You may not have heard about it, but Arizona State head football coach Kenny Dillingham got paid over the holidays.
There’s a reason you didn’t hear much about his contract extension, too. That’s the way he wanted it.
Talking about his new contract in a post-Peach Bowl media availability, Dillingham said he wanted to keep the focus on his players and ASU’s moment in the College Football Playoff.
“I wanted that to be released at a time people weren’t going to talk about it,” Dillingham said after the Peach Bowl (h/t On3). “I wanted this to be about the guys, the game and the players, so we released it basically at midnight on New Years so it’s not in the media because it’s not about me. It’s about these guys.”
ASU ended up losing to Texas in the Peach Bowl, 39-31 in double overtime. It was the end of a great season for the Sun Devils, but it will be far from the end of Dillingham’s time in the desert.
The Sun Devils gave him a five-year contract extension that will make him amongst the highest-paid coaches in the Big 12.
“I’m fired up that we can continue to build this thing, and like I said, I’m a Sun Devil, and that’s awesome for me, but I didn’t want that to be a distraction or people to really talk about it,” Dillingham said.
