Sonny's Staff

[HubbaHubba]

Pete Carroll was a failed coach after his first stint in the NFL.

I'm all for Pete Carroll as DC if you think we could get him.

[Charleston Pony]

Well...maybe not next year.

SMU fans better prepare for a losing season next year. Just take a look at the schedule and tell me where even 7 wins are going to come from.

[ponyfan37]

failed into an analyst job at TCU. Pete Carroll didn't take a lowly job like that.

We get it, unless it was Orlando you were going to be pissed. Now you want a guy to be the head coach of our school that has never even been a coordinator at a G5 school, much less had the track record and experience of Dykes. You're emotional. Reminding me of the two times my wife was pregnant and drove me nuts every day with the wild swings of emotion.

You do realize that coaches take this "low level" analyst positions and go on to succeed right? The first name off the top of my head I can think of is Steve Sarkisian. I'm guessing there are more out there just don't want to research any. I would actually think that if you can't find the right job right after losing your last job, this is the perfect spot that lets you remain in the game but can take a step back and decompress from your last stint. Plenty of time to prepare for the next job, no hard feelings when you leave the school you're at to take the new job, etc.

I also love how some, including myself, want Kiffin but dismisses Dykes off hand. Kiffin had two 10 wins season as a head coach one at USC in his second year and this season at FAU. The rest were sitting right there at 7-6 territory in the weak [deleted] PAC12 with one of the nation's top programs and all it's resources.

Hey to be fair, I would have taken Traylor as a bye for next year to see what's available then and see how he performs. I'm passionate about us going in the right direction rather settling for mediocrity. It's the same emotion as I felt about keeping JJ around after the debacle. Call it for what you want, but it's the same feeling. It's just crazy we took a crucial OC from national winning team (Clemson) and we can only get an analyst/failed coach from Cal. I mean tell me how that makes sense. What changed? It either funding or being lazy. I understand not going after Kiffin because of the jumping factor but isn't this the same way with Dykes if he were to have a good year with Chad's recruits.

How many times will you have to be told that being an analyst for one season is not a negative. It's pretty common for former head coaches. Clearly you don't want Sonny and are trying to bash the guy, but you should be more knowledgable if you're going to take shots at him.

[MV pony]

No preparation necessary. We have experience.

[PonyTime]

Well...maybe not next year.

SMU fans better prepare for a losing season next year. Just take a look at the schedule and tell me where even 7 wins are going to come from.

I had heard that Chad was fighting desperately with the Administration to back out of the Michigan game. I think he realized that if he was around for another year and wanted to jump ship next year, he had to get that game off the schedule or the upward trend was going to take a turn for the worse. I think he wanted out of the Michigan game as much as he wanted the IPF.

The admin was not willing to get out of the Michigan game.

Thus you are right to think that there was a "sense of urgency" for Chad to get out now.

[mustangxc]

Well...maybe not next year.

SMU fans better prepare for a losing season next year. Just take a look at the schedule and tell me where even 7 wins are going to come from.

2018 Schedule
at UNT
TCU
at Michigan
HBU
at UCONN
Houston
Cincinnati
at Tulsa
at UCF
Navy
Memphis
at Tulane

Although it is still way too early to make any predictions, looking at our schedule I would expect:
Wins: UNT, HBU, UCONN, Cincinnati
Tossups: Houston, Tulsa, Navy, Tulane
Losses: TCU, Michigan, UCF, Memphis

[SMU_Alum11]

Well you were wrong about Morris not leaving after this season. Maybe you are wrong about Dykes.

That's true I admit I was wrong. He was able to get on the last or 2nd last train out. I still confident he won't but I would love to be dead wrong about Dykes. Absolutely. I would love nothing more than everyone showing my posts about Dykes because he got us top 50 recruiting class and got us to 8 or 9 wins next year.

Do you think Morris was going to get us 8-9 wins next year, realistically? With Michigan on the schedule?

Sure, he had a decent recruiting class. Cincy with their terrible team did pretty well against Michigan @ Michigan. Let's assume that we lost to them TCU. We would 2-2 (beating UNT or Hou Bapt). Cincy, Houston, Memphis (L), Navy. Based on how we performed this year, I think we could have taken them. With UCF on the road, UCONN, Tulane and Tulsa, despite a coaching change, I think we probably lose to UCF.

That would put us what 8-4 with maybe an upside of 9-3. The year after I would hope for the 9+ wins.

[SMU_Alum11]

How many times will you have to be told that being an analyst for one season is not a negative. It's pretty common for former head coaches. Clearly you don't want Sonny and are trying to bash the guy, but you should be more knowledgable if you're going to take shots at him.

