What has recently become an infamous postgame ASU football tradition is that Arizona State athletic director Ray Anderson always greets his football head coach in the endzone after a game. On Saturday, after a program-defining 17-7 over UCLA in the Rose Bowl, first-year head coach Kenny Dillingham ran over to greet his AD in front of the Sun Devil fans who made the trip from Tempe. Instead of the interaction being welcomed with applause, ‘Ray You Suck’ chants came raining down from the fans.

The criticism of Ray Anderson has been at an all-time high since the announcement of the self-imposed postseason ban and the discovery that Anderson convinced Edwards to stay even after the coach had indicated a desire to leave in the spring of 2022. The chants heard in the Rose Bowl were a prelude to Monday’s morning announcement that Anderson has resigned from his post, one that had him as the second-highest-paid athletic director in college sports.

“It has been a privilege to serve as ASU’s athletic director for nearly a decade,” Anderson said in the official announcement sent out by Sun Devil Athletics. “We have entered an unprecedented era where the number and magnitude of changes in the college sports landscape are astounding. As I approach 70, these are not matters that my leadership would be able to corral during my tenure. Continuity of leadership will be needed, and I am choosing to step aside to let the university find that leader.”

A mere hour after the announcement, Dillingham held his regularly scheduled press conference and addressed the resignation of the man who hired him.

“I’m thankful for him giving me the opportunity to be the head coach here at my alma mater, my dream job,” Dillingham commented. “I’m very, very thankful for him. He’s been supportive of me since I got here. So, best of luck to him and his future. And we’ll look forward to what the future holds here.”

As Anderson addressed in his statement, a lot of the reason why people thought that change was necessary was Anderson’s failure to make headway in the NIL arena, the most important aspect of college recruiting. Dillingham recognized the challenging state of the team’s NIL support immediately when he arrived in Tempe, exclaiming to ‘Activate the Valley’ as much as he could to try and build up support.

His passion for the program has sparked a belief and confidence in the youngest head coach at the FBS level. People have begun to believe that Dillingham’s direction for the program could be the right one, and the fans and boosters have begun to be more supportive. However, the level of NIL support that ASU has received still pales in comparison to a lot of the major programs both in the Pac-12 and the Big-12, ASU’s future conference beginning in 2024. Dillingham stressed the urgency of increasing the level of the NIL war chest prior to the opening of the transfer portal on December 4.

“I think the last ten months, we’ve been put in the right direction,” Dillingham noted. “Hopefully, people believe that started with Ray bringing me in here, and hopefully, that’s going to carry on through his predecessor. We’ve got about a month, but we’ve got to step it up. We got to get rolling at a rapid, rapid, rapid, rapid, rapid rate in the next three weeks to one month.”

ASU Baseball head coach Willie Bloomquist, who held a press conference immediately following Dillingham, echoed the statements of his fellow Sun Devil head coach.

“I think Kenny did an outstanding job when he got hired to try and Activate the Valley,” Bloomquist said. “We need it, man, we do. If we’re going to be successful in today’s landscape of college sports, we are going to need help. That’s not a threat. That’s not a cry. That’s just the honest truth.”

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Throughout the day on Monday, Dillingham has been retweeting the posts of many people who donated following the announcement in hopes that the change is significant enough to get ASU the help it needs. Despite the 3-7 record in his first season, Dillingham believes it is obvious that his guys are displaying a fighting spirit that the fans should be proud of.

“Anybody who watches us play, you should be proud of the effort our guys are putting on the field,” he stated. “You should be proud of the fight. You should be proud of the discipline and the lack of penalties throughout a game. Our guys are doing the little things right for you to be proud of.

“They need a sold-out crowd here versus Oregon. If we expect to beat a team like Oregon at home, well, we better have the best home-field advantage in the country. We better have a sold-out crowd, loud as can be at two o’clock. That’s what we need. We need the support.”

If anyone understands what it takes to beat Oregon, it may be Dillingham, who spent last season as the team’s offensive coordinator. Dillingham believes this year’s team is an even better version of the Ducks than the one he coached last season, calling them ‘the best Oregon team since (former head coach) Chip Kelly.’

His closest relationship with the Ducks is the one he has built with Oregon senior quarterback Bo Nix. When Dillingham was hired at Auburn, one of the first things he did with the Tigers was recruit Nix. There began a strong bond that flourished even more when they arrived together in Eugene.

“He moved to Oregon because of our relationship, essentially,” Dillingham recalled. “When you really think about that, that’s how good a relationship we have. He trusted me. His family trusted me with their son for his kind of second chance at this deal when nobody thought he could throw. Now he’s over here going to be a top 10 Pick, potentially one of the highest ones. It’s just a testament to the character of Bo. Bo is an unbelievable person.”

Not only is Nix a remarkable person, according to his former offensive coordinator, but he is a formidable quarterback, averaging 338 yards passing, posting 29 TDs and only two interceptions with a 77.7 completion percentage. For the second straight year, he has put Oregon in a position to possibly earn a College Football Playoff berth, assuming they win their next two games and then beat Washington in the Pac-12 championship. Furthermore, Nix has been a strong Heisman Trophy candidate all year.

“He knows exactly what’s happening before the ball is snapped, and that’s one of his greatest strengths,” Dillingham described. “He’s gone from a guy who ran around a lot to a guy who literally has the quickest catch-to-throw percentage or timing in college football. That’s a testament to his intelligence, his work ethic, and who he is as a person. He’s somebody that anybody would want. He’s married, but if he weren’t, you’d want your daughter to marry him like he is that type of person.”’

The Oregon offense isn’t the only dangerous aspect of the team. Head coach Dan Lanning, who was previously the defensive coordinator at Georgia, has brought some of that Bulldog defensive prowess from the South to the Northwest. Dillingham has also shared how close he is with Lanning, someone he coached with at ASU some ten years ago, calling him a ‘brother’ after ASU’s win over UCLA.

“I’ve known Dan a long time, and I just learned the toughness that was instilled when they were at the Alabama’s and the Georgia’s in the practice structures that they used,” Dillingham said. “We use some of those practice structures still. I learned working for a defensive-minded head coach, how important install days are with formations and motions for a defense, and how to get a defense prepared, not just an offense prepared.”

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