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That’s why, a day before ASU’s impressive performance against Texas in the college football playoffs, the Sun Devils’ proactive decision to extend football coach Kenny Dillingham’s contract through 2029 made such an impact.

Athletic director Graham Rossini’s goal has been to make Dillingham a Sun Devil for Life. A month earlier, Rossini wisely moved to give defensive coordinator Brian Ward and offensive coordinator Marcus Arroyo contract extensions through 2027. The foundation was set.

That was exactly what Arizona didn’t do a year ago, a costly mistake as Jedd Fisch bolted for Washington.

Arizona was a step late in attempting to keep Fisch after a remarkable 10-3 season. A few days after the game, Arizona reached an agreement in principle to extend Fisch’s contract through 2027, but it couldn’t arrange a meeting with the Board of Regents until Jan. 25. By then, Fisch was a Washington Husky.

Arizona’s football program imploded.

Fisch might’ve left anyway. He is a coaching vagabond, lacking the be-true-to-your-school sentiment that sets Dillingham apart from most in his profession. If there is such a thing as a perfect fit in college football, it’s Dillingham and ASU.

He grew up in Phoenix, attended high school in Phoenix and graduated from ASU. Do you realize how rare that is?

Dating to 1975, there were only two Pac-12 football coaches who duplicated Dillingham’s 3-for-3 qualifications as a homeboy: UCLA’s Terry Donahue and Stanford’s David Shaw.

Donahue grew up in Los Angeles, played high school football in the Los Angeles suburb of Sherman Oaks, played for UCLA and was hired to be the Bruins’ head coach when he was just 32, the same age at which Dillingham was hired by ASU.

Donahue gave UCLA the longevity it sought; he stayed 20 seasons, reaching the Rose Bowl four times, a first-ballot inductee in the College Football Hall of Fame.

Shaw had a background similar to that of Dillingham and Donahue. He played high school football within driving distance of the Stanford campus, played four years for the Cardinal and, at 39, was hired as Stanford’s head coach in 2011. He set a conference record by four times being selected as the Pac-12 Coach of the Year.

None of the other 114 Pac-12 head football coaches, 1975-2024, had the three-step ties to their school as did Dillingham, Donahue and Shaw.

Before Dillingham, ASU had gone through nine football coaches in 50 years, one every 5.5 years, close to the national average of 4.5. If successful, Dillingham offers the possibility of coaching at ASU the rest of his career.

Bloodlines are important. Fisch didn’t have a true blood connection to any of the 14 schools/NFL teams at which he has coached, and that’s probably what made it easy for him to move from Tucson to Seattle after a 24-hour negotiation.

How rare is a Dillingham-type bloodline to ASU?

Arizona had just one head coach in 100 years who grew up in Tucson, played for the UA and returned to Tucson to be a head coach — Carl Cooper. The son of a UA staff electrician, Cooper coached the UA track team from 1951-68 before the USA Track and Field Federation hired him as its executive director. But Cooper didn’t even leave Tucson; as part of his deal, the USA Track Federation moved its headquarters to Tucson.

ASU’s most notable lifetime link to the Sun Devils was Hall of Fame baseball coach Jim Brock, who grew up in Phoenix, graduated from ASU and led the Sun Devils to two NCAA championships. Longevity works.

Before Fisch left for Seattle a year ago, he famously said: “We believe we have the opportunity to turn Arizona football into the same type of success Arizona basketball has had over the last 30 years. To do that we have to have continuity.�

Famous last words.