Oregon OC Kenny Dillingham loses to Oregon State, is then hired by Arizona State
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Oregon Duck fans have to be upset on Sunday — not by the fact that Kenny Dillingham is leaving, but by the reality that he called very predictable plays in the second half of Oregon’s shocking loss to Oregon State on Saturday in Corvallis.
We have seen plenty of examples over the years of coaches being hired to coach at new schools, but sticking around and coaching one more game with their soon-to-be-ex-employer, and falling flat. When that one final game is a bowl game, it is often the case that players don’t play as hard for their coach, knowing he is heading out the door.
This was not such a case. Oregon played hard against Oregon State. However, Dillingham coached like a man who was not focused on his task — not fully, at any rate. That cost the Ducks.
With help from Ducks Wire, we go into the details on Dillingham not coaching well in his final game at Oregon. We also look at what awaits Dillingham at Arizona State:
LAZY COACHING
On the 4th and 1 which Oregon failed to convert on its own 29-yard line — setting up Oregon State’s go-ahead score on Saturday — everyone in America, not just Reser Stadium, knew a Bo Nix keeper was coming. It was entirely predictable. Dillingham simply didn’t do any self-scouting or any attempt to think about what Oregon State defensive coordinator Trent Bray would do.
It was as though Dillingham pushed the auto-pilot button and stopped thinking strategically.
There was more:
FIRST AND GOAL
Oregon fell behind after its fourth down got blown up and Oregon State scored a touchdown. Trailing 38-34, the Ducks moved down to the OSU 5-yard line and ran the ball up the middle three times.
Running the ball up the middle on first down? Fine. No problem. Use some clock, maybe you get four yards or a touchdown. However, Oregon got only two yards. Second and goal from the 3 had to either be a pass or something outside the tackles. Oregon has speed. The Ducks are more of a speed team than a power team. They needed to make Oregon State run and chase.
Nope.
They didn’t get close on second down. Surely on third down, they would pass or at least go outside the tackle box. No. Another vanilla run.
That’s the mentality of a coach who has stopped thinking things through, a coach who has his mind on Tempe, Arizona.
PREDICTABLE TO THE -NTH DEGREE
Much as everyone knew Bo Nix would keep the ball on 4th and 1 at the Oregon 29, everyone knew that fourth-and-goal play would be a Nix rollout. When everyone in the United States can accurately predict what a play call will be, the offensive coordinator is clearly failing to do his job, because it’s the OC’s job to come up with original plays and designs which get a defense off balance. We saw none of that from Dillingham in the final 20 minutes against Oregon State.
DUCKS WIRE ON OREGON RECRUIT DANTE MOORE
This is an interesting part of the Dillingham fallout as he heads to Arizona State:
Moore, one of the top-rated quarterbacks in the nation, has been committed to the Ducks since July, and he is just weeks away from signing his national letter of intent with Oregon. One of his main recruiters has been Dillingham, who has developed a close relationship with him over the past couple of years.
Does Dillingham’s decision to head to ASU make it so that Moore waivers on his commitment to Oregon? Obviously, we can’t know for sure, but it will be interesting to watch in the coming days.
DUCKS WIRE ON BO NIX'S FUTURE
This is another story to watch, now that Dillingham is heading to the desertL
The million-dollar question in Eugene all year has been about whether or not Bo Nix would choose to utilize his final year of collegiate eligibility and stick around with the Ducks for one more season in 2023, or if he would go to the NFL and test out his draft status.
WHO REPLACES DILLINGHAM AS OREGON'S NEW OC UNDER DAN LANNING?
From Ducks Wire:
However, if I’m going to look in-house for the Ducks, it’s hard not to consider WR coach Junior Adams or TE coach Drew Mehringer as great candidates. Both Oregon’s WR group and TE groups took off this season under the new offense, and while a lot of that has to do with the scheme that Dillingham put into place, you have to give credit to those two position coaches for holding up their end of the bargain. You could also look to OL coach Adrian Klemm, as well, though I see him staying more as the run-game coordinator than the overall play-caller.
NOTEWORTHY DETAILS
Via Ducks Wire:
While it’s not totally unexpected, it would be a big loss for the Ducks, who have enjoyed an offensive resurgence with Dillingham in the booth. At 32 years old, he would be the youngest head coach in the country.
Dillingham would also be heading back to his alma mater. Arizona State has had a rough season in 2022 as they had to fire coach Herm Edwards in the middle of the year. They finished 3-9, including a 38-35 loss to in-state rival Arizona.
PROBLEM NO. 1 FOR KENNY DILLINGHAM AT ARIZONA STATE
NCAA sanctions from COVID-19 recruiting violations have not yet been announced.
Dillingham is a Phoenix native. He went to high school in the area and then attended Arizona State. He’s a local boy who wants this job, so at age 32, he has time on his side and is willing to eat a few seasons so that he can have this job for the long haul.
NCAA penalties make it likely that Dillingham will not have any real success in his first two to three years on the job. He will obviously get a very long leash, which means ample job security.
PROBLEM NO. 2
Dillingham is walking into a situation in which the athletic director at Arizona State, Ray Anderson, should frankly not be employed. Anderson mangled the hire of Herm Edwards, who did not succeed at the school and has brought about this NCAA mess. A young coach working for a discredited and not-very-good athletic director could be a real problem.
PROBLEM NO. 3
Arizona State lost key transfers last year, when it became apparent that the NCAA hammer was coming. One should expect more transfers. Can Dillingham minimize the damage? He faces a pronounced uphill battle.
COLORADO
Colorado offered its open head coaching job to Deion Sanders. Deion probably won’t take it, but it shows CU wants to make a splash hire. It will be interesting to see whom the Buffs are able to land. That coach will go against Dillingham on a regular basis in the Pac-12.
STANFORD
David Shaw stepped down from his post at Stanford. Who will Dillingham coach against when he faces the Cardinal in the coming years?
DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR
Dillingham is an offense-first coach, so his choice of defensive coordinator and his attempt to build out a defensive staff will be extremely important.
BO NIX FACTOR
Remember that Dillingham and Bo Nix previously worked together at Auburn. They had a very good rapport and understood each other. If Dillingham and Nix hadn’t reunited at Oregon, would either man have had considerable success in 2022?
Phrased differently: Would their stock values be as high as they are right now?
BOTTOM LINE
Don’t judge this Arizona State hire by the first two seasons, probabably not three. We’ll see where Dillingham is in four or five years before making a verdict, given the NCAA penalties which are likely to hit Tempe in the near future.
