ASU Coach Kenny Dillingham Apologizes For Publicly Dragging His Kicker After Loss To Cincinnati

Arizona State head coach Kenny Dillingham has apologized for throwing his kicker under the bus after Saturday's loss to Cincinnati.

The Sun Devils fell to the Bearcats, 24-14, in a game during which kicker Ian Hershey went 0-for-2 on field goals. The distances were 48 and 41 yards, respectively, and happened on the team's final two drives. Speaking to the media after the game, Dillingham was wildly frustrated with his team's kicking game.

"You can be aggressive, but just because you convert doesn't guarantee you can make it one possession. So you would hope that you can make a kick one of those. But our kicking game's atrocious," Dillingham said. "So if you can kick, and you're at Arizona State, email me. We're going to have kicking tryouts on Monday, so bring it on. Kicking tryouts Monday and let's go."

When asked by a reporter if he was serious about those open tryouts, Dillingham responded, "dead serious," adding, "We got to find somebody who can make a field goal."

On Sunday evening, though, the second-year head coach may have realized his words were a little harsh. He hopped on X to apologize publicly for berating his kicker.

"I would like to apologize in my post game press conference I talked about our kicking game like I do offense / defense. However the kicking game is always directed at one player," Dillingham wrote. "I should not have done that and I apologize. This team’s losses will always 100% fall on myself."

Of course, a couple of field goals wouldn't have made up the 10-point deficit, but the timing was particularly bad. Had Hershey made his first field goal, he would have set up ASU to attempt a game-tying touchdown on the final drive. A make on his second attempt would have allowed for the Sun Devils to try an onside kick and attempt to tie the game then.

Hershey is now 7-of-12 on field goals this season. And it's still unclear whether Dillingham was joking about those open tryouts.