Kenny Dillingham Would Rather Be Booed for Begging Than for Losing

Arizona State coach Kenny Dillingham has a simple philosophy for surviving the NIL era: embarrass yourself early, or embarrass yourself on Saturdays.

He laid it out bluntly to On3 Sports last week. “You can either be booed by what you say to the media, or be booed when you lose games. Let me be booed by people not liking what I say. I’m perfectly fine with that.”

That’s not just talk. Dillingham spends a chunk of every offseason essentially panhandling for donor money. Arizona State doesn’t have the kind of NIL war chest that programs like LSU or Texas can just assume. The Sun Devils are fighting for every dollar, and it showed this spring when Sam Leavitt, their star quarterback, hit the transfer portal and ended up at LSU under Lane Kiffin.

Leavitt’s departure stung because he was supposed to be the guy who built on Arizona State’s surprise 2024 run to the College Football Playoff quarterfinals. That season felt like the start of something. But injuries to Leavitt and receiver Jordyn Tyson derailed the 2025 campaign early. The Sun Devils never really got traction, and now Dillingham is fighting just to keep the foundation in place.

The uphill climb in Tempe

Arizona State is one of those jobs where the head coach has to double as a fundraiser. Dillingham said it plainly: some programs wake up with built-in advantages. Others make you ask. He chose the asking path because the alternative is losing games and then getting booed anyway.

He’s not wrong. The gap between the haves and have-nots in college football has never been wider. LSU can replace a quarterback through the portal because their NIL collective writes checks that Sun Devil money just can’t match. That’s not an excuse. It’s reality.

But Dillingham is still here. He’s still at his alma mater despite being linked to bigger jobs — including Michigan after Sherrone Moore was fired this offseason. He turned down the conversations, at least for now. The question is how long he can hold the line without the resources to compete.

Perennial power or constant rebuild?

Dillingham has the coaching chops. He proved that in 2024. But keeping a roster together in the transfer portal era requires cash, and Arizona State isn’t there yet. Every year is a scramble to retain talent, and every high-profile departure becomes a referendum on the program’s ceiling.

If Dillingham can keep growing the NIL pipeline, he has a shot at turning the Sun Devils into a consistent contender in the Big 12. If not, he’ll keep playing the hand he’s dealt — and keep asking for more money, boos be damned.