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Arizona State coach Kenny Dillingham puts a ton of emphasis on connecting with his players. He recently talked to college football analyst Adam Breneman about the emphasis he puts on the concept of "family" with his team.
Dillingham believes in making his words mean something when speaking to parents of players he's attempting to recruit. Taking on the responsibility of caring for their sons like they're his own means a lot to Dillingham, so much so that he even attempts to combine his team with his own family. For example, Dillingham said that his wife makes cookies for his players every Friday.
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"Family is very important to me," Dillingham said. "And quality of life in this crazy, crazy profession is very important to me. For us to recruit and say, 'We're going to take care of your son like they're family,' and then not be around our own family – well, somebody is lying.
"The whole 'I'm going to sacrifice my family for your son' – No. There's some caveat there that's not the truth. And for us, I think we genuinely want our players to see us around our kids, around our wives. We want them to have relationships with them.
"My wife bakes cookies for the entire team on Fridays. She makes 120 Oreo cookies. You can ask our players about them. ... I think that feel, where everybody is making this a professional sport, our players get paid. They get paid well. But that's not why they're here. They're here because they want to be here. Because they like it here. Because of the family. Because of the community."
Coach Kenny Dillingham looks to build off Arizona State's exceptional 2024 season
Kenny Dillingham's approach seems to be working. Arizona State finished the season with an 11-3 record and won the Big 12. The program was seeded No. 4 in the College Football Playoff, receiving a bye in the first round.
In the quarterfinals, Arizona State fell to Texas 39-31 in a thrilling game that reached double overtime. Arizona State is hoping to build off of that success heading into the 2025 season, potentially reaching the CFP championship game if it can compete against other elite programs such as Ohio State, Notre Dame and Texas.
Arizona State could be one of the best stories of the 2025 college football season if all goes according to plan for Dillingham and his squad.
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