Sonny Dykes
Followed Gary Patterson. Sonny Dykes moved TCU from Power Program III to Power Program II in 5 seasons.
In his own words
Nobody on the team can say they played their best, but we will learn from it and get better
I’ve seen Jaden practice and I know what it’s looked like. It didn’t really look like that today. I’m sure North Carolina had something to do with that…we just didn’t give ourselves a chance
Career arc
His real stature score, season by season, across every program he’s coached — so a stretch that stays in one tier the whole way can still climb or sink on the line, not just flatten out. Node color marks the tier reached. Which program a stretch belongs to is carried by the shaded lane behind it.
Reached Power Program in his 12th career season — faster than 4% of the 395 FBS coaches who have ever reached Power Program (rank #374 of 395 by seasons-to-arrival).
Style position and drift
Where each stint’s offense sat between run-first and pass-first, and how far it moved from one season to the next. The band is that stint’s real season-to-season range, not a fixed-width box.
Season-to-season pass-rate range for all 258 FBS coaching stints with at least three covered seasons, 2014–2025.
The big-game ledger
How he does in the games that matter most — rivalry record, performance broken out by real opponent tier, one-score games, and his toughest historical matchup.
7–9 against his rivals. Winless in 4 tries against David Shaw.
His own effect, isolated
A statistical estimate of this coach’s contribution to team performance, separated from that season’s roster talent, returning production, and his coordinators — pooled across his whole head-coaching career.
Model fit as of 2026-09-04.
Coaching career
4th-best TCU tenure of 13 by the numbers.
Outperforms his recruiting talent on offense and performs about as expected for his recruiting talent on defense.
Followed Gary Patterson (2000–2021).
| Season | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Record & result | ||||||
| Record | 13–2 | 5–7 | 9–4 | 9–4 | 0–0 | |
| Postseason | Title game L | — | W bowl | W bowl | — | |
| Recruiting rank | #45 | #21 | #34 | #24 | #47 | |
| Style — pass rate | ||||||
| Pass rate | 44.5 | 55.3 | 55.5 | 51.5 | 45.7 | |
| Coordinators | ||||||
| OC | A. J. Ricker / Garrett Riley | A. J. Ricker / Kendal Briles | A. J. Ricker / Kendal Briles | A. J. Ricker / Kendal Briles | A. J. Ricker / Gordon Sammis | |
| DC | Joe Gillespie | Joe Gillespie | Andy Avalos | Andy Avalos | Andy Avalos | |
| Outcome — opponent-adjusted efficiency percentile | ||||||
| Offense | 86 | 65 | 84 | 69 | 12 | |
| Defense | 35 | 40 | 54 | 58 | 50 | |
| Tendencies — play-by-play, neutral script (2021+ only) | ||||||
| 1st-down pass% | 39.9 | 57.1 | 57.0 | 50.1 | 49.1 | |
| Red-zone pass% | 30.9 | 51.4 | 51.1 | 41.5 | 34.8 | |
| 4th-down go%opp. territory | 37.3 | 48.8 | 43.5 | 47.5 | — | |
A typical amount of portal roster-building.
Typical size for position, once adjusted for position mix.
Recruits older, more experienced transfers than most.
16 NFL Draft picks: Quentin Johnston (2023), Steve Avila (2023), Kendre Miller (2023), Dylan Horton (2023), Derius Davis (2023), Tre'Vius Hodges-Tomlinson (2023), Dee Winters (2023), Max Duggan (2023) + 8 more
Coach of the Year: Big 12 Chuck Neinas Coach of the Year (2022)
2 player-seasons honored (All-America / national award): Tre Tomlinson (2022), Steve Avila (2022)
12th-best SMU tenure of 18 by the numbers.
Performs about as expected for his recruiting talent on offense and underperforms his recruiting talent on defense.
Followed Chad Morris (2015–2017) · succeeded by Rhett Lashlee (2022–2026).
| Season | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Record & result | |||||
| Record | 5–7 | 10–3 | 7–3 | 0–0 | |
| Postseason | — | L bowl | — | — | |
| Recruiting rank | #87 | #68 | #81 | #53 | |
| Style — pass rate | |||||
| Pass rate | 53.8 | 48.5 | 50.0 | 52.6 | |
| Coordinators | |||||
| OC | Rhett Lashlee | Rhett Lashlee | A. J. Ricker / Garrett Riley | A. J. Ricker / Garrett Riley | |
| DC | Kevin Kane | Kevin Kane | Kevin Kane | Jim Leavitt | |
| Outcome — opponent-adjusted efficiency percentile | |||||
| Offense | 22 | 73 | 81 | 77 | |
| Defense | 45 | 43 | 25 | 20 | |
| Tendencies — play-by-play, neutral script (2021+ only) | |||||
| 1st-down pass% | 47.6 | 43.9 | 44.0 | 48.3 | |
| Red-zone pass% | 48.6 | 45.4 | 49.1 | 39.3 | |
| 4th-down go%opp. territory | 45.2 | 47.1 | 33.3 | 37.1 | |
A typical amount of portal roster-building.
Typical size for position, once adjusted for position mix.
Recruits older, more experienced transfers than most.
8 NFL Draft picks: Courtland Sutton (2018), Justin Lawler (2018), Trey Quinn (2018), James Proche (2020), Brandon Stephens (2021), Kylen Granson (2021), Danny Gray (2022), Grant Calcaterra (2022)
10th-best California tenure of 19 by the numbers.
Outperforms his recruiting talent on offense and underperforms his recruiting talent on defense.
Followed Jeff Tedford (2002–2012) · succeeded by Justin Wilcox (2017–2025).
| Season | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Record & result | |||||
| Record | 1–11 | 5–7 | 8–5 | 5–7 | |
| Postseason | — | — | W bowl | — | |
| Recruiting rank | — | #55 | #34 | #31 | |
| Style — pass rate | |||||
| Pass rate | — | 54.9 | 55.6 | 60.0 | |
| Coordinators | |||||
| OC | — | Tony Franklin | Tony Franklin | Jake Spavital | |
| DC | — | Art Kaufman | Art Kaufman | Art Kaufman | |
| Outcome — opponent-adjusted efficiency percentile | |||||
| Offense | — | 72 | 94 | 63 | |
| Defense | — | 12 | 17 | 4 | |
| Tendencies — play-by-play, neutral script (2021+ only) | |||||
| 1st-down pass% | — | 47.9 | 53.8 | 57.1 | |
| Red-zone pass% | — | 47.7 | 55.6 | 52.0 | |
| 4th-down go%opp. territory | — | 36.6 | 45.0 | 35.4 | |
13 NFL Draft picks: Keenan Allen (2013), Brian Schwenke (2013), Steve Williams (2013), Marc Anthony (2013), Richard Rodgers (2014), Khairi Fortt (2014), Jared Goff (2016), Trevor Davis (2016) + 5 more
8th-best Louisiana Tech tenure of 11 by the numbers.
Followed Derek Dooley (2007–2009) · succeeded by Skip Holtz (2013–2021).
4 NFL Draft picks: D'Anthony Smith (2010), Dennis Morris (2010), Quinton Patton (2013), Jordan Mills (2013)