Kenny Dillingham (photo courtesy of Arizona State athletics)
Arizona State’s Kenny Dillingham may be a good football coach. But it sounds like he needs a lesson in Mississippi geography. Speaking to reporters in Tempe, Dillingham indicated that the team had trouble finding a hotel near Starkville for Saturday night’s game…
“We stay about an hour twenty, hour fifteen minutes away from the stadium this week, ’cause that’s the nearest hotel that’s not a casino to stay at. (Reporters laugh). But it’s the truth. Some teams stay at the casino. That wasn’t even a joke. But it’s just the nearest hotel.”
Apparently, Dillingham has never heard of Columbus– with plenty of hotels, less than 25 miles away, probably about a 20-minute drive with a Highway Patrol escort. He didn’t say where Arizona State is staying, but from his description, maybe it’s Tupelo. That’s about an hour and ten minutes away.
The casino he referenced, Pearl River Resort, is just over an hour from Starkville.
Kathleen
September 4, 2025 at 4:04 amI’m from Columbus Mississippi and it sounds like he just wants to belittle us just for being Mississippi. We have plenty of hotels available here and would have been very hospitable and accommodating. I say let him travel that far if he is going to be so condescending. Oh and he don’t know real food until he has dined with us! Praise the LORD and GO STATE 🙌🏼
Steve
September 4, 2025 at 10:27 amI have had trouble getting rooms for my crews in the past as well. The hotels that were available were not what you would want to stay in.