ASU coach Kenny Dillingham agrees to extension to stay with Sun Devils

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Arizona State football fans can reactivate the Valley, and Michigan is still looking for its next head coach.

Coach Kenny Dillingham agreed to an extension, which The Arizona Republic confirmed early Saturday, Dec. 20, to stay with the Sun Devils.

The deal could move to as many as 10 years, ESPN's Pete Thamel wrote, with an average annual salary of $7.5 million.

Perhaps most important for Dillingham, given his statements over the past week, is the report that his staff will receive a major pay raise with a pool of money around $11 million.

Athletic director Graham Rossini underscored the importance of reaching an extension with Dillingham during his weekly call with Arizona Sports 98.7 Dec. 18, on the Burns and Gambo afternoon show.

"There's a lot going on around the Valley, around our fan base," Rossini said. "I'm hearing about it as well. I'm not going to talk about contracts publicly, but I'm happy to talk about the leadership in our program, and I'm one of the many thousands of people who also agree that Kenny Dillingham is the right leader of our football program. Leadership matters. We had tremendous leadership in place with Coach and his staff. It's an exciting moment for our fans.

"We're working through it, working through the details. There are a lot of things we want to solidify, looking at the perspective of how we look at these things as a sport, as an industry, we work with these long-term contracts. The reality is the landscape of college sports is changing daily, weekly, very quickly, and so my perspective has been all along, as you're designing something long-term, the little details become the most important part of the big moment.

"So we've got to get it right. And we've got to secure what we've been building, and so I'm of the mindset that it's more important to get it right than it is to get it done. That doesn't mean we're recklessly slow or irresponsible; we're committed to getting it right."

The coach is under contract through 2029, with an extension he received a year ago, but other suitors were calling.

The 35-year-old Sun Devils coach took over a 3-9 program and has lifted ASU to a record of 22-16 since, including a Big 12 championship and a College Football Playoff appearance last season.

ASU takes on Duke in the Dec. 31 Sun Bowl.

Check back soon for updates.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Kenny Dillingham agrees to extension to remain at ASU

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