Arizona State head coach Kenny Dillingham wanted significant changes. He made that clear with the indoor facility push and the “Activate the Valley” chant. And now, the response has arrived in the form of a program-shifting check from a former 1976 ASU graduate who has big visions for the Sun Devils.
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Brian Swette and his wife, Kelly, are donating $10 million for the “Swette Family Endowed Football Coach position.” This donation from the former PepsiCo senior executive and eBay CEO is the largest in ASU athletics history.
“Success in sports is important for the university,” he said. “It enhances the college experience. It brings a sense of community and pride. It enriches our brand. It engages alumni and builds support for the university.”
As ASU made clear in a release, this $10 million is tied to four targeted goals.
- Recruitment and retention of the best and brightest student-athletes to ASU,
- recruitment and retention of best-in-class coaches and staff,
- retention and compensation of Sun Devil Football student-athletes as allowed by the NCAA, and
- new technologies to enhance athletes’ physical and mental development.
BREAKING: ASU alumnus Brian Swette, a former PepsiCo senior executive and eBay chief operating officer, and his wife, Kelly, are donating $10 million for the "Swette Family Endowed Football Coach position." It is the largest donation in ASU athletics history. ASU's release Show more
“The dynamics of athletics has changed with NIL and the (transfer) portal,” Swette said. “It requires a new type of leadership. Kenny is uniquely suited to success. We are proud to support him.”
This is the third time the Swette family has made a major contribution to ASU. In 2007, they helped create the Biodesign Swette Center for Environmental Biotechnology. Ten years later, they funded the Swette Center for Sustainable Food Systems. Not only that, but they also started the Swette Family Scholarship Program, which supports students from agricultural families.
Swette didn’t hesitate when explaining why he bought into Kenny Dillingham’s leadership. In just his third year, he pushed ASU to a Big 12 title and a CFP appearance in 2024. That wasn’t supposed to happen that fast, so it brought belief.
“Number one, I think he is a first-class coach,” Swette said of Dillingham. “But he’s also a great leader of men. He has incredible authenticity and character, and he loves our state and our university. We’re blessed to have a guy of that caliber on both sides of the equation … competence and character.”
This is only the second endowed coaching position at ASU. The first was the Greg Powers Endowed Men’s Hockey Head Coach position in late 2025. Now, football joins that club with the largest leadership endowment in school history. This means Kenny Dillingham needs to prove he’s worth the belief.
Kenny Dillingham wants to see consistency in 2026
Coming off an 8-5 season in 2025, ASU is in that middle ground right now. But there’s potential for the Sun Devils to be a double-digit win team. Kenny Dillingham knows it.
“Like I told the guys in meetings, I’m not judging how you practice today,” he said. “I want to see how consistent you are. Whoever you are today, it’s going to bother me if you’re different [on] day 7… So whatever you are today is the expectation I have for you every day. If you’re not a guy who can bring it every day, don’t bring it all today.”
Most teams face this problem. Teams don’t fall apart because they lack talent; they fall apart because they can’t sustain it. And ASU is about to be tested in that area. Right now, there’s still no clear QB1 with Cutter Boley and Mike Keeney competing. On the receiver side, Jordyn Tyson is gone, taken No. 8 overall by the New Orleans Saints, but this isn’t a rebuild. It’s a reload with expectations. Omarion Miller is still there, and he’s already being projected as a first-round pick in 2027.
Now, that $10 million gift comes with no room for excuses. When boosters invest like this, they’re raising the standard, and Swette made that clear.
“We’ll never have a better coach,” he said.
