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Arizona State hires Oregon OC Kenny Dillingham, 32, as next head coach

Potential Arizona State coach Kenny Dillingham has worked at Oregon, Florida State and Auburn over the past four seasons. (AP Photo/Phil Sears)

Oregon offensive coordinator Kenny Dillingham is the new coach at Arizona State.

The ASU graduate was announced Sunday morning as the next head football coach at his alma mater. Dillingham was the offensive coordinator at Florida State and Auburn before he moved to Oregon after Dan Lanning was hired ahead of the 2022 season. With the hire, the 32-year-old becomes the youngest FBS head coach.

"We are proud to announce Kenny Dillingham as our new head football coach. He brings the energy, knowledge and appreciation of our state and university that is valued by all of us," ASU athletic director Ray Anderson said. "His knowledge of the current college football landscape, learned by coaching across the nation, is needed and wanted at ASU."

With Dillingham calling plays, Oregon’s offense was one of the best in the nation in 2022, especially when Bo Nix was healthy. The former Auburn quarterback had the best season of his career with 27 TD passes and just six interceptions. He also rushed for 513 yards and 14 touchdowns as Oregon won eight straight games before losing to Washington on Nov. 12.

The Ducks scored over 40 points per game in each of those eight wins after scoring just three points against Georgia in the opening game of the season.

Arizona State has been looking for a new coach since it fired Herm Edwards just three games into the 2022 season and tabbed Shaun Aguano as the team’s interim coach. Edwards was fired amidst an NCAA investigation into recruiting violations and after a home loss to Eastern Michigan.

"It is an honor and a privilege to be named the head coach at Arizona State University. This is a special place to myself and my wife who is also a graduate," Dillingham said. "I truly believe the team we will build here is one that the state of Arizona and all Sun Devils can rally behind and be proud of as it will take everyone in the valley to help this program achieve the level of success it is due. I am excited to get to work and promise no one will work harder than the staff we will put together."

Dillingham will have a rebuilding job on his hands at ASU. The Sun Devils finished 3-9 after losing to Arizona on Friday in the Territorial Cup and won just two conference games — though ASU did beat Washington in one of the upsets of the Pac-12 season.

Dillingham spent two seasons as Florida State’s offensive coordinator before he came to Oregon. Before that, he was the offensive coordinator at Auburn in 2019, spent two years as an offensive assistant at Arizona State from 2014-15 and another three years on Mike Norvell's staff at Memphis from 2016-18.