Arizona State Head Coach Kenny Dillingham Weekly Press Conference
Monday, October 20th 2025
On Facing Houston and Week Nine:

On staying on track after a big win:
“We saw when we didn't practice a certain way, we saw when we did practice a certain way, and we got to get better in a lot of areas. We got to get extremely better in special teams. We got to get extremely better in the red zone. We got to get better on defense at the end of the game, so everybody knows that there's still an urgency to get better. It's still difficult to do off emotional wins, it's a challenge. Anybody who says that's not, it's an absolute lie. It's a challenge to wake back up and go right back to having a chip on your shoulder and getting better. So that is the challenge this week, is focusing on us to push to get better and better and better.”

On if anything needs to change with the special teams and red zone struggles:
“It's bigger than just one scheme. We're practicing our little speed toss and we haven't practiced it with (OL) Makua (Pule) and it was just an uncomfortable timing things. Snap it not that sucks, he hadn't got a lot of reps on it. So you have that, and that's unfortunate. Then the other penalty down there was a false start, but it's timing to cadence. False start that gets called one every 10 times type thing because you're timing your own cadence. It's that little advantage, that video in the NFL of the tackle always leaving early, and they allow it to happen. That's kind of what every team tries to do, it's one of those scenarios, it just sucks. I mean for a variety of reasons, I would say on offense, we're struggling on special teams. We're just going to focus more on detail, detail, we're not squeezing edges. We're not doing fundamental stuff well, so we kept the entire team and special teams meeting today. Every coach, every player, and I said, I'm gonna run this thing. We're going to watch every clip and we're going to get this fixed. That's a priority to try to improve that area of our football team.”

On how it has been to get more receivers involved: 
“He's (QB Sam Leavitt) just getting a feel for the team. Early in the season you have your comfort zone of the guy that you're used to throwing to on game day, and it's comfortable there. He's just getting a feel for the guys and getting comfortable with other guys in the field. We're getting a feel for our team with how to put people in the best position for them to succeed and what their strengths are, what we can remember, how much plays we can carry. It's just a multitude of things, but he's played a really good last two weeks that he's played football.”

On an injury update:
“We'll get most of that tonight to be honest, those guys were still in good spirits today, from that perspective. We'll get most of that after all the imaging and all that comes back tonight.”  

On how (HC) Kenny Dillingham gets players ready and disciplined for difficult games:
“Paralysis is my process. If you're paralyzing your team through how much they have to process, you're gonna play slower. You have to be able to play football fast, everybody has different ways that they want to make a team process. Some people line up in FIB’s, some people line up in unbalanced, what are you going to do there. Some people tempo, some people put an extra tackle in the game, they go tackle over, they come out of a huddle, right.  They're trying to make you process things, to slow you down, to make you not play fast. Usually simplicity helps that and you can play. The faster you play, the quicker you get lined up, the quicker the calls in. The faster you play, the better you are, so 100 percent that can happen.”

On Houston deserving more respect nationally:
“They're 6-1 and they've lost to a Top 15 team in the country. I don't know what else you want, they win games. Everybody wants flash nowadays, everybody wants to post like social media. How we're gonna kill somebody and destroy them in the game, and we're tougher than them, we're coming to their house and gonna dominate. It's all flash. At the end of the day, their head coach there has won a lot of games for a long time and a lot of places. Just winning games by playing good defense, complimentary offensive football, possessing the ball, taking care of the football, not hurting themselves. Just because they win with that style, people necessarily don't flock to it. It's a very, very effective style to win football games and to win them at a high level. That's what Coach (Willie) Fritz does, coach Fritz wins, he always has won. He is winning again and their football team is 6-1 with one loss to a Top 15 team. They're a phenomenal football team because they're balanced, they play to each other's strengths. They have an identity and that's what leads to winning. We were the same way last year. Nobody thinks you're good until you start beating people, oh maybe they are good, or they got lucky. Maybe that other team's not that good, it's just the nature of the world. This is a very, very good football team and our guys better strap it up.”

On facing (QB) Connor Weigman for Houston:
“He's a duel. They put him in positions to where you have to treat him like a triple option quarterback, even though he's not. They do enough of it to make you count his hat, to where they get you in coverages that they can expose you down the field with their passing game. They're very good at quick passing game, they get the ball out really fast. They take shots then they add plus one runs with their quarterback, that's all you need in football. Make you add your hat in the fit, buy quarterback plus ones every once in a while that create explosives, throw the ball over your head when needed, then throw it so fast that it frustrates your pass rush. They have a really good philosophy on how to play offensive football. How to get into good hat counts, that's why they move the ball methodically down the field on people. That's why their time of possession is so high, and that's why they're 6-1. They have a philosophy on how to win. They're not just playing offense and defense and special teams, they're a team.”

