'I'm home': 5 takeaways from Kenny Dillingham's introduction at Arizona State

"I'm home"

Those were the first words from Kenny Dillingham, after he was introduced as the new head coach of the Arizona State football program Sunday morning.

At 32, Dillingham is the youngest head coach at a Power 5 school by almost three years.

Dillingham, who came to ASU from the University of Oregon where he was the quarterback coach and offensive coordinator, was introduced by Athletic Director Ray Anderson. Dillingham had to pause several times to collect himself as the emotion of the moment kicked in. Dillingham is a Scottsdale native who graduated from ASU, as did his wife.

"I believe when you get a chance to bring him home, you bring him home," Anderson said.

Festivities took place at Sun Devil Stadium in front of his family, media members, other coaches in the ASU family as well as prominent boosters.

Dillingham is beginning right away and will not be with the Ducks, who are preparing for a bowl game.

He said his first priority is meeting his players and others associated with the university.

Our takeaways from the introductory press conference:

1. Dillingham is passionate about ASU

Dillingham played and coached at Chaparral and was a graduate assistant under Todd Graham. Eight generations of his family were Sun Devils. So he is familiar with the local landscape and this job truly means something to him.

"This is literally home," Dillingham said, choking back tears for the first of many times in his first few minutes speaking. "So I say that because this place is special. This state is special. The people in this room are special. I got guys in my wedding, right there. Sorry, pretty emotional," he said tearing up again.

"That's just who I am. That's what you're going to get from me. I am who I am. I'm the same person every single day I show up to work. I'm fired up to be here. Fired up to be a Sun Devil. What this place needs to be successful, it's already been succcesful, we've seen it. The leadership from top to bottom is in line. We need this entire valley to come together. You want to win at the highest level, you want to maximize this place, we need everybody in this room, positive things. We need everybody to get involved. We need everybody all in because I am. all in."

2. The new era is different

When Anderson talked after the departure of Herm Edwards he said the new coach needed to be a younger, more dynamic coach who can relate to players and is more in touch with the changing landscape of college athletics including the transfer portal and NIL (name, image likeness) endeavors.

Dillingham's energy and passion were evident from his first words. His message resonated so much that one longtime ASU booster, Nap Lawrence, stood up and pledged $1 million to the Sun Angel Collective and urged others to support the initiative as well.

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"College football has changed so dramatically the last four years since a lot of these new things have come on. We are in a new era of College football and we expect change to continue," Anderson said. "It is going to evolve but for the future. The future is NIL, the transfer portal, conference realignment. Media rights that continue to create disparity between the haves and the have nots. It is in our view the new era head coach must be prepared to embrace and deal with all these challenges and the opportunities presented by this changing world."

"It will take a head coach like Kenny Dillingham to get us there. The new head coach had to be in tune with an relateable the new era student-athlete. Energetic, flexible, adaptable, collaborative, innovative, great partner, great personality, great listener, great experiences winning and learning from others. Strong, passionate about this place, knows marketing and promotion. Knows business as young as he is, the multitude of experiences Kenny Dillingham brought to the table were undeniable."

3. Shaun Aguano will be retained

It was Shaun Aguano, previously the running backs coach that was handed the reins in September when Herm Edwards departed. The team was 1-2 under Edwards and 2-7 under Aguano, who came to ASU from Chandler High School where he directed a top program. Players genuinely care for Aguano and were not shy in voicing their support of him throughout the difficult season.

Aguano has also expressed the interest in keeping the top high school players from the state here, something Dillingham also expressed. The new coach was emphatic that Aguano will stay on although it remains to be seen in what capacity. Since Aguano coached locally he has known Dillingham for many years.

Aguano was in attendance as was defensive line coach Robert Rodriguez.

Asked a question about growing up here, Dillingham said, "Can you ask me one more question? Ask me if we're retaining Shaun Aguano". "Are you retaining Shaun Aguano," the reporter said. "Yes. We are retaining Shaun Aguano. That's step one. Shaun's done an absolutely remarkable job here. As a person, everybody in this valley respects him. Anybody that has ever met him, respects him. And I couldn't be happier. He brings a joy to you when you see him in a room and there are not many people that can do that. "

4. Dillingham plans to be aggressive

The word the new coach used was "attack." That's one thing many would say the past ASU teams have not done enough of.

"On the defensive side of the ball we're going to attack. If you like sacks. If you like TFLS(tackles for loss) and you're a defensive player. If you like man to man coverage to put on tape for NFL teams, you're going to want to come here. That's what we're going to do. Everything about this program is going to be about attacking. And how do you recruit to that? Put the film on," he said.

5. Dillingham is all for the transfer portal

The new coach says he is actually in favor of the transfer portal. He said too many times coaches make promises to recruits to get them in the fold and then things don't fold the way an athlete was promised. So making the transfer process easier is a way to hold coaches more accountable.

He says building relationships with players is key.

"I am a firm believer in the transfer portal. I am the No. 1 advocate for it. Because what happens in recruiting, you have a whole bunch of people telling kids what they want to hear, for two, three years. In the past those kids get told what they wanted to hear and they'd get stuck. And they're trapped. Now, you better be the person you said you were, you better come through with those promises. I am a firm believer in the transfer portal for that reason. It gives the power to the kid. That's who needs the power in this deal. That's what it's all about. For me, we're going to attack the transfer portal. Attack it. Attack it with everything we have.

"You can lie to a kid or be honest with a kid. I firmly believe if you're honest and genuine you will reap what you sow. How do you build a roster? You be honest with people. You show them your true colors, who you are. And show them this is going to be a system built for playmakers.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: 5 things we learned when Kenny Dillingham was introduced by Arizona State