FootballScoop is proud to announce that Kenny Dillingham (Oregon) is the 2022 FootballScoop Quarterbacks Coach of the Year, presented by AstroTurf as selected by prior winners.
Bo Nix was who he was. Until he wasn't.
In three seasons at Auburn, Nix rated 84th, 82nd, and 85th nationally in passing efficiency. In one season with Dillingham, he rated seventh.
A career 59 percent passer hit nearly 72 percent of his throws, in one season becoming the most accurate passer among all players who throw at least 240 passes. (Nix threw 409.)
Having averaged 6.86 yards on his 1,057 attempts at Auburn, Nix saw his efficiency jump to 8.78, a 28 percent jump. Nix's touchdown-to-interception ratio jumped from 2.4-to-1 to greater than 4-to-1. Nix's touchdown percentage nearly doubled, from 3.6 percent to 7.1.
As a result, Nix's rating -- a career 126.2 mark -- grew by an absurd 31 percent to 165.6.
Statistically speaking, Nix's best game came against No. 18 UCLA, a masterclass performance in which he hit 22-of-28 passes for 283 yards with five touchdowns and no interceptions in a 45-30 win, good for a 222.4 rating.
Nix's rating topped the 200 mark four times, and he approached 175 more often than not, seven times in 13 games. He averaged 10 yards per attempt six times, including a string of five straight outings in midseason, and posted a 9.7 mark against Washington State.
Nix hit at least 80 percent of his throws on three occasions, and connected on 75 percent of his tosses seven different times.
Nix fired multiple touchdowns nine times, and posted seven games with at least two touchdowns and no interceptions. The Honorable Mention All-Pac-12 performer also found time to post career-best numbers on the ground, adding 14 touchdowns and 510 yards.
In addition to coaching quarterbacks, Dillingham was also Oregon's offensive coordinator. In his first year on the staff, Dillingham grew the Ducks' scoring average by a touchdown per game (31.4 points per game to 38.8) while their yards per play increased from 6.27 to 6.92.
The 2022 campaign represented Dillingham's first and final season at Oregon. The Arizona State graduate returned to his alma mater as head coach on Nov. 27, though his career began at Scottsdale's Chaparral High School. Stops in between took him to Memphis, Auburn, and Florida State.
“We are proud to announce Kenny Dillingham as our new head football coach. He brings the energy, knowledge and appreciation of our state and university that is valued by all of us,” Anderson said. “His knowledge of the current college football landscape, learned by coaching across the nation, is needed and wanted at ASU. He will care at the highest level about our state, our alumni, our former players and every single group that is important to help us win. We look forward to working with him and all Sun Devils in making his staff successful and helping our program reach our goals.”
The FootballScoop Coaches of the Year awards presented by AstroTurf are the only set of awards that recognize the most outstanding position coaches in college football. The finalists (Scott Isphording [Ohio], Garrett Riley [TCU], Will Stein [UTSA], Tony Tokarz [Florida State] and Dillingham) were selected based off of nominations by coaches, athletic directors, and athletic department personnel. The prior winners selected this year's winner.
Previous winners of the Quarterbacks Coach of the Year award are Josh Heupel (Oklahoma, 2008), Tom Rossley (Texas A&M, 2009), Mark Helfrich (Oregon, 2010 and 2012), Philip Montgomery (Baylor, 2011), Randy Sanders (Florida State, 2013), Kevin McGiven (Utah State, 2014), Mike Sanford (Notre Dame, 2015), Tyson Helton (USC, 2016), Jim Chaney (Georgia, 2017), Tom Rees (Notre Dame, 2018), Steve Ensminger (LSU, 2019), Aaron Roderick (BYU, 2020), and Zach Kittley (Western Kentucky, 2021).
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