Kenny Dillingham

Kenny Dillingham (born April 28, 1990) is an American football coach who is currently the head football coach at Arizona State University. He previously served as the offensive coordinator at the University of Oregon, Florida State University, Auburn University, and the University of Memphis.

Coaching career

Early coaching career

Dillingham began coaching at age 17 after he tore his ACL during his senior year. He started working with the junior varsity team at Chaparral High School before being promoted to offensive coordinator of the varsity team at 21 years old. While coaching at Chaparral, he went to Arizona State University, graduating in 2012 with a degree in interdisciplinary studies. He was hired as an offensive assistant at Arizona State in 2014 under offensive coordinator Mike Norvell, whom he met while coaching at Chaparral.

Memphis

After Norvell was hired as head coach at Memphis in 2016, Dillingham was hired as a graduate assistant for the Tigers. Dillingham spent the 2016 season as the de facto quarterbacks coach, since the team did not have an official quarterbacks coach. After Tigers offensive coordinator Chip Long left to be the offensive coordinator at Notre Dame, Dillingham was named the official quarterbacks coach for Memphis and added tight ends coach to his duties for 2017. After Long's successor Darrell Dickey left for Texas A&M, Dillingham was promoted to offensive coordinator for the 2018 season. In 2017-2018 Memphis had back-to-back top 5 offenses in college football. While at Memphis, Dillingham was rated the #1 recruiter in conference by the 247 recruiter rankings.

Auburn

Dillingham was hired by Gus Malzahn to be the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Auburn in 2019, replacing Chip Lindsey. During his time at Auburn, he helped Bo Nix become the SEC Rookie of the Year while leading the most improved offense in the SEC. He spent one season with the Tigers, where they recorded a 9-3 record while averaging 33.2 points per game. Auburn also had its highest recruiting ranking in the 247 recruiting ranking era during Dillingham’s year as offensive coordinator.

Florida State

After Norvell left Memphis to be the next head coach at Florida State, Dillingham joined Florida State as their offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, replacing Kendal Briles.

Oregon

On December 17, 2021, Dillingham was hired as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at the University of Oregon under head coach Dan Lanning.

Arizona State

On November 27, 2022, Dillingham was named the 26th head coach at Arizona State University, replacing Herm Edwards. He is the first Sun Devil alumnus and native Arizonan to hold this position.

In his second season, Dillingham's team was projected to finish last in the Big 12 according to the conference’s preseason media poll. However, they exceeded expectations, winning the Big 12 Championship game by defeating Iowa State and earning a first-round bye in the 2024 College Football Playoff.