Before the College Football Playoffs quarterfinals, Kenny Dillingham And Arizona State have agreed to a new five-year deal, according to ESPN’s Pete Thamel. The deal includes a salary increase and a number of incentives that could extend it to 10 years.

Dillingham’s new contract will put him in the “top tier” of Big 12 coaches, Thamel reported. Arizona State is increasing its commitment to football and will add 20 more scholarships, with a maximum of 105 to be in effect pending final approval House v. NCAA Settlement.

Additionally, the state of Arizona plans to participate fully in revenue sharing House Settlement and will increase its commitment to the football staff. It is part of the university’s plan to remain in the “national spotlight”, a source told Thamel.

According to the report, Dillingham earned a base salary of $3.95 million last season On3 Coach Salary Indexand that number increased thanks to incentives. That ranked him 13th among Big 12 coaches. His new contract will put him in the top tier of the league’s coaching salaries, and it comes as Arizona State prepares for its first College Football Playoff game.

Kenny Dillingham continues to build at Arizona State

Dillingham made an impressive turnaround at his alma mater this year. Arizona State improved from 3-9 in 2023 to 11-2 and a Big 12 championship this season. The Sun Devils are currently preparing for the duel Texas in the CFP quarterfinals on Wednesday after being seeded No. 4.

Before Wednesday Peach peelDillingham was asked what it means to bring Arizona State back to national prominence after some turbulent times. As a Phoenix native, he knows firsthand what it means when the Sun Devils succeed.

“The city is so similar to transit, there’s this big city that’s full of transit people, and there’s a little town, Tempe, where 20 years ago they didn’t have ASU football and the Phoenix Suns when the Outlaws were there Arizona.” Cardinals before the Coyotes were there and left. “There’s this weird mix of small town and big city,” Dillingham said. “My challenge in college sports is that it’s really hard to win in big cities. So how do you transform this old, small town with the feel of a big city?

“So you essentially had to re-establish the small-town feel of all the people who are still in the city and get them to convince all the other people in the city that this is the right thing to do.” That’s what Arizona State is doing I think what makes it so unique is that it still has the small town of 20 years ago where university and football were popular, and is also the fifth largest city in the country. I thought that was the big picture: How do you bring that together into a small-town, big-city feel that’s unique to college football, and when you do that, support equals winning in college football.