ASU shocked the college football world this season with a berth to the first-ever 12-team College Football Playoff. CBS Sports’ Tom Fornelli graded second-year head coaches in college football and gave Kenny Dillingham the best grade possible for turning a 3-9 team into Big 12 champions.

Fornelli gave Dillingham an A grade, and he was the only coach in the FBS to receive an A. The next closest coach was Louisville’s Jeff Brohm, who received an A-.

How quickly things can turn around. After a 3-9 debut season with the Sun Devils, Dillingham’s squad went 11-3 in 2024, won the Big 12, and took Texas to overtime in the College Football Playoff quarterfinals. It’s both a testament to Dillingham’s coaching ability and the unpredictable nature of the Big 12: all the favorites stumbled this season, and Cinderellas popped up everywhere. Dillingham will head into the 2025 season with one of the most promising QBs (Sam Leavitt) in the country, so expectations will be high.

We all know the story by now: ASU was projected by the media to finish last in the Big 12 out of 16 teams. They were amongst the biggest sports betting upsets in history.

A bet on ASU to win the Big 12 was at +10,000 odds in August, meaning if you placed a $100 wager, you would have won $10,000 when the Sun Devils raised the trophy in Arlington, Texas.

Dillingham had ASU as the 30th scoring offense in the nation at 32.9 points per game, which was good for fourth in the Big 12. The Sun Devils’ ground attack finished 20th in the nation at 199.9 rushing yards per game, fourth in the Big 12.

On the other side of the ball, ASU was third in the Big 12 in scoring defense, allowing 22.6 points per game.

Dillingham has a history of developing successful quarterbacks throughout his college career: Riley Ferguson at Memphis, Bo Nix with Auburn and Oregon, and Jordan Travis at Florida State.

Dillingham now has the opportunity to continue that success with Sam Leavitt after the quarterback’s impressive first season as the starter for the Sun Devils.

After ASU won its ninth game of the year with a victory over BYU, a $200,000 bonus kicked in. Dillingham decided to split his bonus to a group of 20 off-the-field personnel.

“I’m one piece of this,” Dillingham said on the Jim Rome Show. “Like, I’m the guy who goes on your show and talks for the brand. I’m not the guy breaking down the film right now, putting in 100s of hours doing that. I’m not the guy meeting with our players 24/7. I’m not the guy putting together cutups. I’m not the guy talking to every single one of our recruits.

“We need an army, we need a group of people together to get this accomplished. I wanted to reward the people who really got us to this point.”

Dillingham received a five-year contract extension before the quarterfinal playoff game versus Texas. Offensive and defensive coordinators Marcus Arroyo and Brian Ward were each rewarded with extensions earlier in the season, as well.

ASU finished the season ranked No. 7 in the final 2024-25 college football AP poll.

The Arizona Cardinals are hiring Ohio State coach Justin Frye as their new offesnive line coach, according to ESPN’s Pete Thamel.

The news comes one day after former Cardinals offensive line coach Klayton Adams was hired by the Dallas Cowboys for their offensive coordinator position.

Arizona’s hiring of Frye reunites him with Cardinals offensive tackle Paris Johnson Jr. who played for him for one season in 2022 before being selected in the first round of the 2023 NFL Draft. Offensive guard Jon Gaines II also played under Frye for four years when he was an offensive line coach and offensive coordinator at UCLA.

Johnson displayed his excitement of the news on X Saturday.

pic.twitter.com/79r0BrbGZA

— Paris Johnson Jr. (@ParisJohnsonJr) February 1, 2025

Frye was hired by the Buckeyes in January 2022. He also previously coached at Boston College, Temple, Florida and Indiana. This will mark the first NFL job for Frye.

Cardinals coaching news during the offseason

The Frye hiring has been one of several stories for the Cardinals coaching staff in the news this hiring cycle.

In addition to Adams being hired by Dallas, the Cardinals saw former inside linebackers coach Sam Siefkes head to Virginia Tech as their new defensive coordinator.

Arizona also reportedly moved on from defensive line coach Derrick LeBlanc after two seasons.

Offensive coordinator Drew Petzing interviewed with the Chicago Bears for their open head coaching job before Chicago hired Ben Johnson.

Quarterbacks coach Israel Woolfork also had some interest from the Bears after they reportedly requested an interview with him for their OC job before hiring Declan Doyle.

