TEMPE, AZ — The financial state of Arizona State University’s football program — and the name, image and likeness funds coming to the team — are considerably better than they were three and a half years ago, when Kenny Dillingham was hired as the school’s head football coach. So why is he still pleading with the business community to help his program out?
The simple answer: the competition is still outperforming ASU.
“Obviously it's gotten better, but better is no longer good enough because we're in a race,” Dillingham told the Business Journal. “We still have to continue to push because other people are still running the race, and we got to bridge the gap.”
The way Dillingham describes it, the top schools in terms of NIL dollars in ASU’s conference, the Big 12, were 50 yards ahead of the Sun Devils before the 2023 season.
Even with massive support over the past few years, ASU is still 50 yards behind.