On how (HC) Kenny Dillingham reaches out to other coaches for advice:
“They're just guys that I have a lot of respect for that have won for a long time. I just pick up the phone and call them and say this is what we're going through. You've been through everything, so tell me how you would handle this. Tell me what you would do and just try to listen. Sometimes you need other people outside of the building to ask questions too. I call a variety of people, guys I've worked with, guys I haven't, just to get opinions. Whether it could be a scheme for a guy that I know is really good at, as a corners guy, all he does is play corners or all he does is play 3 week, or all he does is bring simulated pressures one week. I may call that guy and be like, hey, facing a sim team, talk to me, what don't you want to see. Then it may be culturally, and I call a coach who I believe has an unbelievable culture and say, what did you do here to establish toughness in times like this. It's just calling the people who you think’s their expertise in those areas and listening because I'm still new to this. I'm still learning every day. I'm still trying to get better and I think the day that I try to stop getting better is the day that I'm going to start to get worse.”

On being speechless after the win against Texas Tech on Saturday:
“For the guys to battle back from the week prior. In this world, you go from hero to zero. You go from in the castle to in the outhouse overnight, there's not a transition period. You're just there, that's where you go. There's no middle ground in this thing. You're either a leader or you suck. There's no such thing as average or good. You're either great or you're horrible, that's the world we live in. We talked all off season about response to failure, not response to success. How are we going to respond to failure, how are we going to respond to failure. To see our guys fail at such a high level and our team fail at such a high level, and us respond at equally as high of a level, that was pretty cool to see.”

On assistant coach Bryan Carrington:
“He’s a people person. Anytime you can build relationships at a high level, coaching is the easy part. Building relationships, building trust, and getting guys to play hard for you is the hard part. He was a guy who's always been great at building relationships, so I wanted to bring him in and it's been good for us.”

On coach Carrington’s growth as a coach and a recruiter:
“All coaches grow. Coach Carrington grew into his role, other coaches grow into their roles and it's fun to watch. Guys get better at their craft or tweak what they're doing in how they're coaching something. I think that everybody's challenge is to get better, and you know some people get better at their strengths and some people get better at their weaknesses. I think the people that are willing to attack their weaknesses, even though they're vulnerable, are the people who really excel and the people who just want to double down on their strengths are the people who (don’t reach their potential). Hopefully we have a staff and a team that wants to double down on improving our weaknesses. 

On TE Chamon Metayer:
“Chamon is a phenomenal player. He is an unbelievable blocker, great pass catcher. I think he's a Sunday player. I don't think there's any doubt in that. His versatility whether he's in pass protection, run blocking, or catching passes, he has to be a continued weapon for us. That tight end room as a whole too. I think we're one of the top teams in the country in 12 Personnel right now.”

On what the energy at Saturday’s win over Texas Tech does for recruiting:
“I do think the viral moments are good for a brand and they're good for a culture with your team as long as you can respond from them and understand that once the next day hits, it's over. Nobody cares anymore. What do we have to do to get better? How do we improve? Because if we don't constantly improve, we're going to have more moments like we saw two weeks ago, not more moments like we saw last week.”

On the impact K Jesus Gomez makes for the team:
“We kick a lot more field goals. Now people like my dad are like, ‘Why are you kicking so many field goals?’ Last year it was like, ‘Why do you always go for it?’ My family usually gives me the beat of the fans. I don't know what y'all want. I'm just going to do what I think is best. So to have a guy like that be able to kick field goals and make them with confidence, it's won us a couple of games. That's been a critical piece of our team this year.”

On how he’s seen DB Keith Abney II develop:
“Just work. He just works every day. We were looking at Keith in walk-throughs and he takes the perfect step and his eyes track the hip, and you wonder why he's good. He's so detailed and he does that in everything. It's not just football walkthroughs. He does that in academics, being in the Barrett (Honors College), he does that in the weight room which is why he's the heaviest he's been. It's just the pure want and focus to be good every single day. And then he's an unbelievable personality, funny and vibrant. He has all that stuff too.”

