Kenny Dillingham says he always had an eye toward this potential reality.

He has coaches on his first football staff at Arizona State that have ties to the Texas high school region. Recruiting well in the state of Texas will set your football program up for success regardless of what conference you play in, but it’s especially true if you play in the Big 12.

Beginning in 2024, Arizona State will play conference road games in the state of Texas. It’ll welcome Texas-based teams to Tempe for conference home games.

The Sun Devils announced a move to the Big 12 on Friday, joining with Arizona and Utah in ditching what was believed to be a sinking Pac-12 conference for more stability in the Big 12.

“It’s exciting,” Dillingham said Saturday when he met with reporters, via Sun Devil Source. “College football is changing. I compare it to a technology business — it changes every six months. There’s no rules. You have to adapt. I’d like to say I had a plan. If you’ve noticed how we’ve been recruiting that region of the country since I’ve been here, I knew that was an option and we made sure we diversified where we were recruiting in this class that way we were ready for whatever decision was made.”

Dillingham was asked about the benefit coaches like Ra’Shaad Samples and Bryan Carrington can have as they make the move. Huge, he said. And he’s not wrong.

“I definitely believe it allows us to go into different homes that maybe didn’t want to come play for us because of the region we would play away games,” Dillingham said. “Now, us traveling to Texas, traveling to Oklahoma — we need to recruit Oklahoma now. That’s a place that in my past I signed five guys out of when I was at Memphis. So, we definitely have to get a little bit more aggressive in that region of the country.”

He says they’ll still recruit California. Locking down The Valley will still be top priority. The other piece of the move is the financial security ASU will find.

“Does that league have higher budgets? Yes. Does that league have more financial investment? Yes. So, because of the situation we’re in, we’re going to probably get the opportunity to advance in those categories,” he said.

Dillingham says he wasn’t worried at all about where the Sun Devils would end up when the latest round of musical chairs ended. “Arizona State is a have,” he said. “It always will be a have.” But, he admitted he’s a little upset about the fate of the Pac-12.

“I have the fan in me that’s like, man, I grew up in the Pac. The rivalries, the tradition. That’s the fan in me,” he said, before quickly shifting back into the mindset of a man who knows he has a job to do.
“The coach in me who came in here to do a job and to get this place to where I know it can go is excited and thrilled because I know this was by far the best thing for Arizona State.”

And the first-year head coach has a call to action for ASU fans who might still be on the fence about the move.

“This is where we need the fans in The Valley to rally behind the decision to be in sports, to stay competitive,” he said. “Now we need the fans in The Valley to get behind it, fill up the stands, show support. We’re going into the football heaven — Texas. If we’re not ready and our fans aren’t ready and everybody is not ready, we’re going to be in for a rude awakening.”