It wasn’t that long ago that Arizona State’s Kenny Dillingham was the newbie in college coaching circles. Just last year, there were nine schools in the Big 12 with coaches who had longer tenures at their respective schools than Dillingham.
That won’t be the case come next season.
Veteran Utah coach Kyle Whittingham has stepped down, with defensive coordinator Morgan Scalley named to succeed him, and Mike Gundy was fired halfway into a second straight disastrous season at Oklahoma State. Those two were in their 21st seasons at their schools, tied for the second-longest tenure in college football, behind Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz, who is in his 27th year.
Chris Klieman retired at Kansas State and Iowa State’s Matt Campbell moved over to Penn State.
Those moves leave Brigham Young’s Kalani Sitake as the elder statesman of the group, now rounding out his 10th season.
Dillingham has always praised what Whittingham has built at Utah, which has been a perennial conference contender, whether it was in the Pac-12 or Big 12. He has always said he appreciated what the veteran coach built from a stability, consistency standpoint with a team that played physically on both sides of the ball.
Dillingham also praises Whittingham’s tenure at the same school, a rarity nowadays in college football.
“Unbelievable run. That’s a guy who doesn’t get enough credit,” Dillingham said of Whittingham. “Could be the best coach in this generation. Definitely top five in my mind, probably top three. …
“I can say that with a lot of confidence that from inside the industry and people around, he was one of the best coaches of this era.”
Sitake is followed in tenure by Baylor’s Dave Aranda (sixth year), Lance Leipold of Kansas (fifth year), with TCU’s Sonny Dykes and Texas Tech’s Joey McGuire (fourth year) next. Then come Dillingham, Colorado’s Deion Sanders, and Cincinnati’s Scott Satterfield, who are finishing their third year.
Dillingham has spoken often about trying to model his program after that of the Utah legend, but he conceded that it is not something that can be done, just because of the changes in the game over the past several years, namely the transfer portal and NIL.
“You can’t anymore because it’s completely different, right?” Dillingham said. “The changing landscape of college football. What was three years ago is dead. I shouldn’t say it’s dead, it’s completely different. What it takes to win. How to navigate winning. What he accomplished is amazing. To be able to do that in this era would be amazing and that’s a great challenge.”
