• Slug: Sports-ASU Dillingham Malzahn, 800 words.
•  Photo available.

By Tucker Sennett
Cronkite News

PHOENIX – Before leading programs in Orlando and Tempe, Gus Malzahn and Kenny Dillingham worked together as head coach and offensive coordinator at Auburn University. On Saturday, the duo will face off as head coaches in a student-versus-teacher matchup for the first time as Malzahn’s UCF Knights come to the Valley.

Proteges coaching against former bosses can sometimes produce hostile comments before the game and tense battles on the field (see the Nick Saban-Jimbo Fisher feud). While the final form of the on-field matchup remains a mystery, the two coaches clearly have nothing but respect for one another.

“He’s got a special thing about him,” Malzahn told reporters Monday. “He’s a young guy but he doesn’t act young. He’s got a gift.”

In their one year together in 2019, the duo helped lead Auburn to a 9-4 season. Dillingham developed his relationship with a young quarterback named Bo Nix, who would go on to play for him again at Oregon and become one of the most successful Pac-12 quarterbacks during his time in Eugene.

In terms of preparation, familiarity can cause problems for coaches. For Dillingham, who at 34 is one of Division I football’s youngest head coaches, nothing changed this week.

“Everybody knows that Gus is going to run inside zone,” Dillingham said. “That’s not a secret. That’s what they do, and he probably does it better than anybody in the country, and I was around him coaching it and teaching it.”

“Of course, other people are going to come in and give him other ideas … and it was just awesome listening to him say, ‘This is what we do,’” he said.

Dillingham’s respect for Malzahn’s stubbornness stems from the fact he learned much of his own style from the man himself. And there is nothing more frustrating than knowing what a team will do the entire game and still have no answers.

“One thing I learned from him is to have an identity for what you want and buy into that,” Dillingham said. “That’s something I’m trying to create here. It might not be the same identity, but that mindset of ‘people are going to know who we are.’ I think there’s some power to that, and I think that’s why he’s been successful on offense for so long.”

The most important thing Dillingham learned from Malzahn happened away from the football field. The Pat Tillman Leadership Council, which Dillingham rebranded over the summer at ASU, sparked from Malzahn’s technique of having a leadership council while Dillingham worked under him at Auburn.

“When I was at Auburn with (Malzahn), I really felt like every time he left that leadership council meeting, he had a much better beat on the football team,” Dillingham said. “I’d never been on a staff that did that, and I thought it was good and it’s something that I always wanted to do.”

The 12-man council elected by the players continues to be a talking point for Dillingham on a weekly basis, with each mention almost acting like a nod to his former boss.

The two coaches are having different seasons. UCF is 4-5 and 2-4 in conference play but enters fresh off a dominant win over Arizona last weekend. Dillingham’s rebuilt Sun Devils achieved bowl eligibility with their win over Oklahoma State and sit at 6-2.

“He’s got all the attributes to be a really good coach, so it doesn’t surprise me at all that he’s got that thing going like he does,” Malzahn told reporters.

Since joining the Big 12 in 2023, it’s been a struggle for Malzahn’s Knights, who are 4-10 in conference games over the last two seasons.

Dillingham’s familiarity with the UCF program stretches beyond Malzahn. Associate head coach and defensive coordinator Addison Williams was an analyst and assistant to the head coach under Malzahn at Auburn in 2019.

“(Williams) actually worked on the offensive side of the ball. It was me and him working hand in hand,” Dillingham said. “We were partners in crime over there … he’s been in my quarterback room before. We worked on game plans together. We were very close and now he’s on the defensive side of the ball.”

Luckily, Dillingham has a counter to Williams’ familiarity with his style.

“And then we have (analyst David Gibbs), who was on their defensive staff, who’s now on the offensive side of the ball,” Dillingham said. “So it’s kind of funny that I took that model from Gus, another thing he had of having a defensive guy on the offensive side of the ball.”

Similar to how Malzahn felt about Dillingham, Dillingham believes that Williams, too, has a bright future as a head coach

While all the talk is friendly before the storm, once the ball gets kicked on Saturday, the two coaches will have one thing on their minds: winning the football game.

For more stories from Cronkite News, visit cronkitenews.azpbs.org.