Sonny Dykes has been a head coach for 11 seasons at the FBS level.
He has compiled a 63–59 record at SMU, California and Louisiana Tech.
Dykes launched his collegiate coaching career in 1995 at Navarro Junior College as a running backs coach. At that time, he began to start communicating with Valdosta State head coach Hal Mumme.
“I was coaching at Navarro Junior College in Texas and ran into Hal on the road recruiting,” Dykes said on the show “Tennessee Two-A-Days.” “We got to talking a little bit. He was throwing the ball all over the field at Valdosta State and I was throwing the ball all over the field at Navarro, and we kind of started talking and sharing some ideas.
“I was learning a lot from Hal. He had a job at Valdosta State and tried to hire me and I ended up not going. Of course, a year later he gets the Kentucky job. I called him and I said ‘Hey, I’m ready for that job now’.”
Dykes spent the 1997 season as a graduate assistant at Kentucky. He left for a position coach opportunity at Northeast Louisiana, overseeing wide receivers. Dykes returned to Kentucky in 1999, serving as Mumme’s wide receivers and special teams coach.
“I was fortunate enough to get on in 1997 as Mike Leach’s GA,” Dykes said. “I just learned so much from Hal and Mike and got a chance to work with Tony Franklin who was running backs coach at the time, who obviously has been very successful as a coordinator. Guy Morriss was the line coach at that time and went on to be the head coach at Baylor. It was a great coaching staff. Chris Hatcher was a GA with me at the time, who has went on to have success as a head coach through the years at different places.
“It was a fun staff and I learned a lot from Mike and Hal and I think the biggest thing I learned from Hal, just be yourself and I think you have to be authentic. He just believed in throwing the football. He just believed if you can throw it, you can catch the ball, and you can stretch the field horizontally and vertically, that you can get the ball in playmakers’ hands and be successful at some programs that traditionally had not been successful.”
Leach was hired as Texas Tech’s head coach in 2000. Dykes served as Leach’s wide receivers coach from 2000-04 and co-offensive coordinator between 2005-06.
“I was fortunate enough to go to Texas Tech with Mike and be part of some outstanding coaching staffs that turned out a lot of head coaches,” Dykes said. “Kliff Kingsbury was our quarterback who is an NFL head coach, Graham Harrell was our quarterback who is the offensive coordinator at Southern Cal, Sonny Cumbie was our quarterback, then you just look at the coaches in Dana Holgorson, Art Briles, Seth Littrell — Ruffin McNeill went on to be a head coach, Lincoln Riley was a student coach at the time.
“It was a great group of coaches and we shared a love for football. Dave Aranda, now the head coach at Baylor, was a graduate assistant at the time. We just loved to talk football, to learn, and the good thing about Mike Leach is that he would listen. He would ask us and would listen. It’s that kind of staff where everybody felt like they could share ideas and just a great place to be as a young coach.”
Dykes also discussed how he started to evolve offensively during his time at Navarro Junior College.
“I was hired by Larry Keck,” he said. “Larry, basically, was a run and shoot guy and had evolved a little bit from some of the run and shoot principles to a little bit of the Dennis Erickson three-step game and started running some wide receiver screens, and a little bit of stuff that Hal was doing. He was doing it in different ways.”
Dykes mentioned that his offensive principles starts with pass protection, understanding blitzes and knowing who to throw hot off of, being simplistic on offense and running plays at a high level.
The entire show with Dykes can be listened to here or below.
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