On fourth quarter miscues on special teams:
“Just really bad football. Embarrassingly bad football that I'm going to get fixed. We kept the entire team in our special teams meeting today and we said, ‘We’re going to watch every one of these plays together, quarterbacks, offensive line, I don't care. We're staying in here because everybody needs to understand how important this was to winning and losing a football game.’ I haven't done a good enough job making sure people understand the importance (of that) and it was a reality check for us as a football team to get better at that area. There's going to be an improved intensity, an improved effort, and improved mindset in those phases of the game because that was just unacceptable.”

On OL Makua Pule’s performance against Texas Tech and offensive line combinations moving forward: 
“I don't want to get into that yet. I thought (Pule) played really well… great snaps, great tags, and he held up versus really good football players. I was very pleased that he played. I don't want to jump to what's next yet. I want to get guys back, get guys healthy and see what the best combo is from there.”

On what playing their fourth game against a Texas school does for recruiting:
“Obviously, you want to perform well in areas that you primarily recruit. Unfortunately for us, we don't play games in California anymore. I'm trying to get as many non-conference games in California to get us back into that market. Not just for our fan base, but for recruiting, and for all of our fans in Los Angeles, San Diego, and Northern California. But right now, most of our non-conference games are in Texas and we (already) play games in Texas because we used to be in a different league. So, it's definitely critical to show well in a primary (recruiting) area and our guys have done that so far. But, it’s never changed how I prepare, or how I plan. That's just a byproduct of preparing and playing good football.”

On Houston’s running game:
“They have a really good balance of triple option runs mixed with quarterback direct runs. Certain types of schemes you can scheme up to defeat so I think, systematically, they do a good job coaching to get into a good place. (Texas Tech head coach) Coach Fritz and that staff do a really good job. You don't win at the level he's won by accident. It's not an accident that they're 6-1. It's not an accident that he's won everywhere he's been. They do a really good job and I think their players execute well on top of that. When you do that across all three phases, you win a lot of games.”

On his assessment of the Big 12 and how it has felt playing against difficult teams this far:
“It's exciting. We get to play another one-loss team, so that's great stuff. This conference is just so deep across the board. You never know who can win any game. Anybody can beat anybody any week in this conference, and that's the challenge of the conference. That's why every game has to be so singularly focused on like it is the most important game, and you just have to survive. It's like we survive, all right, survive again. Take a deep breath for 12 hours, survive, and repeat for as long as you can go.”

On what's it like coming off of an emotional win to get ready for this next game against Houston:
“You have to get your guys refocused and get them ready to go. It's difficult from the perspective I mentioned earlier. It’s a challenge, and our guys have to be ready to step up to the challenge of refocusing and giving that level of passion and energy over the next six days.”

On managing the human aspect of players that are dealing with injuries:
“It’s the most important part—the people, not the player. I think the people make the player. So many times in college sports, people worry about the player. In reality, if you can get the person to just be happy, to want to work, be inspired, he becomes a better player. So for us, it’s always about the person first, the player second. People on our staff call me crazy, but I don’t know all of our players’ numbers. I know who they are. I can tell you their names. I can look at them and see them run or walk and be like, “Oh, that’s Clayton (Clayton Smith DL)”. I can see Boogie (Adrian Wilson DB) or X (Xavion Alford DB) or Sam (Sam Leavitt QB) and say, “Oh, that’s Sam, that’s JT (Jordyn Tyson WR), that’s Jalen (Jalen Moss WR).” But I don’t always know their numbers. I know them as people, and I do that deliberately. I want people to know people in our program—not “Number 32, come here,” but “ Prince (Prince Dorbah DL), come here.” There’s a big difference to me.”

On how coming up as graduate assistant coach played a role in his career and what the current graduate assistants day-to-day looks like:
“It was a grind. You’re doing everything, and you want to be able to do everything. You’ll go somewhere and they give you tedious tasks because they don’t trust you. Then the more trust you build with doing simple things like getting the coffee order right—and our guys don’t get coffee for us anymore, that’s not the style—but when I was in their position, that’s what you did. Some people still do, but guys would get coffee for other people. And if you couldn’t remember what was on their Subway sandwich, they’d say, “Are you dumb? You can’t remember I don’t like onions? We’ve only got it four weeks in a row”. So for me it was, how do I do everything at a high level to build trust with the other person? How do I get them to trust me? If I get them to trust me, maybe they’ll ask me to make a cut-up of the under front or all the times they bring a twist game. Then if they ask me to make a cut-up of the twist game, maybe I can make a cut-up of the best plays versus them. And then I can present what I think are the best plays, and then the next thing. So for me it was always gaining trust through stacking roles. For our guys, they come in and do the tasks nobody wants to do, break down the game, and draw all the plays — which every staff member does. They break it down, and then the challenge is what you can do on top of that to separate yourself, and whether you’ve earned enough trust that somebody can give you a project and you can give them an answer and they believe you. Or are they giving you tasks that don’t really matter? For me that was always the challenge:I want to do all the tasks that don’t matter to earn the right to handle something that does. That was always my mindset, and I think for the guys on our staff—I’m pretty demanding of our GAs, analysts, and QCs—because I’m close in age to them, I’ve been where they’re at, and I’ve seen a lot of people fail. Most people don’t make it in this profession. Most people stop. They eventually quit or they’re moving every two years to a different place. It’s very hard to make it. If you want to make it, you have to separate yourself. You have to separate yourself from the people that are trying to separate themselves, and that’s not easy.”

