Sonny Dykes has agreed to be next coach at SMU
With Chad Morris gone to Arkansas, SMU has made Sonny Dykes its next head coach.
Chad Morris brought SMU from 2-10 to 7-5 over his three seasons as head coach, which made him the guy to replace Bret Bielema at Arkansas. Sonny Dykes was rumored to be the leading candidate to take over as Mustangs head coach, and Bruce Feldman of FOX Sports has confirmed Dykes will take the job.
Dykes spent this season as an offensive analyst under Gary Patterson at TCU. Prior to that, he had a 19-30 record over four seasons as head coach at Cal, and got fired after a 5-7 campaign in 2016.
Dykes also spent three seasons (2010-2012) as head coach at Louisiana Tech, with a 22-15 record and one WAC title in 2011 while also winning WAC Coach of the Year. But, he really made his name on Mike Leach’s staff at Texas Tech, first as wide receivers coach then as co-offensive coordinator, before serving as offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach at Arizona from 2007-2009.
Dykes used his version of Leach’s famed “Air Raid” offense, appropriately dubbed “Bear Raid”, at Cal to shape Jared Goff into an NFL talent and the No. 1 overall pick in 2016. He’s also a Texas native, which apparently was important to the powers that be at SMU.
Had heard #SMU wanted someone with deep Texas roots and obviously can get much deeper than being the son of a legendary TX football coach. Also Sonny Dykes’ strong offensive pedigree was a big plus esp developing talent (at Tech& w/ Gronk & Jared Goff)
— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) December 11, 2017
Dykes obviously carries a significant offensive pedigree with him. While his philosophy is from different roots than what Morris brought with him from Clemson, pushing the pace is a common thread and that may have been important to SMU as well.
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The Mustangs enter bowl season, and the DXL Frisco Bowl against Louisiana Tech on Dec. 20, in the top-20 of the FBS in scoring offense (40.2 points per game; eighth), total offense (13th) and passing offense (16th). So Morris’ offensive formula was working well, and Dykes is in line to keep that momentum going.