Football
- Title:
- Head Coach | 2nd Season
Sonny Dykes was introduced as TCU’s head football coach on Nov. 30, 2021.
Dykes' 27 wins trail only two-time national champion Dutch Meyer (29, 1934-36) for the most by a TCU head coach in his first three seasons. During that same span, the Horned Frogs' 18 Big 12 wins are tied for the conference lead. TCU has had six All-Americans, 52 All-Big 12 selections and six of the top seven crowds in program history during Dykes' tenure.
The Horned Frogs have won at least nine games three times since 2015 with Dykes on staff for all three occasions. He was an analyst on the 11-win 2017 team and head coach of the 13-victory College Football Playoff team in 2022 as well as the 9-4 squad in 2024 that closed the campaign with a four-game winning streak and victories in six of its last seven games.
Dykes won 10 National Coach of the Year awards in 2022, his first season leading the Horned Frogs. TCU became the first program from the state of Texas to make the College Football Playoff and first from the Big 12 Conference to reach the CFP National Championship. Picked to finish seventh in the Big 12, the Horned Frogs were No. 2 in the final Associated Press poll. TCU also became the first team to be in the CFP National Championship after starting the season unranked and just the third program since 1998 to play for a national title while beginning the season outside the top 25. TCU's six wins over ranked opponents, including a victory over No. 2 Michigan in the CFP Semifinal at the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl, tied for the national lead.
Dykes is only the third head coach in the CFP era to guide his team to the playoffs in his first season at the helm. The unanimous Big 12 Coach of the Year, Dykes became the first head football coach in TCU and Big 12 history to start 12-0 in his first season. He was just the fourth head coach nationally since 1996 to accomplish the feat.
TCU was the first Big 12 team to complete the regular season with a 12-0 record since 2009 and the first league member to go 9-0 in conference play since 2016. TCU's 13 wins in 2022 tied a program record.
Dykes is one of just six active FBS head coaches to take four different schools (Louisiana Tech, Cal, SMU, TCU) to a bowl game. The others are Hugh Freeze, Butch Jones, Brian Kelly, Lane Kiffin and Rich Rodriguez.
Dykes had three players win a total of five national awards in 2022. Quarterback Max Duggan was the recipient of the Davey O'Brien Award, Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award and Earl Campbell Tyler Rose Award while finishing second in Heisman Trophy voting. Cornerback Tre'Vius Hodges-Tomlinson won the Paycom Jim Thorpe Award as the nation's top defensive back, and Derius Davis captured the Jet Award as the country's Return Specialist of the Year. Additionally, offensive guard Steve Avila was a Consensus All-American.
TCU has had 11 players selected in the NFL Draft over the last two seasons, including eight in 2023 to lead the Big 12 and schools in the state of Texas, place fourth nationally and set a program record since the NFL went to its current seven-round format in 1994. Including free agents, Dykes has had 19 players sign NFL contracts in his two seasons.
Dykes arrived at TCU after serving the previous four seasons as head coach at SMU, where he completed one of the more remarkable turnarounds in college football. Behind an offense that consistently ranked among the nation’s best, Dykes guided SMU to 19 weeks in the national top 25 and three consecutive winning seasons for the first time since the mid-1980s.
The son of legendary Texas Tech football coach Spike Dykes, Sonny Dykes rebuilt SMU through his deep ties to the state of Texas, focus on recruiting in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex and utilization of the transfer portal.
Dykes returned to TCU after being an integral part of past Horned Frogs’ success. Before becoming SMU’s head coach, he served as an offensive analyst for TCU in 2017. He was instrumental in the Horned Frogs posting an 11-3 record, reaching the Big 12 Championship Game and finishing with a No. 9 national ranking after a 39-37 victory over Stanford in the Alamo Bowl.
Dykes was 30-18 at SMU with a 25-10 record over his last three seasons. Included in that total were SMU’s first consecutive victories over TCU since 1992-93. His .625 winning percentage ranked fourth in program history for head coaches of more than two seasons. The 25 victories over three years tied for the second-most by an FBS team in Texas and just one off the lead. The 2019 Mustangs went 10-3, their most wins since 1984, and earned their highest national ranking (14) since 1985.
