Arizona State’s Kenny Dillingham apologizes after calling for open kicking tryouts

Arizona State football coach Kenny Dillingham has apologized after calling for open kicking tryouts following his team’s loss to Cincinnati on Saturday.

The Sun Devils lost 24-14 to the Bearcats, a game in which kicker Ian Hershey went 0 for 2 on field goal attempts. The distances were of 48 and 41 yards, respectively, and occurred on the team’s final two drives. Following his team’s loss, Dillingham had this to say of his team’s kicking in his postgame news conference:

“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.”

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When asked by a reporter whether he was serious, the Arizona State coach said he was “dead serious” about the call for open tryouts, adding, “We got to find somebody who can make a field goal.”

Had Hershey made his first field goal, Arizona State would have been in position score a game-tying touchdown on what ultimately was its final drive. Similarly, a make on his second attempt would have allowed for the Sun Devils to attempt an onside kick and attempt the game-tying drive then. He missed both, bringing him to 0 for 2 on the day and 7 for 12 on the season.

Following his initial news conference, Dillingham took to X (formerly Twitter) to apologize. He emphasized that, unlike criticizing offense and defense, any critiques regarding the kicking game center specifically one player.

It is unknown whether Arizona State will still call for kicking tryouts come Monday.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: ASU’s Kenny Dillingham ‘sorry’ after calling for open kicking tryouts