Sonny Dykes is an American football

American football

American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 coach and former college baseball player. He is currently the head football coach at the Louisiana Tech University

Louisiana Tech University

Louisiana Tech University, often referred to as Louisiana Tech, LA Tech, or Tech, is a coeducational public research university located in Ruston, Louisiana. Louisiana Tech is designated as a Tier 1 school in the national universities category by the 2012 U.S. News & World Report college rankings...

, a position he has held since 2010. Dykes has served as offensive coordinator under Mike Stoops

Mike Stoops

Michael J. Stoops is a former American football coach and former player. He was the head football coach at the University of Arizona, a position he held from 2003 until his firing in 2011. Stoops previously served as an assistant coach at the University of Iowa, Kansas State University, and the...

, Mike Leach and Hal Mumme

Hal Mumme

Hal Clay Mumme is an American college football coach. He is currently the head coach at McMurry University.- Playing career :...

. Not only is Dykes the son of Texas Tech coaching legend Spike Dykes

Spike Dykes

-External links:***...

, Dykes is married to the former Kate Golding. During an interview with Coach Dykes on ESPN 97.7 it was mentioned that Kate's grandfather, Joe Golding

Joe Golding

Joseph Griffith Golding was a professional American Football halfback/defensive back in the National Football League. He played for the Boston Yanks and the New York Bulldogs/Yanks ....

, was one of the most successful high school football coaches in America. The couple has one daughter, Alta Caroline (Ally), and are expecting another child in April 2011.

Coaching career

Sonny Dykes' first major college coaching job was with the Kentucky Wildcats

Kentucky Wildcats football

The Kentucky Wildcats football team is a college football program that competes in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision and the East Division of the Southeastern Conference.-History:Paul "Bear" Bryant Era...

 as a graduate assistant. He spent two non-consecutive seasons at Kentucky with a year at Northeast Louisiana University (now known as Louisiana-Monroe) in between.

Following that, he spent seven years as an assistant coach at Texas Tech under former Red Raider head coach Mike Leach where he was the receivers coach for five years and a co-offensive coordinator for two years. He left Texas Tech to become the offensive coordinator at Arizona.

Dykes, named to the All-American Football Foundation's Mike Campbell Top Assistant Award, is cited as one of the countries brightest offensive minds and top ten college recruiters by Rivals.com.

During the 2009 season, Dykes was named as one of the nominees for the 2009 Broyles Award, an honor that goes to the nation's top assistant coach.

On January 20, 2010, Dykes was hired to succeed Derek Dooley

Derek Dooley (coach)

Derek Dooley is the head football coach at the University of Tennessee. He is the son of former University of Georgia head football coach and athletic director Vince Dooley.-Early years:...

 as Louisiana Tech head coach.

Head coaching record

Highlights

• Coached former Tech pupil Carlos Francis
  Carlos Francis
  Carlos Francis is an American football player who played wide receiver for the Oakland Raiders. At Texas Tech, he started in 38 of 49 contests he played in and hauled in 216 passes for 3,031 yards and 21 touchdowns. He was drafted in the 2004 NFL Draft by the Raiders...
  
   to 20 career scoring receptions and a fourth-round NFL draft pick by Oakland Raiders
  Oakland Raiders
  The Oakland Raiders are a professional American football team based in Oakland, California. They currently play in the Western Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
  
   in 2004.
• Coached TTU receiver Derek Dorris to an NFL season with the New York Giants
  New York Giants
  The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in East Rutherford, New Jersey, representing the New York City metropolitan area. The Giants are currently members of the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
  
   in 2002.
• Texas Tech was No. 3 in passing and No. 6 in total offense in 2006 under his co-direction, throwing for 370 yards and accumulating nearly 450 overall.
• Directed a Red Raider offense that scored 32 points per game in 2006, had two receivers in Division I-A's top three and a third in the top 20 in receptions per game.
• Boosted Arizona's offensive output by 130 yards per game, helping the club finish second in the Pac-10 in passing offense with a school-record 308 yards per game in 2007. Arizona's pass efficiency rating climbed a remarkable 32 points from 2006 to 2007.
• In 2007, Arizona set single-season records for passing yards, passing yards per game, completions, touchdown passes and completion percentage, plus racked up a pile of single-game records by then junior quarterback Willie Tuitama.
• In 2008 the Wildcats earned their first bowl berth with Dykes on the Wildcat staff, defeating BYU in the Las Vegas Bowl
  Las Vegas Bowl
  The Maaco Bowl Las Vegas is an NCAA-sanctioned Division I-A post-season college football bowl game that has been played annually at 40,000-seat Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S. since 1992. From 1992 to 1996, matchups featured the champion teams from the Big West and Mid-American...
  
  .

External links

• Official Arizona profile