UPDATE: Dillingham apologized for his comments and reiterated that the loss was on him.
Arizona State head coach Kenny Dillingham is taking heat on social media for comments about his placekicker after Saturday’s 24-14 loss to Cincinnati.
There seemed to be plenty of blame to go around 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 you’re at Arizona State, email me. We’re going to have kicking tryouts on Monday. Bring it on; kicking tryouts Monday … I’m dead serious.”
Hershey has hit seven of his 12 field-goal attempts this season, and 18-of-19 extra-point attempts.
Pat McAfee’s fun kicking contest on ESPN’s College GameDay has made kicking look easy, as random students walk up and make 33-yard attempts for cash. One Cal student recently knocked home a kick in the contest wearing slip-on Vans.
Kicking is obviously much more difficult in game situations. Yet the ASU sophomore’s kicking prowess seemed to be a moot point for many who ripped Dillingham for his lack of tact in addressing the situation.
Want to replace your kicker midseason? Fine, happens all the time in college and the NFL. But don’t hurl a student-athlete under the bus in a moment of frustration at a press conference.
[Justin LaCertosa]