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Arizona State football coach Kenny Dillingham had one last chance to claim a Coach of the Year award and couldn’t quite bring it home.
Notre Dame’s Marcus Freeman was named the winner of the Paul “Bear” Bryant College Football Coach of the Year in festivities held at the Post Oak Hotel in Houston Wednesday night.
Other finalists included South Carolina’s Shane Beamer (whose father Frank is a previous winner of the award), Indiana’s Curt Cignetti, Boise State’s Spencer Danielson, SMU’s Rhett Lashlee, Army’s Jeff Monken and Texas coach Steve Sarkisian.
Arizona State head coach Kenny Dillingham calls a play against Texas during the fourth quarter in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl in Atlanta on Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025.
Fran Brown of Syracuse was honored as Newcomer Coach of the Year.
“It’s just an honor to be here. This is an unbelievable privilege,” Dillingham said in speaking to the media earlier in the day. “It’s a testament to our guys, a testament to our players and the work they put in all year and the leadership that the leaders of our football team had and it’s an honor to be here.”
Celebrate the Sun Devils’ season with our collector’s edition book, “Forks Up! How Arizona State Captured the Big 12 Title in Year One”
Dillingham, 34, led the Sun Devils to an impressive 11-3 showing that included a 45-19 victory over Iowa State in the Big 12 championship game at AT&T Stadium in Dallas. That after the team was just 3-9 a year ago and picked to finish last in the conference. ASU made the College Football Playoff and lost to Texas 39-31 in a double-overtime Peach Bowl after being a 14-point underdog.
Dillingham said this season’s success didn’t come from massive changes over what he did the previous year, his first heading the program. It was about the character of the players brought in.
“It was nothing structurally. We…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/arizona-states-kenny-dillingham-comes-044011750.html
Author : AZCentral | The Arizona Republic
Publish date : 2025-01-23 04:40:00
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