Kenny Dillingham’s resume at Arizona State might be short, but it’s sharp. With an 11-3 record, a championship, and a playoff run last season, he put a 3-9 program into the national spotlight. With that, all eyes are squarely on his next coaching move. Well, hoping for the same turnaround, even LSU and Penn State locked their target. But it looks like Dillingham is not the one looking for a change, as ASU is the only place he wants to call home.

LSU firing Brian Kelly after four years and even Penn State letting go of James Franklin after 12 years show how badly both programs want to win. That’s precisely why Kenny Dillingham’s name popped up in The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman’s article. But only if he’s interested in the job.

“I’m trying to win as many games as I can here; that is my number one focus,” Dillingham said. “Our players, our football team, everything about us that’s simple, like, I am so singularly focused on us to win football games, to become a better football team.”

With a 5-3 record and a loss against Houston last week, Arizona State is already in a tough spot, finding ways to keep its championship hopes alive. On top of that, Dillingham grew up attending games at ASU; it’s his alma mater. Growing up in Scottsdale, his ties to Sun Devils run deep.

His desire was always to be Arizona’s head coach, and when the then-head coach, Todd Graham, asked him how he wanted to turn the program around as a graduate assistant at ASU, his answer was straightforward: “I want your job. I want to be the head coach at Arizona State.”

Let’s not forget Kenny Dillingham, who is building things at Arizona State. His urge to create a new covered facility, which will go under construction next to Mountain America Stadium, shows his future vision for the team. Even his family’s pretty involved with the program. Kenny’s father, John Dillingham, moved to Arizona State in 1980 because the Sun Devils program influenced him.

“One of the very first things I wanted to do was go to an ASU football game,” John Dillingham said. “I got a standing room ticket. Back in the day, that’s all you could get. I can’t remember who ASU played, who won, or what the score was. I just remember how great it was.”

Over the years, the family connection has deepened, with Kenny Dillingham’s dad having more than 30 football jerseys in his wardrobe. When Kenny was 6 years old, he attended his first ASU game, their thrilling 19-0 upset over Nebraska in 1996. So, now you know how deep Dillingham’s connection is with the Sun Devils. However, Brian Kelly’s massive million-dollar buyout already stresses LSU.

Kenny Dillingham’s hype goes south with $100 million news

Kenny Dillingham’s contract was extended with Arizona State after last year’s Peach Bowl run, which is still December 31, 2029, which raised his base salary from $4.1 million to $5.8 million. So, if the school decides to fire him, he could receive around $23-27 million. And if we talk about Penn State, they are set to pay a $49 million buyout to James Franklin and more than $53 million to Brian Kelly, which is already putting them in a financial hole. But for Kelly, the amount is much more than you can imagine.

On3’s recent tweet shows Kelly’s buyout is around $100 million. “NEW: With Brian Kelly’s current buyout, the all-in cost to fire him/his staff and make the next hire is in the $100M range. @PeteNakos_reports🤯”.

When LSU hired him from Notre Dame in 2021, they signed a 10-year deal with Kelly for $95 million, including incentives and bonuses. After they fired him, buying his current contract and hiring a new head coach would cost them around $100 million.

This buyout would be the second-highest in college football history, and even if they need a head coach ASAP, losing that kind of money won’t be that easy for them. So, unless they negotiate the buyout with Brian Kelly, investing in other coaches is tricky. Besides looking at Dillingham’s firmness, even if he doesn’t want to switch, it will be interesting to see which coach finally takes the reins at Penn State and LSU.