TEMPE – Sun Devil Football head coach Kenny Dillingham didn't need to leave the conference to greatly supplement his inaugural staff, welcoming Washington State defensive coordinator Brian Ward to assume the same role at Arizona State.
Ward - a Glendale, Ariz. native - led one of the elite defenses in the Pac-12 this past season, as the Cougars were third in the league and 33rd in the FBS in allowing just 22.4 points per game - tied for the sixth-best total in program history and lowest since a 19.7 mark in 2003. That tally seems improbable for a program that hadn't finished in the Top 40 in the category for nearly two decades and 90th or worse in six seasons since 2009.