ASU Football: Kenny Dillingham’s goal for the bye week

TEMPE, Ariz. — Kenny Dillingham has reached the halfway point of his first season as the head coach for Arizona State football. The Sun Devils are 1-5 (0-3 in Pac-12). Not exactly the start that Dillingham was hoping for. However, Arizona State has a bye week this week, which also presents an opportunity to press the reset button.

Kenny Dillingham’s goal for the bye week

After Arizona State’s three-point loss to Colorado on Saturday, Kenny Dillingham was asked what the goal for the upcoming bye week was.

“(We’re) looking to get healthy,” Dillingham responded. “I think we’re out nine or 10 starters that we projected going into the year. And our guys are battling, and that’s what I tell them ‘Nobody cares’. But what do I want? I want to get some guys back. I want to get healthy.”

Getting healthy would be huge for this Sun Devil team that has been absolutely decimated by injuries. They’ve had three different starting quarterbacks, multiple offensive linemen go down, star tight end Jalin Conyers has missed some time, and the defense has had key players out as well. You’ll be hard-pressed to find a player on the Sun Devil roster who hasn’t battled an injury or two this season.

Getting healthy isn’t the only thing Dillingham wants to get out of the bye week.

“I want our guys to show up to academics on time… I want them to show up to meetings 10 minutes early,” Dillingham continued. “And I want to do all the little things, that are necessary to win.”

Dillingham on keeping a positive mindset

Another thing that the first-year head coach needs to handle, is keeping his players positive. It’s easy for 19, 20, 21-year-old kids to get down on themselves and discouraged when they’re 1-5. Dillingham and his staff need to combat that negative energy.

Dillingham shared how he’s planning on keeping the team up during the bye week.

“I’ve been in this exact scenario. Year one taking over a program, you just can’t find out how to win,” Dillingham said. “Don’t know how to do it yet, you’re just finding a way. Every single time there’s an opportunity, you find a different way to lose. When it clicks, we’re playing winning football. But we’re not winning, which means we’re very, very close. You don’t know when it’s gonna click. You go back to work and you compete to get better, better, better, better, better. The bamboo that nobody can see is going to grow, very simple. You just can’t see it, but the growth is happening.”

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