Did Texas Blow Its Chance at TCU Coach Sonny Dykes in 2020? Interesting article. It's amazing that Sonny takes the Cockroaches to the playoffs his first year, while Sark, apart from recruiting, exemplifies mediocrity.
This assumes as a premise- there is only ONE reason for the difference between the two teams performances. Me thinks there is likely one than one reason. But, I am sure listing those would not generate many clicks.
Way too early to say Sonny is a great or even good coach. Les Miles won the national title with Nick Saban's kids at LSU and everyone kew it. Les turned out to be an average coach, maybe even a subpar coach who was just smart enough not to screw up the national title run that year. I'm not saying he isn't, just that its too early to claim that he is or was a better choice than Sark.
Yea, and Dallas won a superbowl Switzer's first year because he was a great coach, right? Couldn't have been because Jimmy Johnson already had all the pieces in place. Granted, Dykes has done a great job of coaching what he took over. If he had been hired at UT last year would he have taken the Horns to the playoffs with the talent he inherited? Doubtful.
I have read or heard that Sonny's TCU team is SENIOR LADEN including their QB and this makes A HUGE DIFFERENCE, while our QB just came out of the womb. So we will see how he does in the coming seasons.
Observations from the games yesterday. 1. Duggan can make every throw and on target. QE is not that guy yet. 2. TCU Defense is light years faster than Texas. We have zero lb with speed that TCU has and I have yet to see the closing speed out of our secondary that was on display yesterday. 3. The OL we saw from Washington and all 4 teams yesterday are all much better than we had this year. Still dont understand how we cannot pickup someone to block and provide a clean pocket. We have the guys. Yes Banks is NFL for sure. The rest are still a work in progress. 4. Sark needs an OC because he is not the answer there. He is a great recruiter.
Sonny Dykes was a career ~50% winning coach before this year whose biggest job to that point was SMU. He has done really well with somebody elses team, but CDC would have been vilified if he had hired him.
Don’t know much about the inner dealings, but from the outside looking in it appears that Dykes can coach and has done amazing work at SMU and TCU. Kudos to him and his staff for getting the Frogs ready for a shot at a CFP championship. Not a lot of active HCs out there ethat can claim that - so credit him for navigating this season the way they have. Hope they pull off another stunner and bring back the crown. Assuming they will be underdogs- again - which seems to suit them well this year.
Last year it was Aranda. Genius, gonna be the next Saban. Then graduation hit. I don't know what the future holds for Dykes, but I bet he regresses back towards the norm.
“According to the Austin American-Statesman‘s Kirk Bohls, Dykes was Del Conte’s first choice when UT looked to replace Tom Herman after the 2020 season. “The deal was all but done,” Bohls reported, adding that “Del Conte and Dykes had in-depth discussions about everything from salary to the nitty-gritty of staff and an introductory press conference.” It matters not that Texas has denied this. “Again, to be fair, UT’s Del Conte disputes the narrative that he preferred Dykes for the job and that Sarkisian was chosen over Dykes. “ “From my perspective, Steve Sarkisian was our guy from the beginning,” Eltife said. “And I’m thankful it all worked out because he’s the right man for the job.” So why print the fricking article. Because “Bohls has a half century of credibility in reporting on all things UT football"? More like a half century of hate. Those of you subscribing to his rag are funding this BS. It is time for cancellations. And Texas should ban the jerk from the media room. As to Texas Monthly, that rag died years ago and just hasn't laid down for burial.
All I read here lately is how good a coach dykes is. Was he a good coach at his previous stops? What makes a good coach? He fell into the right job at the right time, and has made the most of it. What were the odds of TCU making it to, and possibly winning, the National Championship… Magical season for the frogs for sure.
Sonny has opened the portal door in Tarrant County. After this year's run, there will portal kids giving TCU a visit who would never have considered the Frogs before.
I could research and post, yet I won’t, the long history of hot shot coaches who do not pan out. IMO, a great recruiter, a great rally and the fan base HC.. who hires great recruiters and leaders of men as position coaches, is the magic pill. The issue is the introduction of fans who think a FR QB will be All American year one and have zero attention spans that are the problemo. Consistency with a good coaching staff trumps the shiny new coach. We need patience, and less media. We have the foundation here for something really good. I’m conservative, but a 420 legal Texas might be the prescription for the UT fan base.
College is turning into high school football where the teams cycle between senior/junior laden and junior/sophomore laden due to the high turnover of players.
And all this started by a has-been writer for a third-rate fish wrap? It has been a long decade fueled by incompetence in the President's office, two horrendous hires, one "I can't do that to my friend", and we expect instant gratification? Sorry but if Powers hadn't botched the Saban deal, it is doubtful Nick would have done the turnaround that Sonny pulled in Tarrant County. Will Sonny have an encore? Doubtful, but he has done it once, which is a lot more times than multiple other coaches around the country have. Give Sonny & his staff credit for a fantastic job. Give Sark some time (my patience is gone) to produce - remembering that Mack Brown's first couple of seasons included getting 60+ dropped on us by OU. While waiting, ignore self-seeking full-of-themselves "I know something you don't know" fish wrap employees (and posters). Maybe Kirk & I can start a club and be the first two members.
Agree on both points, although I still have some patience. 3-4 years minimum to give him a fair chance. We could get steadily better and re-enter the top echelon for the first time in quite a while.
For me to have any faith Sark can get it done we need to win 10+ games next year. Championships are really hard to win so you can't really put a defining timeline there, but he must be competing for championships (conference championship games and playoffs) next year or the next. If we win 8 or 9 games again or worse next year I'm done with him. It's not about talent, we have plenty. Its coaching.
5-7 to 8-5 is solid progress. Year 3 is the money year. 9 or 10 wins needed to stay on track. I always thought Sark should get some slack for first year given the train wreck he inherited. So he has laid down a marker of 8 wins this year. He should be judged on year 3 relative to year 2.
Switzer took over a team that went 36-12 with three playoff berths and two championships. Sark took over a team that went 25-12 with a conference championship appearance and 3 bowl wins. Dykes took over a team that went 16-18 with no postseason at all. This is a fair point. Without the benefit of hindsight, it's not like Dykes was a surefire thing where we just blew it. It's ultimately a lot of guesswork. I don't get why he gets bonus credit for improving on his own decline. 7-6 to 8-5 would be better, but less progress. 3-9 to 8-5 would be worse, but more progress.
