As a young football player growing up in Arizona, Kenny Dillingham chose a vanity plate for his very first automobile:
“CARDS4LF.”
It is proof that Dillingham once had strong feelings for another football team in the Valley, and not just the one he currently coaches at Arizona State University. Which leads to an obvious, pertinent question guaranteed to raise eyebrows and tempers:
Should the Cardinals make a call? Should they speak with Dillingham about their head coaching vacancy? Or would that be bad form, a breach of hometown etiquette?
Because of his age (35) and youthful appearance — a guy who can easily blend with students storming the field in Tempe — Dillingham seems better suited for the college game. But we all know he is special at his job, with wisdom and vision that belies his age, with an irresistible force of personality that commands a room.
Sean McVay was 30 when he became head coach of the Rams. Mike Macdonald was 36 when he took over the Seahawks. Kyle Shanahan was 37 when hired by the 49ers. Maybe Dillingham is exactly the prodigy savant the Cardinals so badly need, the candidate they didn’t know they were looking for.
But would he listen?
Dillingham loves his current job. He obviously loves ASU football. But the climate is chaos in college football. There are signs that he’s not always aligned with the administration. He once directly contradicted Graham Rossini one day after his athletic director expressed great optimism over the state of NIL spending at ASU.
Even after signing a contract extension Dec. 20, which dramatically increased the money he can pay for his staff, Dillingham clearly remained uncomfortable with the team’s lack of big-time donors, pleading for somebody in the community “to stroke a $20 million check.”
Dillingham knows elite-level funding will always be a battle at ASU. Competing with football-obsessed, tail-wagging-dog programs in the Big 12, the SEC and the Big Ten is against the very nature of his university. Many around the program privately concede that Dillingham will likely leave for greener pastures at some point.
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I reached out to Dillingham. He didn’t respond. But after the flirtation with Michigan — a job one source says was his for the taking — I’m guessing Dillingham will always listen. Especially if it were an NFL head coaching job in his hometown, where much of his extended family now lives in the same neighborhood, where he still has a truck with the aforementioned license plate.
So, do you make the call? Or do you respect ASU’s territory?
After all, football is a ruthless endeavor. And we’d all be ecstatic if the Cardinals were trying to poach Curt Cignetti from Indiana.
Reach Bickley at [email protected]. Listen to Bickley & Marotta weekdays from 6-10 a.m. on 98.7 FM Arizona’s Sports Station.
Follow @danbickley
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