ASU Football banquet, GCU and football, Hurley-Dillingham “rant off”, more…

My friend JP called a few weeks back asking if I’d be available to sit at his table for the Arizona State football banquet. Having been the emcee of that event a couple of times, If the Devils don’t beat UofA it’s a dud show. When I arrived at the Camelback Inn on Sunday night there was the expected positive vibe, but withmuch greater intention. Before Kenny Dillingham and his staff arrived there were years that the relationship between the football program and the community felt very transactional. By that I mean, “put down your money to watch our program even though we know that what’s going on behind the scenes isn’t clean, but as long as we win, who cares, everyone else is doing it”.
The hiring of Graham Rossini as athletic director has been positive on many levels(especially PR), though I still believe that central campus is involved more than they should in some areas of athletics. Hire good people, give them the resources both for the job and in their personal lives, and get out of the way. That said, I was disappointed(not surprised) that Dr. Crow didn’t make an appearance to speak at Sunday nights event. It’s easy to show up under goal posts in Dallas, but standing on a stage and speaking to a packed house of football coaches, players, staff, and boosters should’ve been on his calender. Want to change the perception that you actually care about athletics, address the future plans for Desert Financial Arena(is anything even on the drawing board?) and be in front of the biggest revenue generator/marketing tool for the university. Football.
I had more than a few at Sundays event asking, “can we keep Dillingham”, or “I hope Crow can keep him here”. A simple five minutes a twice a year from the president of Arizona State unscripted, unfiltered, no controlling narrative talking points would calm more than a few who have written checks for many, many years.
Speaking of which, there was a meeting last Thursday of some of the big cigars where a substantial sum of money was committed to the football NIL. Some of that same group are the reason why Bobby Hurley had the funds to land Jayden Quaintance and Joson Sanon. Memo to those who handle the school president, take his 2025 planner and write in “speaking at the football banquet”. Its just not that hard…