The Sun Devils, under the direction of then-coach Herm Edwards, had fallen behind in a crucial area for their future: high school recruiting. Smaller schools like Northern Illinois and Western Kentucky were finishing ahead of ASU in the recruiting rankings. 

There were a number of reasons for this, most notably the NCAA investigation that ASU is still under for alleged recruiting violations that occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

At the same time, school officials began searching for a new person to lead the program.

A former ASU assistant and Phoenix native was waiting for this exact opportunity. Enter: Kenny Dillingham, the 33-year-old offensive coordinator from the University of Oregon who was hired to be the face of ASU football last November.

This week on Valley 101, a podcast by the Arizona Republic and azcentral.com, we sat down with Coach Dillingham and talked about his journey to head coach of the ASU Sun Devils football team.

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