Kenny Dillingham could have been rocking Maize and Blue this fall, but he opted to stay where his feet were planted: Arizona State. Dillingham was a hot name in the coaching cycle due to his quick success with the Sun Devils.

So naturally when Michigan calls, it’s hard to leave the phone alone. As Dillingham told USA Today, he interrupted a family dinner to answer the call from Ann Arbor.

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Ultimately, Dillingham stayed at Arizona State and Michigan salvaged the coaching search by hiring longtime Utah coach Kyle Whittingham. Dillingham recently opened up about what the process was like, but made it clear what he wanted to accomplish at ASU.

“If everybody’s improving at an 11-percent increase, we’ve got to be at 12, 13, 14,” Dillingham said, via John Brice. “We’ve got to bridge the gap. Otherwise, I don’t want to be here to babysit an average program. That’s not the vision.

“I want to build a program, and I understand we’re not going to be like some schools that somebody can show up and they can flip it upside down tomorrow and become this. So as long as we’re building to what I think can be a championship program in the long haul, and as we go, that’s what I care about.”

Kenny Dillingham opted for Arizona State, rather than Michigan

In three seasons, Dillingham has a 22-17 record, but is 19-8 in the last two seasons at Arizona State. He led the Sun Devils to an 11-3 record, Big 12 title and CFP berth in 2024. Naturally, Michigan would find that enticing in a head coach.

“Great opportunity. Michigan found the perfect guy for them,” Dillingham said. “They really did, because Kyle Whittingham is somebody that I’ve looked up to … I actually called him early in the (Michigan) process to talk to him about his choices and his family and things that he’d never sacrificed.”

Whittingham is 177-88 in his coaching career, all seasons with Utah. He coached the Utes from 2004-25 and will now take a stab at the Big Ten with the Wolverines.

Meanwhile, Dillingham wants to get Arizona State back to the top of the Big 12 and back in the College Football Playoff. His comments about trying to stay ahead of the curve are evident, considering the SUn Devils lost their starting QB Sam Leavitt to LSU via the transfer portal. Still, Dillingham is a glass half full type of guy.

“I’ve told our athletic director, Graham (Rossini) and president (Michael M. Crow), as long as we show that we’re advancing, I just want our place to continue to advance,” Dillingham said.

Arizona State opens the season on September 5th against Morgan State. Dillingham enters Year 4 with the same mentality: constant improvement.