After Signing Extension To Stay At Arizona State, Kenny Dillingham Drops Harsh Truth Pill

Arizona State Sun Devils head coach Kenny Dillingham has enjoyed quite a successful tenure so far in Tempe.

After his first year in which his squad put up a dismal 3-9 record, Dillingham went to work and completely flipped the fortunes of the ASU football program, posting a 19-7 record over the last two seasons, including a Big 12 championship and a College Football Playoff berth.

For his efforts, Dillingham recently received a massive extension and larger salary pool for his assistants, fending off the circling Michigan Wolverines in the process.

Though I'm sure Dillingham is happy to be staying in the Valley of the Sun and is thrilled with his new paycheck, the 35-year-old head coach was recently chatting up the local media and stumping for a different kind of payday.

It's easy to look at Dillingham saying these things and see him as greedy or ungrateful, but he's spot on, and the sad reality is that this is the new norm for the sport of college football.

The name of the game is roster building and retention, and if you want to compete in the Power 4 leagues and consistently make the College Football Playoff, you had better pony up some serious dough.

A sum like $20 million might seem like a ridiculous demand, but that's a pretty reasonable number in today's NIL arms race.

The Texas Techs of the world are going to do whatever it takes to win, and if Dillingham wants the Big 12 to run through Tempe and not Lubbock, then he is doing the right thing by lobbying for some of those billionaires living in Arizona to stroke a check.

It's disgusting and gross and goes against everything that college football used to be about, but this junk isn't going anywhere, so you either adapt or die.

Dillingham is adapting, now we will see if the big money players will follow his lead.

Because if they don't, things could get very dark very soon for the Sun Devils.