Wyoming Faces Youngest Coach in the FBS Saturday Night in Tempe
LARAMIE -- Titanic became the first movie to earn $1 billion at the box office in 1990.
Wilson Phillips was crooning its chart-topping hit "Hold on" and the television show Friends was in its infancy. A gallon of gas would set you back about $1.22 and the Hubble Space Telescope took orbit. Fanny packs, mood rings and Nintendo 64s were all the rage.
That was the same year Arizona State head coach Kenny Dillingham was born.
The youngest full-time boss in college football (Utah State interim head coach Nate Dreiling is six months younger) is just 34 years old. The Phoenix native is entering his second season on the sidelines at his alma mater, but it's his 17th season in the profession.
Yes, you read that right. Dillingham got his start at just 17 years old.
MORE UW FOOTBALL NEWS VIA 7220SPORTS:
* Nerves? What nerves? 'It's just football'
* Know Wyoming's Foe: Arizona State Sun Devils
* Wyoming Football: News and Notes Ahead of Arizona State
* Aaron Bohl is writing his own story at Wyoming
* How do you prepare for ASU's new-look offense, 30 incoming transfers?
* Wyoming's unknown pass rusher looking to become household name
* Get to know all the latest college football rule changes
* Q&A with Wyoming's new offensive coordinator Jay Johnson
* Wyoming's new OC very familiar with Arizona State's starting QB
Wyoming's rookie head coach Jay Sawvel Monday took a brief second to ponder the thought. When he was Dillingham's current age, he was having his first child and leading the defensive backs and special teams room at Southern Illinois.
He was still a decade away from even becoming a coordinator.
"He’s a really good coach. He’s had a lot of success," Sawvel said about the young man who will be standing on the opposite sideline this Saturday night in Tempe. "Obviously, to get to where he’s gotten to, at that age, speaks volumes to what he’s been able to do at previous stops.
"... To do that at that age, that’s pretty unique."
A torn ACL during his senior season at Chaparral High School led to a life under the headset for Dillingham. In just four years, he was the play caller, leading the Firebirds' offense.
His meteoric rise didn't stop there.
After a brief stint at ASU as an offensive assistant and three seasons at Memphis -- he climbed from graduate assistant to quarterbacks coach to offensive coordinator in that time frame -- Dillingham was lured away by Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn in 2019. There he mentored SEC Rookie of the Year Bo Nix.
That's when an old friend, Mike Norvell, came calling again, just like he did at ASU and Memphis.
Dillingham was Tallahassee bound, becoming Florida State's offensive coordinator and QB coach from 2020-21. He made one more stop, spending a single season at Oregon, once again connecting with Nix, who had transferred to Eugene before the '22 campaign.
Dillingham's dream was to become the head coach at ASU.
That eventually happened in the following winter. He was just 32.
“I’ve been prepping for this,” Dillingham told Dan Wetzel of Yahoo Sports. “I was always doing the job I had, but also preparing for the job I wanted. I've always been the dude who asked too many questions.
“I knew the whole time that I wanted to be the head coach here.”
Sawvel, 53, finally earned his first head-coaching gig last December when Craig Bohl hung up his spurs after a decade on the high plains. His rise to the top, though a tad longer than Dillingham's, has also been on the fast track since 2016 when he was named the defensive coordinator at the University of Minnesota.
There was another stop at Wake Forest from 2017-18. Then Bohl tasked Sawvel with taking the reins of his defense in Laramie before the '20 season.
Dillingham's Sun Devils capped his debut season with just three wins.
Injuries plagued his roster. Recruiting violations, and the sanctions that followed, didn't help, either. ASU was placed on four years of probation. That included vacating games, restrictions in recruiting and a reduced number of scholarships. All of those transgressions took place under former head coach Herm Edwards.
The school handed itself a bowl ban last fall. No worries -- they weren't eligible anyway.
Now, the slate is clean.
Dillingham and Co. brought in more than 30 transfers this offseason in an attempt to complete a massive rebuild. Sam Leavitt, a redshirt freshman from Michigan State, is one of those new faces who will lead ASU into its first season in the revamped Big 12 Conference.
MORE UW FOOTBALL NEWS VIA 7220SPORTS:
* Wyoming Cowboys in the NFL: Preseason Week 3
* Justin Stevenson is ready to take next step, become playmaker
* Pokes' D Shifting Focus to ASU's versatile running back
* When will we see Dawaiian McNeely back on the field?
* PODCAST: Recapping Mountain West Media Daze
* Bohl: 'He was proud to be the coach at Wyoming'
* 'Cheat Code': UW QB Evan Svoboda has heard Josh Allen's Praises
* Sawvel reiterates trash talking is 'banned substance'
* Pokes Practice Report: 'This looks like football'
* Wyoming's Keany Parks eying starting cornerback role
Sawvel is also leading his Cowboys into a new age.
Bohl led this program to six postseason berths during his tenure. His team hosted the 2016 Mountain West Championship game. Numerous Wyoming players have heard their names called at the NFL Draft. Josh Allen is one of the faces of the league.
Still, the dangling carrot remains -- an outright conference title. That feat has eluded this university's football team over the last 36 years.
Dillingham wasn't even born yet.
"There's one thing that I have to do to finish what (Bohl) started -- and that's to win a championship," Sawvel said. "... There's one thing missing, and within that one thing, we've got to figure out a way to achieve that. That's what we're trying to do."
Here is all you need to know -- and the links -- for Saturday's tilt in Tempe:
WHO: Wyoming (0-0, 0-0) at Arizona State (0-0, 0-0)
WHEN: Saturday, Aug. 31 at 8:30 p.m. MST
WEATHER: High of 107, low 84, sunny, wind 8 mph
WHERE: Mountain America Stadium, Tempe, Ariz. (53,599 capacity)
TRAVEL: AZ 511
STREAMING: FS1
TV: FS1
RADIO: Cowboy Sports Network
TICKETS: Wyoming Ticket office
BOX SCORE: ESPN
ROSTERS: Wyoming / Arizona State
HISTORY: Arizona State leads the all-time series 9-6
BETTING ODDS: ASU -6.5, O/U 47.5
HEAD COACHES: Jay Sawvel / Kenny Dillingham