The Dallas Cowboys are hiring Arizona Cardinals offensive line coach Klayton Adams as their new offensive coordinator under first-year head coach Brian Schottenheimer, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

Adams met with Dallas in person on Friday after interviewing virtually with the team recently, per NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo.

ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler adds the Cardinals were bracing to lose Adams to either the Cowboys or New Orleans Saints.

The coach came to Arizona in 2023 as part of the new regime under general manager Monti Ossenfort and head coach Jonathan Gannon.

He’s helped in the development of young players like 2023 first-round pick Paris Johnson Jr. and second-year pro Isaiah Adams.

His work within the trenches aided in Arizona’s run game that came in seventh in the league behind 144.2 yards per game. It was eighth in touchdowns with 18.

Klayton Adams marks latest Arizona departure

Adams isn’t the only Arizona assistant that’s been in the news this hiring cycle.

Before his move to Dallas, Arizona watched former inside linebackers coach Sam Siefkes head to Virginia Tech as their new defensive coordinator.

Arizona also reportedly moved on from defensive line coach Derrick LeBlanc after two seasons on the job.

Offensive coordinator Drew Petzing meanwhile interviewed with the Chicago Bears for their open heading-coaching job before the team landed on former Detroit Lions OC Ben Johnson.

Quarterbacks coach Israel Woolfork also had some interest from Chicago after they reportedly requested an interview with him for its OC job before inking Declan Doyle.

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The New Orleans Pelicans are reportedly interested in trading for Miami Heat star Jimmy Butler as they try to get off Brandon Ingram’s contract, according to The Stein Line’s Marc Stein and Yahoo! Sports’ Jake Fischer.

New Orleans has been navigating its own trade scenarios for Ingram after the Pelicans — like Miami with Butler — were unable to reach an extension agreement with the former All-Star this past offseason. Sources told The Stein Line that the Pelicans, after Ingram’s $36 million expiring contract had been discussed by rival teams in various trade proposals designed to help facilitate Butler’s Miami exit, decided to approach the Heat themselves about swapping Ingram for Butler.

Arizona Sports’ John Gambadoro, however, says that does not mean the Pelicans want to land Butler thanks to two big caveats, the first being that Butler does not want to go to New Orleans.

Start with this – Jimmy doesn’t want to go to New Orleans. 2) Acquiring Jimmy would put NO into the tax – they can’t hold Butler’s money. Can’t be a tax team. Either Miami or the agent just using Pelicans as leverage.

— John Gambadoro (@Gambo987) January 31, 2025

The second stems around New Orleans trying to get out of the luxury tax.

It also doesn’t help that New Orleans is a dismal 12-36. Only the Utah Jazz (10-36) sport a worse mark in the Western Conference standings.

Butler is making $48.8 million this year compared to Ingram’s $36 million mark.

Along with the Pelicans, the Milwaukee Bucks (Khris Middleton), Sacramento Kings (De’Aaron Fox), Chicago Bulls (Zach LaVine) and Suns (Bradley Beal) are among the teams with big enough contracts that could help in facilitating a Butler trade.

The latest reporting from Gambadoro, Stein and Fischer comes after multiple reports earlier this week indicated the Heat are reportedly dropping their asking price and was circling back on trade talks with teams that include the Suns.

A big reason for that was Butler’s third suspension coming down after walking out of practice following word of his benching.

Golden State Warriors a potential landing spot for Jimmy Butler?

The Warriors could be a potential landing spot for Butler, according to ESPN’s Tim Bontemps.

Bontemps adds the Heat’s dropped asking price for Butler in addition to the potential pairing with star Stephen Curry could be enticing for Golden State.

The Bradley Beal hangup remains

Beal continues to be the biggest blocker to any Butler-Suns deal thanks to his no-trade clause and $110 million left on his current deal after this year.

We saw an example of that on Monday when it was reported that the Suns guard would not waive his no-trade clause in a potential trade that would ship off Beal to the Chicago Bulls.

According to The Athletic’s Fred Katz, Beal does not want to play somewhere cold or on a team with a losing record.

The Heat also don’t seem keen on adding Beal, as ESPN’s Brian Windhorst reported Friday despite their willingness to take players with future money on their contracts.

The stalemate with Beal hasn’t stopped the Suns from looking at other avenues, too, with Windhorst adding Phoenix has been working for weeks on two-, three-, four- and five-team trade concepts to land Butler.

