Arizona State and football coach Kenny Dillingham have agreed to a new five-year contract that will put him in the top tier of Big 12 coaching salaries, sources told ESPN on Tuesday.

Dillingham’s five-year deal includes a “pathway” to extend to 10 years, according to sources. While Arizona law limits state school contracts to five years, sources said incentives give the deal a runway to get to 10 years.

The new deal includes a wide-ranging commitment to football at Arizona State, which won the Big 12 this season and plays Texas in the College Football Playoff quarterfinals Wednesday. It was the school’s first outright conference title since 1996.

The deal will come in concert with the addition of 20 more football scholarships next season, as rosters are set to expand to 105. The deal includes an increased commitment to staff, according to sources, and ASU also plans to be a full participant in revenue share.

Arizona State won the Big 12 after being picked last — No. 16 overall — in the preseason poll. And this significant commitment is indicative of the school’s desire to remain atop the Big 12.

“We are in the national conversation,” said a source with knowledge of the deal. “We want to be committed to give our program the resources to stay in the national conversation and compete nationally for the best coaching talent and recruit the talent to compete at the highest level.”

Dillingham is currently among the lower tier of Big 12 coaches in base salary at $4.05 million. But he has already earned more than $2.5 million in bonuses after leading ASU to an 11-2 season and conference title. The additional bonus money puts him near the top of the league.

That bonus number is expected to climb past $3 million later in the spring with expected academic bonuses. Any wins in the CFP would also yield a significant bonus, as a semifinal appearance and final appearance would each be worth nearly $200,000.

Dillingham famously gave away one of his bonuses — $200,000 for ASU’s ninth win — to members of the support staff. This new deal is expected to give him bonus money to distribute to staff to use at his discretion, per sources, so it doesn’t come from out of pocket.

ASU added more than 45% to the football operation budget in 2024 compared to 2023. The program also proactively signed offensive coordinator Marcus Arroyo and defensive coordinator Brian Ward to new three-year contracts in late November, in order to keep top staff talent intact. Those deals will pay them an average of more than a million annually, which is in the high end for Big 12 coordinator pay.

In 2024, Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy’s $7.75 million salary led all Big 12 coaches, and he ended up taking a pay cut after going winless in league play. Dillingham’s new base salary is expected to be in the top echelon of the league, and there will still be significant incentives for bonuses.

Dillingham is from Scottsdale, graduated from Arizona State and has long called the school his dream job. And that label came years before he got hired. Every move in his career — Memphis, Auburn, Florida State and Oregon — has come with targeting a return to ASU as head coach.

“The fit is so important,” Dillingham said earlier this week. “And me understanding the place here, I think it helped the fit and helped the transition because I just understand what the school and the city is about, and you’re recruiting to the school. So you want people who understand that like you understand it. I think my knowledge of the place definitely helped.”

Dillingham went 3-9 in his first year at ASU in 2023, and the Sun Devils’ turnaround to 11 wins and Big 12 champion has been one of the most remarkable stories in college football. ASU’s league title earned it a bye in the first round of the College Football Playoff.