On this week's episode of Inside the Headset we speak with Kenny Dillingham, offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for the University of Memphis. We discuss his time as a graduate assistant, how he prepared himself to become a coordinator, and he offers advice for high school coaches trying to transition to the collegiate level.

Coach Dillingham's career began after a season-ending injury during his senior year of high school, and he became a junior varsity coach at the age of 17 for Chaparral HS (AZ). While attending Arizona State University, Dillingham remained on staff at Chaparral and eventually was named offensive coordinator. After meeting Mike Norvell during his stint at ASU, Dillingham joined the Sun Devils as an offensive quality control coach (2014) for one season before transitioning to an offensive graduate assistant role (2015). When Norvell was named the head coach at Memphis in 2016, Dillingham followed as a graduate assistant, but he was elevated to quarterbacks and tight ends coach in 2017, and 2018 is his first season as offensive coordinator for the Tigers.

• [0:38] Start of interview
• [1:01] Start to coaching career
• [2:24] Relationships and networking
• [4:49] Graduate assistantship at Memphis
• [6:35] Making your boss better
• [8:44] Constantly adapting
• [10:02] How to manage coaching two different positions
• [11:51] Value trumps talent
• [14:05] Darrell Dickey as a mentor
• [15:39] "Fit and Family"
• [18:48] Honest recruiting
• [20:32] AFCA 35 under 35
• [22:49] Advice for aspiring collegiate coaches

You can follow Kenny Dillingham on Twitter.

Have any questions, comments, or ideas for the show? Send us an email at [email protected]. 

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