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    ‘They Shouldn’t Be Loyal To You’ – Kenny Dillingham Delivers Harsh Recruiting Take in NIL Era on Big 12 Media Day

    Arizona State Sun Devils coach Kenny Dillingham is looking forward to the next college football season, which is nearing its commencement. He and his team are coming off of a disappointing exit in the playoff quarterfinal of the NCAA tournament last season, in which they were defeated by the Texas Longhorns, 39-31, in double overtime.

    During media day for the 2025 Big 12 conference teams on Tuesday, July 8, Dillingham was asked about his initial take that recruiting rankings do not matter anymore and how his perspective regarding recruitment and NIL value has shifted since then.

    “Yeah, I think it’s all about retention rankings now. I think, at the end of the day, you can recruit whoever you want but then they can leave in six months, they can leave in a year, they may not be good, their hit rate on a lot of top guys isn’t very high. So, you know, you can’t say recruiting is like drafting because it’s not. You know, draft picks, a lot of the first and second-rounders have to play as true freshmen. They have to play as rookies, right?” he said. (12:32)

    “Less than 5% to 3% of division one power five freshmen start as a freshman. 5%. You’re not talking first or second-rounders anymore. So, in this new era where you have 105 kids potentially on scholarship or 85, it’s all about retaining the guys in your team. It’s all about treating the guys on your team great. And if you treat the guys on your team great when you get a good player, he’s going to stay there,” Dillingham explained.

    He then asserted that it is crucial nowadays to treat players properly in the program if coaches like him expect loyalty.

    “If you constantly are looking for the next best thing to replace the guys on your team, then your guys on the team should leave. Why wouldn’t they? If you’re not loyal to them, they shouldn’t be loyal to you,” (13:20)

    Dillingham and the revamped Sun Devils 2025 roster will begin their season on Aug. 30 against the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks in the Mountain America Stadium in Tempe, Arizona. They will look for an 11-3 overall record from the 2024 season.

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    Kenny Dillingham Is Named To The 2025 Dodd Trophy Watch List

    Kenny Dillingham is reportedly named to the current preseason watchlist for the 2025 Dodd Trophy award, as per AZ Central. He will be joined by the likes of Notre Dame Fighting Irish coach Marcus Freeman, who won it in the 2024 college football season, LSU Tigers coach Brian Kelly and Texas A&M Aggies coach Mike Elko to name a few who are in the 26-man preseason list.

    Last year, Dillingham was named as a finalist for the trophy that he’s never won alongside Oregon Ducks coach Dan Lanning, United States Military Academy’s Jeff Monken and South Carolina Gamecocks tactician Shane Beamer, but as previously mentioned, Freeman ended up taking it home. Dillingham now looks to lead the Arizona State Sun Devils to a more successful campaign in 2025 and possibly win his first Dodd Trophy.

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