Arizona State coach announces open tryouts to fix ‘atrocious’ kicking game

Arizona State head coach Kenny Dillingham is facing criticism on social media about his placekicker following Saturday’s 24-14 loss to Cincinnati.

There seemed to be plenty of blame for the Sun Devils after the loss, but during his press conference Dillingham directly called out sophomore kicker Ian Hershey, who missed his two field goal attempts from 41 and 48 yards.

“Our kicking game is atrocious,” Dillingham said. “If you can kick and are at Arizona State, email me. On Monday we will do kicking tryouts. Bring it on; I’ll be doing tryouts on Monday… I’m absolutely serious.”

“Our kicking game is terrible. If you can kick and are at Arizona State, email me. On Monday we will do kicking tryouts. Bring it on; “I’m going to tryouts on Monday…I’m totally serious.” – ASU HC Kenny Dillingham

(above @LaCertosaSports; @DevilsDigest) pic.twitter.com/CwXRb15NRS

– Awful Announcement (@awfulanncreasing) October 19, 2024

Hershey has hit seven of its 12 field goal attempts and 18 of 19 extra point attempts this season.

Pat McAfee’s funny kicking competition on ESPN College game day makes kicking look easy as random students come up to him and make 33-yard attempts for money. A Cal student recently scored big in the slip-on van competition.

Kicking is of course much more difficult in game situations. But the ASU sophomore’s kicking skills seemed to be a moot point for many, who criticized Dillingham for his lack of tact in handling the situation.

If you’re going to throw the Kickers under the proverbial bus, maybe you should involve the Kickers’ coaches… and the guy who hired the Kickers’ coaches…

— Scott Marks (@scottmarks45) October 19, 2024

They missed TWO kicks… and lost by 10 points!! Sounds like a coaching problem.

— Larry Lafferty (@Lafferty62Larry) October 19, 2024

I can’t believe they can’t find a decent, soccer playing kid from California who would like to play in a metropolitan area with a population of over 2 million where the zero money pool is endless. My goodness. Simple case of BAD recruiting and BAD coaching at ASU, LOL

— Jose Merced “100×35” (@josemerced) October 19, 2024

Or start @navibruzon Next time 😅 but on a side note, a few things killed us in this game. It’s not cool to throw a child in front of the bus

— Mario Marino (@CoachMarino96) October 19, 2024

@PatMcAfeeShow will most likely have a discussion session this Monday

– Samuel Shepard, DO (@ShepOrtho) October 19, 2024

Looking to replace your kicker mid-season? Well, this happens all the time in college and the NFL. But don’t throw a student-athlete under the bus in a moment of frustration at a press conference.

[Justin LaCertosa]