Kenny Dillingham shares lessons learned about recruiting in NIL era

NIL has reshaped college football in ways that once seemed impossible. In turn, head coaches across the NCAA level have been forced to stray away from their philosophies in favor of the shiny new rules.

Luckily for Arizona State head coach Kenny Dillingham, 2024 marks just his second season as a head coach at the Division I level. Dillingham, 34, came to the conclusion that the transfer portal and NIL go hand-in-hand when it comes to building a strong roster in this version of college football.

“I think the key nowadays to college football is retention,” Dillingham said at Big 12 Media Days. “And I think the only way, unless you can just have — pay players more money and unlimited amount of money, you have to gain their trust and be honest with them. I think the retention piece of college football is the most important thing, and I think that’s just trust and respect with your players,

“Right now in recruiting, our coaches aren’t our best recruiters. Our players are our best recruiters. Our players are selling our brand. Our players are telling them that our coaching staff doesn’t change. Our players are telling them the standards that are being set. It’s not us recruiting, it’s our players recruiting, and I think that’s what excites me the most.”

From the transfer portal, Dillingham has aquired talents like former Georgia Tech and Nebraska quarterback Jeff Sims, former Penn State wideout Malik McClain and former Colorado running back Alton McCaskill will all help bolster ASU’s offensive unit next season.

When it comes to recruiting talent, Dillingham identified the qualities these players have to have if they want to attach their brand to Arizona State — he simply wants good people who make good decisions to represent the brand. Both are two unwritten team rules.

“We want people who bring joy,” Dillingham continued. “Either you’re going to be a multiplier in our program or a divider. And I don’t want dividers. I want people who multiply, people who make people around them better. No energy vampires.

“And honesty in the recruitment process. That’s one thing I can say with a lot of confidence, is we’re going to tell you the truth when we recruit you, and you’re probably going to have a better scenario when you’re here than what we tell you when we recruit you.”

Dillingham and company finished the 2023 season with a 3-9 record. Vegas has the Sun Devils’ win total at over/under 4.5 in 2024. They’ll look to improve on Dillingham’s inagural season this year, beginning with a Week 1 matchup against Wyoming.