Deion Sanders vs. Kenny Dillingham debate has a clear winner

The Arizona State Sun Devils and Colorado Buffaloes hired their head coaches about a week apart in late 2022.

Since then, the two programs have been measured against each other constantly.

With the teams set to meet in Tempe on Saturday, a post from PHNX Sun Devils brought the old argument back this week.

“Do you remember when people were saying Coach Prime was a better hire than Kenny Dillingham? Those people are really quiet these days,” PHNX wrote on X.

In December 2022, Fox Sports’ Bryan Fischer gave Colorado’s hire of Deion Sanders an A grade and Arizona State’s hire of Dillingham a B.

Fischer flagged Dillingham’s inexperience as a 32-year-old first-time head coach who had called plays for one season.

Ten months later, Colorado was a national TV attraction and Arizona State was sitting on a 1-4 start.

Now the numbers tell a different story.

Dillingham is 26-21 at Arizona State after going 3-9, 11-3, 8-5 and 4-4 so far this year.

Sanders is 19-26 at Colorado after going 4-8, 9-4, 3-9 and 3-5.

Since both programs joined the Big 12 in 2024, Dillingham is 15-8 in league games and Sanders is 9-14.

The 2024 season holds the biggest gap.

Arizona State went 11-3 and won its first conference title since 2007 on the way to the College Football Playoff.

Colorado’s best year under Sanders ended at 9-4.

Sanders still has the bigger contract, with a five-year deal worth a reported $54 million against the five-year extension paying Dillingham $7.5 million a year.

Those results back the PHNX post comfortably.

But Colorado did get something else from the hire that the early grades were pricing in: attention.

Dillingham made that case himself before the teams met last November, when Arizona State won 42-17 in Boulder.

“People are talking about Colorado, recruits want to go to Colorado. They’ve won, like I said, a high percentage of games with him than before him. He’s battled a bunch, and it just shows the type of person he is. He’s a fighter and a winner, and that’s shown up at Colorado since he’s been there,” Dillingham said, according to On SI’s Jack Carlough.

Who is questioning Kenny Dillingham now?

Arizona State’s own season keeps this from being a clean victory lap.

The Sun Devils are 4-4 and 2-3 in the Big 12, with losses by 28 to Texas A&M, 36 to Baylor and 28 to Texas Tech.

They need two wins in their last four games to reach a bowl.

Freshman Jake Fette is making his second career start on Saturday against Colorado.

Meanwhile, Sanders has faced criticism from a different angle this week.

Former Colorado quarterback Bobby Pesavento, who helped lead the Buffaloes to the 2001 Big 12 championship, criticized Sanders for what he called a failure to appreciate the program’s history.

Asked about the 25th anniversary of the 2001 title, Sanders offered a general reflection on Colorado’s successful years rather than discussing the 2001 team’s accomplishments in detail.

“I think I was a pro when they were really doing it, like really, really doing it,” Sanders said.

He also referenced his relationship with former Colorado quarterback Kordell Stewart, whom he played alongside during their time with the Baltimore Ravens.

Pesavento expressed his frustration during an appearance on the Zero 2 Sixty podcast.

“I mean, at this point, is it surprising at all?”

Pesavento said. “Like, I mean, it sucks as a former player, right, that was part of something that was pretty special up there, that he’s not aware of what it is.”

The former quarterback argued that understanding a university’s traditions should be an essential responsibility for any college football coach.

“As college head coach, no matter who you are, you gotta embrace the history of wherever you’re coaching, even if you don’t have ties to that place,” Pesavento continued.

“There’s donors. There’s former players. There are fans. There’s a community that rallies around that; you have to embrace it, and he’s just doing a poor job of it.”

Sanders also resolved a separate legal matter this week.

A lawsuit accusing him of not compensating graphic designer Alan Tipp for his “Prime” logo was dismissed with prejudice, meaning Tipp’s complaint cannot be refiled.

Such joint stipulations typically mean the case was settled.

Sanders addressed the matter on Instagram Nov. 5 by referencing Tipp.

“Shout out @atippical who 15 years ago designed the P21ME and T21TH logos for Under Armour which have stood the test of time and are still in use today,” Sanders wrote.