First Year at Arizona
13 Years in Coaching
Passing-attack specialist Sonny Dykes of Texas Tech became Arizona’s offensive coordinator in early December 2006 and brings a new direction for the Wildcat offense with a strong background in the spread passing attack.
Dykes was co-offensive coordinator working with head coach Mike Leach and inside receivers coach Dana Holgorsen running Texas Tech’s wide-open passing attack in 2005-06 and was Tech’s wide receivers coach for seven seasons. The Red Raiders led the nation in total offense 2003-05 and in passing from 2002-05.
“Sonny brings some fresh ideas and new enthusiasm to our program and to our offense,” Stoops said. “He has a great background with his family and working with Mike (Leach). His work brings a lot of credibility to our attack,” Stoops said. “Coaching against the system he’s operated was extremely difficult. It’s a lethal offense.”
Dykes, 37, will coach UA quarterbacks and call the plays for the Wildcat offense.
Dykes was named the All-American Football Foundation’s Mike Campbell Top Assistant Award last spring and was cited as one of the nation’s top college football recruiters by Rivals.com this year. He has been instrumental in Tech’s record-setting passing attack which in his career has seen receivers set numerous individual school and Big 12 Conference records.
The Red Raiders’ offense rated No. 7 nationally after the 2006 regular season and third in the nation with 363.2 passing yards per game. Notably for Arizona, the club rated 16th nationally in scoring at 32 points per game in a league where five opponents allowed less than 19 points per game. TTU earned a berth against Minnesota in the Insight Bowl in Tempe.
Tech’s receiving corps led the Big 12 by a wide margin at the close of the season. Senior Robert Johnson was No. 4 nationally at 7.27 catches per game and has 80 total, along with fellow senior Joel Filani, who was 10th in Division I-A with 6.7 receptions per game. Sophomore Shannon Woods had 72 receptions. Filani, a first-team All-Big 12 selection, leads the league with 1,138 yards and 95 yards per game. Quarterback Graham Harrell threw for 4,110 yards to spearhead an offense that averaged 6.6 yards per play, largely on the strength of 402 team completions in 601 attempts.
“We’re going to throw it around some,” Dykes said of his new appointment at Arizona. “It’s an exciting opportunity for me. I expect us to have a multiple focus and do a little bit of everything on offense. We’ll evaluate what our personnel can do and then do it,” he said.
“The great thing about this job is that Arizona has a good defense. That can help you devise an offense that gives you a chance to win games,” Dykes said.
Among his previous pupils at Tech was Carlos Francis, a fourth-round draft pick of the Oakland Raiders in the 2004 NFL Draft. Francis finished his career with 20 receiving touchdowns, which ranks third on the career list at Tech and was third in career receiving yardage at the completion of his career. In April 2007, Joel Filani, the two-time first-team All-Big 12 receiver was a sixth-round draft pick by Tennessee, and Jarrett Hicks signed a free-agent deal with San Diego.
In addition to Francis, Dykes also coached former New York Giants receiver Derek Dorris during his career at Tech. Other players Dykes coached during his career who went to the NFL include Quentin McCord, Brad Pyatt and Derek Smith. Former Jacksonville Jaguars receiver Leroy Fields also tutored under Dykes.
Dykes returned to Tech from the University of Kentucky, where he coached the tight ends and special teams as a graduate assistant on then-head coach Hal Mumme's staff. The 1999 season in Lexington was his second and saw one of his players, James Whalen, named to the Associated Press All-America team and set the all-time NCAA Division I record for receptions by a tight end.
Dykes also was a graduate assistant under Mumme during the 1997 season, before heading to Northeast Louisiana University for the 1998 campaign.
Under Dykes' guidance, NLU wide receiver Marty Booker broke all of the school single-season and career receiving records. Booker was named first-team All-Independent and played in the Blue-Gray and East-West Shrine all-star games. Booker was a third-round selection in the 1999 NFL Draft of the Chicago Bears and is an eight-year NFL veteran of the Miami Dolphins and Chicago Bears.
Dykes worked at Navarro Junior College in 1995-96. In 1996, Dykes was the quarterbacks and receivers coach and the passing game coordinator as Navarro posted a 7-4 record and reached the Texas junior college championship game. In 1995, he coached the running backs as Navarro went 8-2.
Dykes also coached running backs on the high school level at Pearce High School in Richardson, Texas, in 1994. He got his start in coaching as a baseball coach at Monahans (Texas) High School in the spring of 1994.
A native of Big Spring, Texas, Dykes was a football and baseball star at Coronado High School in Lubbock. He went on to Texas Tech, where he was a three-year letterman as a first baseman. He graduated from Tech in 1993 with a degree in history. He earned a master’s degree from Kentucky in 1999.
Dykes and his wife, Kate, were married last July. He is the son of Tech's career coaching victories leader, Spike Dykes. His older brother, Rick, was UA’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach under John Mackovic in 2001-02.
The Dykes File
Date of Birth: Nov. 9, 1969, Big Springs, Texas
High School: Coronado High School, Lubbock, Texas,
College: Texas Tech, 1993
Kentucky, 1999
Playing Experience: Texas Tech, baseball 1989-93
Recruiting Areas: Texas
Family: Married to Kate Golding in July 2006
Dykes’ Coaching Career
1994 Monahans, Texas, High School (baseball assistant)
1994 Pearce High School, Richardson, Texas, assistant
1995 Navarro College, Corsicana, Texas, Running Backs
1996 Navarro College, Passing Game coordinator, QBs
1997 Kentucky, graduate assistant, Tight Ends
1998 Northeast Louisiana, Receivers
1999 Kentucky, Receivers, Special Teams
2000 Texas Tech, Receivers
2001 Texas Tech, Receivers
2002 Texas Tech, Receivers
2003 Texas Tech, Receivers
2004 Texas Tech, Receivers
2005 Texas Tech, Receivers, Co-Offensive Coordinator
2006 Texas Tech, Receivers, Co-Offensive Coordinator
2007 Arizona, offensive coordinator, QBs
Dykes’ Bowl Games
1999 Kentucky, Music City Bowl
2000 Texas Tech, Galleryfurniture Bowl
2001 Texas Tech, Alamo Bowl
2002 Texas Tech, Tangerine Bowl
2003 Texas Tech, Houston Bowl
2004 Texas Tech, Holiday Bowl
2006 Texas Tech, Insight Bowl
