Sonny Dykes

Daniel "Sonny" Dykes (born November 9, 1969) is an American football coach, and a former college baseball player.

Dykes earned a bachelor's degree in history from Texas Tech University in 1993 and a master's degree from the University of Kentucky in 1999.

Dykes began his career in the spring of 1994 as an assistant baseball coach at Monahans High School in Monahans, Texas.

Later in 1994, Dykes switched to coaching football as the running backs coach for J. J. Pearce High School in Richardson, Texas.

From 1995 to 1996, Dykes coached at Navarro College in Corsicana, Texas.

In 1995, he coached the running backs as Navarro posted an 8–2 record.

In 1996, he served as the quarterbacks and receivers coach and the passing game coordinator as Navarro finished 7–4 while reaching the Texas junior college championship game.

In 1997, Dykes served as a graduate assistant and tight ends coach at Kentucky under head coach Hal Mumme.

In 1998, Dykes served as the wide receivers coach at Northeast Louisiana.

Under Dykes' guidance, wide receiver Marty Booker broke all of NLU's single-season and career receiving records and was named first-team All-Independent.

Booker played in the Blue-Gray and East-West Shrine all-star games and was selected by the Chicago Bears in the third-round of the 1999 NFL Draft.

Dykes returned to Kentucky in 1999 to serve on Mumme's staff as wide receivers coach and special teams coordinator.

The season highlights were a victory over #20 Arkansas and a trip to the Music City Bowl.

At Kentucky, Dykes coached James Whalen who earned consensus All-America honors and set the all-time NCAA Division I record for receptions by a tight end.

At Navarro, Dykes coached Leroy Fields, who led the nation in receiving and was selected in the seventh-round of the 2000 NFL Draft by the Denver Broncos.

Whalen was selected in the fifth-round of the 2000 NFL Draft by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

In 2000, Dykes joined Mike Leach's staff at Texas Tech as the wide receivers coach.

During his tenure as the Texas Tech receivers coach, the Red Raiders participated in a bowl game in each of his five years including the 2000 Galleryfurniture.com Bowl, 2001 Alamo Bowl, 2002 Tangerine Bowl, 2003 Houston Bowl, and 2004 Holiday Bowl.

Dykes also coached wide receiver Quentin McCord who was selected in the seventh-round of the 2001 NFL Draft by the Atlanta Falcons.

Two of Dykes' players, Derek Smith and Brad Pyatt, signed as undrafted free agents with the Indianapolis Colts in 2002 and 2003, respectively.

Dykes coached wide receiver Carlos Francis who finished his career at Texas Tech with the second-most career touchdowns and third-most career receiving yards, and Francis was selected in the fourth-round of the 2004 NFL Draft by the Oakland Raiders.

In addition to Francis, Dykes also coached receivers Wes Welker and Derek Dorris who signed free agent contracts with the San Diego Chargers and New York Giants, respectively.

Texas Tech finished the 2004 season ranked 17th in the final Coaches Poll, which was the first time the Red Raiders were ranked in a final poll since joining the Big 12 Conference.

In 2010, Dykes became a head college football coach for the first time at Louisiana Tech.

After a 5–7 record in his first season, Dykes led Louisiana Tech to an 8–5 record in 2011 with a Western Athletic Conference title and followed that with a 9–3 record in 2012.

As of 2022, this remains the only conference championship Dykes has won across four head coach jobs.

Dykes then became head coach at California in 2013.

After coaching Cal football to its worst season (1–11) in program history in 2013, Dykes improved the team's record to 5–7 in 2014, and then to 8–5 and an Armed Forces Bowl victory in 2015.

He finished the 2016 season with 5–7 record, his third losing season in four years at California, and was fired after the season.

In 2017, Dykes was hired as head coach at Southern Methodist University.

He is currently the head football coach at Texas Christian University (TCU), and previously served in the same role at Southern Methodist University (SMU) from 2018 to 2021, the University of California, Berkeley from 2013 to 2016, and Louisiana Tech University from 2010 to 2012.

In his first season at TCU, he led the Horned Frogs to a win in the semifinal and an appearance in the National Championship game.

Dykes, the youngest son of former Texas Tech head coach Spike Dykes, began his career as a high school baseball and football coach in Texas.

He then moved to the junior college level as an assistant football coach, including stints with Kentucky, Texas Tech, and Arizona.

Dykes coached the Mustangs to three winning seasons, including a 10–3 record in 2019 which was the program's best record in more than thirty years.

Following his success at Southern Methodist, Dykes was hired as the head coach at Texas Christian University prior to the 2022 season.

In his first season at TCU, Dykes led the Horned Frogs to a 12–1 record and the team's first ever College Football Playoff appearance.

On December 31, 2022, he led the Horned Frogs to their first-ever CFP win in program history.

Sonny Dykes graduated from Coronado High School in Lubbock, Texas, where he played both football and baseball.

He lettered for three years as a first baseman for the Texas Tech baseball team.