Dykes was named a finalist for both the 2019 Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award and the Paul “Bear” Bryant Award. He was also a semifinalist for the George Munger Coach of the Year Award.
In addition to setting numerous school records and ranking among the national leaders in most major offensive categories, Dykes also left his mark on the other side of the ball. In 2019, SMU led the FBS in sacks per game and ranked third in tackles for loss. SMU’s 51 sacks and 111 TFLs were program records.
Dykes also served as head football coach at Cal (2013-16) and Louisiana Tech (2010-12).
In 2011, Dykes was the Western Athletic Conference Coach of the Year as the Bulldogs won the WAC Championship and earned a Poinsettia Bowl appearance against TCU.
While at Cal, Dykes took a team from one win in 2013 to an 8-5 record two years later and a win over Air Force at the Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl in Amon G. Carter Stadium.
Cal’s eight wins in 2015 marked the school’s most since 2009. The Golden Bears also cracked the national rankings for the first time since 2010, climbing as high as No. 19. Additionally, Dykes led Cal to a pair of wins over Texas.
Dykes developed quarterback Jared Goff into the No. 1 overall pick in the 2016 National Football League Draft.
Under Dykes, Cal’s offense set a modern-era record for points scored and shattered all the program’s offensive marks. Cal became the first college football team in history to have six players with 40 or more receptions and three 500-yard rushers in the same season.
In Dykes’ first season in Berkeley, the Golden Bears became the first team in the program’s modern era to score 55 or more points in a game three times, including at least 40 on five occasions and 30 or more 10 times.
Dykes came to Cal after spending three seasons as head coach at Louisiana Tech. In his final campaign in 2012, he directed an offense that led the nation in both scoring (51.5 points per game) and total offense (577.9 yards per game). The 51.5 points per game marked the fifth-best scoring average in history by an FBS team.
After inheriting a LA Tech team that was 4-8 the year before his arrival, it took Dykes just two seasons to lead the Bulldogs to the 2011 WAC title. It was the program’s first league championship in a decade. He compiled a 22-15 overall record with the Bulldogs and won 16 of 17 regular-season games during one stretch.
Dykes’ 2012 Louisiana Tech team had road victories over Illinois, Houston and Virginia while reaching as high as No. 18 in the national rankings.
Prior to becoming a head coach, Dykes worked as an assistant in the Pac-12, Big 12 and SEC under Mike Stoops (Arizona), Mike Leach (Texas Tech) and Hal Mumme (Kentucky).
As offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Arizona for three seasons (2007-09), Dykes helped the Wildcats to the 2008 Las Vegas Bowl and 2009 Holiday Bowl. Arizona had previously gone 10 seasons without a bowl appearance.
Under Dykes’ direction, Arizona’s offense set multiple school records and ranked among the national leaders in passing yards and scoring.
Prior to his tenure at Arizona, Dykes spent seven seasons at his alma mater Texas Tech, serving as receivers coach from 2000-04 and adding the title of co-offensive coordinator from 2005-06. The Red Raiders made seven straight postseason appearances and won 56 games during the span, including four bowl victories over his last five seasons. In 2006, Dykes received the Mike Campbell Top Assistant Coach Award from the American Football Coaches Association, the same year he was recognized as one of the top 25 recruiters in the country by Rivals.
Dykes began his collegiate coaching career with a two-year stint (1995-96) at Navarro College in Corsicana, Texas. He also was a baseball assistant at Monahans High School in Texas in 1994 and a football assistant at Richardson’s J.J. Pearce High School in 1995.
Born in Big Spring, Texas, Dykes received his bachelor’s degree in history from Texas Tech in 1993 and was a member of the Red Raiders baseball team for two seasons. He and his wife, Kate, have two daughters, Ally and Charlie, and a son, Daniel.