On Sam Leavitt playing from pocket protection more in the game against Texas Tech and how that can help build on their offensive momentum:
“That can be huge. It's an absolute. Early down passing and controlled passing is a game changer in football. If you can get really efficient at control passing, it completely changes the game. It changes how teams defend you, changes the run defences, it changes the down in distances. You're at third down—which was a positive for us last week because we didn't have third and long very much. We have to stay in good down in distances. Whether it’s running the ball, using RPOs, setting up screens, or working the early down passing game — whatever it is, staying in manageable down-and-distance situations is the key to being an efficient offense. And the key to being a good offense is scoring in the red zone, which we've yet to do.”

On limiting explosive passing plays against Texas Tech says about the DB’s and if Coach Bryan Carrington is bringing any extra ‘juice’ in preparing them for this week’s game against Houston:
“He shouldn't bring any extra juice. If there's extra juice in one week as opposed to another, that's a coaching problem. It should be the exact same amount of juice from that perspective. For him in general, I think he's done a good job. You know, Javan's (Javan Robinson DB) a guy who's had an unbelievable year on top of Keith (Keith Abney DB). Rodney (Rodney Bimage Jr. DB) has shone flashes, Nyland (Nyland Green DB) when he's got in, he's done a good job, and then I thought that was our DB’s best game as well. I think all five of those guys, along with Coach (Brian) Ward and Coach (Bryan) Carrington, played their best game in the back end, in my opinion — just the way they covered and the physicality our corners are playing with. It's probably what I'm most proud of right now. Covering people is great, they're supposed to cover. I think when people do things that aren't in the top three things of their job description, that's what you have to praise people for. And you have Javan—who's one of the fastest kids on our team, who's covering his butt off all game—he's coming up in some quarters, in cover 2, and some cover three fits, and he is hitting people. That's the sign of a good team when you're doing things that people are never going to talk about. So I’m very pleased with that position group this last week, we just have to continue to build.”

On the other coach’s responses to having a more physical practice prior to the Texas Tech game:
“I didn’t ask. I said we’re live and we carried on from there and got rocking and rolling. It was as simple as that. I want people’s opinions, but when I get advice from somebody I respect, that I agree with, there’s not a lot of other options needed. You’ve won a lot of games so I agree with you.”

On if he will attend a high level high school game coming up in reference to recruitment:
“I don’t know yet. It just depends. I usually don’t attend games during home games. I’m different from a lot of people. I’m about our football team. It’s a game week and that’s on a Friday. If people that are from the state choose to come to this school, then i’ll care about them. It’s that simple, I just care about our football team. There’s a lot of guys from across the country who want to be here and be a part of this football program. I’m going to focus my energy on the people who are here in this program and pour all into them. Then once the season ends or the game ends, I can move on to the next part of my job which is trying to get the next generation of Sun Devils. But I'm always focused on the player who chose to be here over the player that I want to be here. I’ll always choose the people who chose to be here. 

On talks about field storming and things being thrown on the field:
“College sports is college sports. People are going to complain and celebrate everything. You’re going to have two sides of every argument. So I’m not going to pick one because then the other side won’t like it. I’m just going to kind of filibuster that question for a while until you think that I’ve filibustered long enough to move on. But I’ll say this, we should never judge people by emotional moments. Players, coaches, opposing teams or coaches in those moments of high energy and fans on the field. You should never judge somebody in those moments based off a 50 second clip. You have no clue what happened prior to that or after that and I feel like you should never judge those players in those moments. I’ve seen some clips of some guys and it’s not fair to judge people in those moments.”