Greg McElroy believes Arizona State should be patient with Kenny Dillingham era

Arizona State is entering a new and hopefully successful era with head coach Kenny Dillingham. The 33-year-old rookie program leader takes over a program in a state of flux following a topsy-turvy last few years.

Greg McElroy was talking about rookie head coaches on his Always College Football with Greg McElroy podcast and the discussion got to Dillingham.

“Speaking of offense, how about Kenny Dillingham, the youngest head coach in America,” McElroy said. “It’s one of those situations where Arizona State has completely overcorrected. They went one direction: an NFL mind Herm Edwards, older. Now they’re basically completely overcorrecting and saying we’re gonna go as young as possible. We’re gonna go offense. We’re gonna go with a guy that actually has way more college experience than Herm Edwards did before him.”

Dillingham has been an offensive coordinator for the previous five season, including the last four at Power Five conferences.

Last year, Dillingham was at Oregon where he helped turn Bo Nix into one of the best quarterbacks in the country. He had the best season of his career with Dillingham.

“I do think that his track record has already proven to be very successful,” McElroy said. Doesn’t matter where he’s been. All you got to do is look at last year. Look at the job he did with Bo Nix. When Bo Nix went from Auburn to Oregon, he was at that point, I’m not saying he was broken because he had a lot of talent. But he wasn’t quite the player at Auburn that his talent level would become. He had a lot of game. He had a lot of ability. But Kenny Dillingham got the most out of him. That’s what needed to happen.”

The big question hanging over the Sun Devils is not on the football field. It is in boardrooms as conference realignment is overtaking the West Coast.

What becomes of the Pac-12 is the storyline that might come to define the Dillingham era at Arizona State.

“I think Arizona State’s in a little bit of a period of flux,” McElroy said. “Will they stay in the Pac-12? Will they go alongside Arizona and Utah to the Big 12? I really don’t know. All I know is that when I look at Arizona State, they feel like a program that has consistently underachieved for the better part of the last 30 years. You have great access to talent. You’re in a wonderful, talent-rich area of the country. Tempe is right next to Scottsdale and right next to Phoenix. There’s a lot of great players that come from that part of the country. I think there’s a long road for Kenny Dillingham, but it’s gonna take a little time to get that thing humming in the right direction. How about this one? A guy that’s familiar with Kenny dealing in the place that actually once ployed Can you telling him?”