Oregon officially announces Kenny Dillingham as new offensive coordinator

Defensive-minded Oregon head coach Dan Lanning has his offensive guru.

On Friday, the Ducks formally announced the addition of Kenny Dillingham to their staff as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. Dillingham has served in the same position at Florida State for the past two seasons.

Welcome to Oregon, @KennyDillingham!

He joins @CoachDanLanning's coaching staff as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.

More: https://t.co/EokHny5vos#GoDucks pic.twitter.com/AGBXIcohyB

— Oregon Football (@oregonfootball) December 17, 2021

Under his direction, the Seminoles averaged 378.9 yards and 27.6 points per game this season. In 2020, those numbers were 396.7 yards and 25.8 points. Florida State had one of the best rushing attacks in the ACC last season, posting nearly 200 yards per game. After starting 0-4 for the first time in school history, Florida State finished the season 5-3 and looked drastically improved by the end of the 2021 campaign.

Dillingham and Lanning coached together for two years in Memphis from 2016 to 2017. Lanning was the inside linebackers coach while Dillingham went from a graduate assistant to eventual quarterbacks coach. 

Dillingham became the offensive coordinator in 2018, while Lanning left to become the linebackers coach at Georgia. Lanning was promoted to defensive coordinator just one season later. Dillingham then went on to become the offensive coordinator at Auburn in 2019 before leaving for Florida State the next season. 

Dillingham began his coaching career at the young age of 17 after tearing his ACL during his senior year of high school. He went on to coach at his alma mater, Chapparal High School (AZ), while he studied in college at Arizona State. At just 21, he was promoted to offensive coordinator. 

He was hired as an offensive analyst for Arizona State in 2014 under Mike Norvell, the current coach of Florida State, so the move back to the West Coast makes sense especially as USC and UCLA recruiting is picking up in the region.

Oregon finished this year with a 10-2 regular season record, making the Pac-12 Championship Game for the third consecutive season. However, they lost to Utah by score of 38-10, their second blowout loss to the Utes in three games.

Not long after, Ducks coach Mario Cristobal announced he was leaving to take the head job at his alma mater, Miami. In his five years with Oregon, he compiled a 35-13 record and won two conference titles. 

The Ducks are set to face Oklahoma in the Alamo Bowl on Dec. 29.

On3’s Chandler Vessels contributed to this report.