way I know it’s not up to you you’re the you’re the employee not the employer here but I’m just curious is there any kind of an update you can give on the search for an athletic director in ter at least in terms of a timetable or when something might happen to be honest
There’s not I don’t know a timetable I don’t have any information regarding that at all okay I’m I’m going to leave you with this because I’m on sun angels.com .org right now and I’m looking at it and it is incredible how easy it is to be a part of helping ASU
Athletics and ASU football you can be a member for $10 a month you could be a tb16 membership for $16 a month you could have a sundevil membership just $25 a month and a Pat Tillman membership for $42 a month $10 $16 $25 $42 there’s also a Sparky membership for 100 a month
A maroon membership for 250 a month a gold membership and a sun angel membership now some of these come with great benefits too autograph merchandise meeting and greeting players uh some exclusive opportunities for you to get involved and support sundevil football and sundevil Athletics so sun angels.org
Or what was the other one Sun Angel Foundation sun angel Collective if you just Google it it’ll pop up yeah because I’m looking at it right now very easy and I guess activating a valley is all about getting getting people that love ASU sports that big into ASU to be a
Part of this that’s it and it’s not even you know college football is so unique it’s about the the person who’s not from here the person who went to Purdue and who now lives here and has a nine-year-old boy and you want to build something with the nine year
Nine-year-old what do you do you bring him to ASU games because that’s what you did and that’s why you’re a Purdue fan and you bring him to ASU games and yeah you’re still a Purdue fan but you’re also an ASU fan that’s what activating the valley is it’s taking everybody from
The valley and making them involved through their kids through their families through the culture of what it’s like to go to a Collegiate football game and that’s what I’m trying to do and if we can do that here if we can give the experience you had in the
Midwest like how far people are from and give your kid that same experience going to an ASU game right that’s activating the valley because what we’ll be in 5 to 10 years from now will be a place people couldn’t imagine we could get to coach it’s always a pleasure having you Studio
Thanks for carving out a few minutes to come down and join us in person it’s always great to have you in studio best of luck this off season okay I appreciate basketball court all right no more injuries no more injuries that’s done that’s done the Victorian basketball court I’m retiring from
Sounds good keny Dillingham joining us in studio thanks for watching Burns and gambo click to see more from the guys and hit the button in the middle to subscribe so you never miss a video from Arizona Sports