Beal’s agent, Mark Bartelstein, being the father of Suns CEO Josh Bartelstein in addition to Butler and Heat president Pat Riley being at odds have only added to the saga.

“Everything about this negotiation has been too personal,” said an executive from one of the teams that has been involved in the expansive talks. “It was hard enough to find a way, but that aspect has made it harder.”

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The former Arizona Coyotes franchise, now the Utah Hockey Club, has chosen three names for fans to vote on for their permanent team name.

Not making the list is the fan favorite “Yeti” or “Yetis” name. The Utah Hockey Club filed for a trademark with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, according to The Associated Press, that was rejected on Jan. 9. The “Yeti” name in relation to the hockey team would have confused the majority of people with the Yeti brand. Thus, Yeti and the Utah Hockey Club could not reach an agreement of coexistence with branding and merchandising.

The final three names up for consideration were Utah Mammoth, Utah Hockey Club and Utah Wasatch.

After Wednesday night’s first day of voting, Utah decided that the Wasatch name was not as popular to the crowd as they thought.

On Thursday, the team announced that they would be switching the option of Utah Wasatch to Utah Outlaws after the first round of voting.

Hey Utah hockey fans! We listened to your feedback and dug into all the Qualtrics data from last night’s survey. For the team name, it’s clear that Outlaws should be in the mix instead of Wasatch, so we’re swapping it out. 

Surveys will continue at the arena Friday, Sunday and…

— Utah Hockey Club (@utahhockeyclub) January 30, 2025

For the next three home games (voting started on Wednesday night against Pittsburgh) fans at the Delta Center can vote on their favorite name on an iPad. The next three home games are on Jan. 31 versus Columbus, Feb. 2 versus St. Louis and Feb. 4 versus Philadelphia.

The initial thought to use the Wasatch name was to still get across the idea behind the fans’ wishes of the Yeti, a mythical creature that lives up in the Himalayan mountains. The Wasatch Mountains run along the east side of the Salt Lake Valley.

“We wanted to honor this idea people had for a mythical snow creature like the Yeti and bring a very Utah-centric approach to it,” Smith Entertainment Group executive Mike Maughan said in an article by AP’s John Coon. “Because we have the Wasatch Mountains, because we have the Wasatch Front, we have so many different iterations or ways we can do it. We wanted to honor the sentiment of one of those top names of the last iteration (of fan voting) while also including a Utah-centric version of it.”

A unique feature is that when fans click to vote on their favorite name, it will reveal logos, jerseys and branding for that particular choice.

The permanent team name will be revealed ahead of the Utah Hockey Club’s 2025-26 home opener.

The Phoenix Suns are expected to use one of their three first-round picks acquired in the recent Utah Jazz trade to entice a team to take on center Jusuf Nurkic, ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne and Bobby Marks reported.

Nurkic, who has one season and $19.4 million left on his contract, has not played since Jan. 6, before the Suns added center Nick Richards via a trade with the Charlotte Hornets on Jan. 15. Nurkic recently said he has no relationship with head coach Mike Budenholzer, adding more public clarity about his dissatisfaction with the team.

Shelburne and Marks also reported that other NBA teams have asked about the availability of stars Devin Booker and Kevin Durant. ESPN reported those teams have been turned down.

Durant’s contract ends following the 2025-26 season after he bypassed the opportunity to sign an extension in October. He is eligible to sign a two-year extension after this season.

Booker is nearing the Suns’ all-time scoring record. Team sources told ESPN that Booker has not given any indication that he’d want to leave Phoenix if the current situation does not pan out and that all inquiries about Booker won’t be fielded.

The Suns currently have three first-round picks in their arsenal after trading their 2031 first: the lowest of Cleveland/Minnesota in 2025, and the lowest of Cleveland/Minnesota/Utah in 2027 and 2029.

Since Mat Ishbia took on ownership of the Phoenix Suns, he’s been apt to spend. Setting aside the not-very-memorable releases of Nassir Little and E.J. Liddell last offseason, cap-saving moves haven’t happened in the Valley too often.

Trading for Miami Heat forward Jimmy Butler presumably comes with a contract extension to follow, and that obviously does not bucket into the “saving money” category, either.

But if the Suns don’t land Butler as reportedly desired, could they swing deals that land somewhere in the zip code of sustainability?