Yeah because at first I was like okay a neutral pick but more you read about his recruiting classes, his record, and what happen afterwards, it seems our money doesn't buy anything anymore. Now can I fault Rick if he went to everyone and they flat out said no and it was between this guy and Jeff Traylor then I get that's a sucky position to be in. If it were me, I take my chances with Traylor, and try to save up for the next coach and go fundraising the whole year to get the budget opened up. From what I can see, it looks like we are getting June .5. I hope I'm dead wrong but I don't see how. I'm glad people here are feeling an upside with him, but I love to see why rather than just criticizing the critic.

[smustatesman]

Why would Chad take a Van to Fayetteville ? I thought they all drove pick-em-ups at Arky U.

[Bo Darville]

Are we still speculating on Sonny's potential staff?

Dykes had Tony Franklin as his OC at La Tech and then at Cal for a few years. Franklin is now at Middle Tennessee.

He had Tuberville's DC from TT and Cincy, Art Kaufman, on staff at Cal. Former USC and Arizona St d-back coach Greg Burns was with him at Cal. I don't see where Kaufman or Burns have current gigs.

His special teams coach at Cal was former A&M assistant Mark Tommerdahl, who's now at Utah St.

Garrett Chachare was a DE, LB, and RB coach at Cal and is now the OC at New Mexico Highlands.

Fred Tate was the d-line coach at Texas Tech before going to Cal and is now the co-DC at TN-Martin.

Maybe some of these guys?

[feelan]

Sure, he had a decent recruiting class. Cincy with their terrible team did pretty well against Michigan @ Michigan. Let's assume that we lost to them TCU. We would 2-2 (beating UNT or Hou Bapt). Cincy, Houston, Memphis (L), Navy. Based on how we performed this year, I think we could have taken them. With UCF on the road, UCONN, Tulane and Tulsa, despite a coaching change, I think we probably lose to UCF.

That would put us what 8-4 with maybe an upside of 9-3. The year after I would hope for the 9+ wins.

That's pretty optimistic, I would say no better or worse than this year with the schedule next year, even if Morris was here.

[SMU_Alum11]

Well we will never know. I think we had the offense to match even the big teams especially with Ben Hicks as a veteran junior leading the way. The defense was God-awful no getting around it but we had some good recruits i believe in this and last class that could get playing time or at least add to depth to where we would have a fighten chance. Anywho, at least we have basketbalL!

[ericdickerson4life]

Outside chance, but does he bring anyone from TCWho with him? And while he's at that, how about some of their backups.

[sail420s]

Are we still speculating on Sonny's potential staff?

Dykes had Tony Franklin as his OC at La Tech and then at Cal for a few years. Franklin is now at Middle Tennessee.

He had Tuberville's DC from TT and Cincy, Art Kaufman, on staff at Cal. Former USC and Arizona St d-back coach Greg Burns was with him at Cal. I don't see where Kaufman or Burns have current gigs.

His special teams coach at Cal was former A&M assistant Mark Tommerdahl, who's now at Utah St.

Garrett Chachare was a DE, LB, and RB coach at Cal and is now the OC at New Mexico Highlands.

Fred Tate was the d-line coach at Texas Tech before going to Cal and is now the co-DC at TN-Martin.

Maybe some of these guys?

Please say no to any of his previous defensive coaches. Under Kaufman, they set an all-time FBS/D1 record for most passing yards allowed in a game and most total yards allowed in a season. They gave up almost 43 ppg.

My biggest problem with this hire is we have a good offense that needs to continue on as is. Our defense is terrible and needs a complete overhaul. Did we hire with those needs in mind? Nope. We hired someone who is going to change the offense and has a solid history of having the worst defense in football. We have enough talent on offense to not take too long to get proficient at the new system and can be one of the tops in the country. Dykes has not done anything defensively for me to be anything but skeptical. We will need to score 40 every game to have a shot at a win.

[Charleston Pony]

Well...maybe not next year.

SMU fans better prepare for a losing season next year. Just take a look at the schedule and tell me where even 7 wins are going to come from.

2018 Schedule
at UNT
TCU
at Michigan
HBU
at UCONN
Houston
Cincinnati
at Tulsa
at UCF
Navy
Memphis
at Tulane

Although it is still way too early to make any predictions, looking at our schedule I would expect:
Wins: UNT, HBU, UCONN, Cincinnati
Tossups: Houston, Tulsa, Navy, Tulane
Losses: TCU, Michigan, UCF, Memphis

That's a reasonable assessment but I would not count road games at UNT or UConn as sure wins. This team has not demonstrated an ability to win road games...got lucky at Cincy this year. We play next year without Brown, Sutton, Lawler and probably Quinn...all impact guys. Those games we need to win next year against UNT, UConn & Cincy will be against much improved teams that will be in the 2nd year of those coaches systems and their rosters might be aided by some JUCO help (will ours?). If next year's coaching staff wins 6-7 games, I for one am going to be really pleased and have faith that Dykes & Co can continue to improve this program..