Last season, during Arizona State's magical run to the College Football Playoff, Kenny Dillingham pushed all the right buttons in the off season to go from a 3-9 first season in 2023 to ending 11-3 last fall after their tight Peach Bowl loss to Texas to bring their season to a close with a Big 12 title to show for it.
The old adage that it's easier to get to the top than it is to stay there is really just another way of saying that complacency is a very real threat to sustained success, and Dillingham and his Sun Devils staff are already utilizing creative ways to fight that in their team.
At practice yesterday, Queen hit "We Are The Champions was playing over the speakers for the majority of practice.
Asked about it, Dillingham shared, "I want it to be monotonous. Like who gives a crap. Like, you're going to be told so many good things forever, you better get so used to it that it becomes monotonous, or irrelevant."
"Nobody cares. We're trying to make last year irrelevant, because nobody cares anymore. So we're going to do things, and play things, that make last year irrelevant."
"We talk to our guys - we're going to handle success fine. But how are we going to handle this year when we get punched in the face?"
Star quarterback Sam Leavitt, a Michigan State transfer who returns to start at signal caller for another season in Tempe this fall, made it clear the point was getting across to him.
"It was annoying to me. I don't care about last year's championship," Leavitt shared about the team's Big 12 title.
"Obviously it was fun for the moment, but I don't want to hear about that no more."
Kenny Dillingham said he doesn't make his team talk about the culture often -- he likes to see them to walk it.
— Justin LaCertosa (@LaCertosaSports) March 25, 2025
"If you can't feel the culture, then it's not real ... I don't wanna hear it. I don't make them repeat it very often ... Who we are is the culture."@DevilsDigest pic.twitter.com/fJTk9EAv0y