ESPN’s Bobby Marks has two ideas that would give Phoenix a bit more flexibility moving forward.

Two trades that work

1) Phoenix receives:
P.J. Tucker
Bones Hyland

LA Clippers receive:
Jusuf Nurkic
2027 least favorable first of Cleveland, Minnesota, Utah

2) Phoenix receives:
Gary Harris
Cory Joseph
2025 first from Denver (if 6-30)

Orlando receives:
Grayson Allen
Monte Morris

Of course, Marks is wearing his own front-office executive cap in suggesting those moves. All of those players’ incoming salaries are either ending after 2024-25, come with team options or, in the case of Hyland, lead to restricted free agency.

The big picture is this: The two trades get the Suns under the first and second tax aprons. The second gives the Suns a first-round pick to use or trade this summer.

Among other things, getting under the second apron opens the door for the Suns to deal their 2032 first-round pick starting in June, unlocks the ability to aggregate salaries in trades and gives Phoenix potential access to a reduced $5 million midlevel exception (opposed to none at all).

Most importantly, combining these trades saves more than $200 million in salary and taxes next year, by Marks’ number-crunching.

With the Clippers-Suns prong of these proposed deals, Phoenix gets off Nurkic’s contract that pays out $19.4 million next season and returns a jumbo wing in Tucker, who has familiarity with Phoenix and Devin Booker. Hyland would give the Suns a wild card microwave scorer who might land on the opposite end of the point guard spectrum compared to pass-first starter Tyus Jones.

Marks’ second proposed trade seemingly sacrifices Allen’s and Morris’ productivity for two less-utilized players who are likely out of the rotation. Phoenix gets a draft pick that they sorely need that could help next year or in a trade.

Maybe Very, very likely, the Ishbia-led team won’t even consider operating like Marks. But in this exercise, it’s fair to wonder if we see the Suns finally shift that direction just a little bit if a Butler blockbuster isn’t in the cards.

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In America, billionaires and NBA superstars usually get what they want in the end. And if Jimmy Butler finds his way to Phoenix before the trade deadline, it will be like Clint Eastwood walking into a Western movie.

It would be good, bad and ugly. Butler is exactly the alpha male the Suns need inside the locker room. He is exactly the kind of teammate that brings out the best in Kevin Durant. He is a basketball assassin, and Butler would deliver all the smoldering intensity and true grit the Suns frequently lack.

It would be terrible for the sport. Butler’s beef with the Heat is the latest chapter in the NBA’s player empowerment movement that prioritizes unwavering loyalty to selfish desires. Butler has blown up the Heat’s season because he knows a lucrative payoff awaits in Phoenix, the kind he might not get anywhere else. He wants a fistful of dollars and everything else is secondary.

Even if Butler and the Suns get over all the obstacles in their path, the deal might fail spectacularly. It might mark the end of an era that began with Devin Booker, Chris Paul and Monty Williams, just as the ill-fated acquisition of Shaq signaled the end of Steve Nash’s reign of dominance. Butler will be 36 in September, and as Charles Barkley sagely warns, old players don’t get better. They just get older and more injury-prone.

The smartest play might be another move around the margins. Like packaging some of the remaining assets for a lengthy wing with a fierce disposition. The Suns seemingly did a great job identifying Nick Richards as a solution to their center problem. They added a pair of promising rookies, including a new crowd favorite in Ryan Dunn. And the team’s brilliant first half against the Clippers shows how high the current group can fly when they’re passionate, locked in, trying hard, playing fast and passing with purpose.

Butler is a different animal. He represents more star power and a potential coup for Mat Ishbia, allowing him to replace the worst contract in the NBA (Bradley Beal) with one of the game’s best playoff performers. Butler would also deliver instant culture. Just like Chris Paul, but even more menacing and hardcore.

Ishbia is a gift to Planet Orange. His willingness to outspend every problem is rare in sports and rare in these parts. He is unmoved by thorny financial complications that accompany high-priced teams, zigging when every other owner is zagging. To wit:

He assembled a Big Three at a time when the model had gone extinct. He’s taken a lot of criticism from experts and trolls alike. And his plan is to replace his current model with a better Big Three.

Other NBA owners don’t want Ishbia to succeed. They don’t want his plan to work because they don’t want to follow suit. They don’t want pressure from their fan bases to spend like the madman in Phoenix. They want rules against guys like Ishbia, and there is even chatter that the Suns’ hyperaggressive maneuvering might spawn more rules change, limiting what a new owner can do in the early stages of his tenure.

So much is on the line in the coming days. I want Butler in Phoenix because I love Butler’s on-court demeanor, and I saw how Booker and Durant shined at the Paris Olympics when they didn’t have to be leaders. But I hate everything this saga represents. And mostly, I want continuity and dependability and a team that’s fun to watch, not an organization that has brought in 26 new players after the acquisition of Durant, perpetually scrambling for pieces that work.

Choose well, Mat. The future depends on it.

Reach Bickley at [email protected]. Listen to Bickley & Marotta weekdays from 6 a.m. – 10 a.m. on Arizona Sports 98.7.

Follow @danbickley

Former Arizona Wildcat and four-time NBA champion Andre Iguodala will have his No. 9 jersey retired by the Golden State Warriors on Feb. 23 following the team’s game against the Dallas Mavericks, the Warriors announced Tuesday.

Iguodala was a key member during the Warriors’ dynastic run of four championships in a span of seven seasons. He won the 2015 NBA Finals MVP as the Warriors beat the Cavaliers, 4-2. He averaged 16.3 points, 5.8 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 1.3 steals in that series. He shot 52.1% from the field and 40% from the 3-point line.

For his career, Iguodala averaged 11.3 points, 4.9 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 1.4 steals. He averaged 32.1 minutes across the span of 19 seasons and sits at 20th all-time in steals in NBA history at 1,765. Iguodala shot 46.3% from the field and 33.3% from beyond the arc.

Iguodala spent two years with Arizona, his freshman and sophomore seasons before declaring for the 2004 NBA Draft, where he was the ninth overall pick by the Philadelphia 76ers.

Iguodala played and started in all 30 games in his sophomore campaign. That year, the forward averaged 12.9 points, 8.4 rebounds and 4.9 assists as he shot 45% from the field, 31.5% from 3 and 78.8% from the free-throw line.

Iguodala was a 2002-03 Pac-10 All-Freshman and a 2003-04 All-Pac-10 First Team member. He is also an Arizona men’s basketball Ring of Honor member.

Iguodala was a freshman when the Wildcats made the Elite Eight in 2003, falling to Kansas 78-75.

This @andre tribute narrated by @andreiggyy is special 🔥

Warriors to retire Iguodala’s #9 on 2/23!pic.twitter.com/maCTsrD5Qb

— NBA (@NBA) January 28, 2025

Iguodala’s son, Andre Iguodala II, narrated the Warriors’ tribute video announcing the jersey retirement on X.

“You’ll be the last Warrior to wear number nine. Our name lives forever,” Iguodala II said.

The Phoenix Suns assigned rookie center Oso Ighodaro to the G League Valley Suns on Tuesday, the team announced.

Ighodaro has a path to everyday playing time in the G League after his NBA minutes have decreased since the addition of center Nick Richards via trade with the Charlotte Hornets.

Richards is five games into his Suns tenure, during which Ighodaro only averaged 7.3 minutes over the first three and did not play in the most recent two contests.

Veteran Mason Plumlee has been Phoenix’s primary reserve big, having played 40 minutes over the last two games. Day 1 starter Jusuf Nurkic has been removed from the rotation, but he sits in as a third option with Ighodaro playing for the Valley Suns.

The rookie has averaged 3.8 points, 3.5 rebounds and 0.9 stocks (steals and blocks) in 16.1 minutes per game in 36 appearances so far. He has shot 55.8% from the field and 54.3% from the free-throw line.

Per 36 minutes, his averages increase to 8.4 points and 7.9 rebounds.

The Suns drafted Ighodaro out of Marquette with the 40th overall pick in the second round of the 2024 NBA Draft, their second selection after Virginia forward Ryan Dunn (No. 28). Ighodaro is a Valley native who attended Desert Vista High School.

The Valley Suns are in their debut season and play their home games at Arizona State’s Mullett Arena. Their leading scorer is guard and fellow Valley native TyTy Washington (20.5 PPG), who is on a two-way contract along with Jalen Bridges and Collin Gillespie.

Their next home game is Friday at 7 p.m. MST against the San Diego Clippers.

The NBA Suns return to action on Wednesday at Footprint Center against the Minnesota Timberwolves with tip-off set for 7 p.m. MST.

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