BR: How did SMU finally recover from the death penalty?
Posted: Wed Nov 06, 2019 3:00 pmSonny Dykes was in high school when his favorite football program was sentenced to death. At the time, in 1987, he wasn't sure what it meant. No football program had previously received this punishment—the result of years of wide-ranging payments made to players, even after the program had been placed on probation in 1985—and none has since.
Dykes, now 49, grew up in Big Spring, Texas, about a four-hour drive from Dallas and the SMU campus. He knew just how potent the area was when it came to producing high school talent, and knowing that, he assumed it was only a matter of time before the Pony Express resumed a run of dominance that had seen it go 41-5-1 from 1981 to '84.
The team was banned for the 1987 season—prompting an exodus of players and coaches. In 1988, it remained on ice, practicing but not participating in games. But it was after that, ironically, when the team returned to the field in 1989, that reality hit with a 2-9 season. Then 1-10. Then 1-10 again. Outside a handful of semi-successful seasons, SMU proceeded to spend the next three decades as a football doormat.
Dykes kept tabs on the school as his own football career grew—from coaching Texas high school ball to assisting at Texas Tech to heading up a rebuild at Cal.
Then after a four-year stint at Cal, Dykes was named SMU head coach in December 2017. "This is a place I had my eyes on for a long time," Dykes tells B/R. "There are so many things that are attractive about the program, and I love being able to live in Dallas. My wife and I still talk about it every day. We wake up in the morning and we talk about how happy we are to be here."
His vision for the program, at least when he took over, was to bring it back in three or four years. But even in his first season, 2018, the team went 5-7 and there were signs that the rebuild would come in ahead of schedule.
"I thought when we went and played Michigan last year, we really battled those guys—even though we ended up losing by a couple of scores," Dykes says. "We lost to a really good Cincinnati team in overtime, and we probably should have won the game. There were moments when you thought you were headed in the right direction. There were others when I thought it may take a little longer than I originally thought."
Then came this season and the 8-0 start, including a win over ranked TCU, that has the program already tied for its highest win total since 1984. Dykes' team is averaging 43.6 points per game, seventh in the nation, and had climbed as high as No. 15 in the AP rankings—after not being featured in polling since the death penalty—before finally losing a game this past Saturday.
Over the past three decades, the ritual of defeat had grown common at SMU. But this year, even the one loss didn't come quietly—a 54-48 thriller against No. 24 Memphis.
With three wins in its final four games—home against East Carolina, at No. 25 Navy, home against Tulane and then a bowl game—SMU could even tie for its highest total since 1935.
And this is just the beginning. For Dykes, the thrill of SMU's rise in 2019—one of the best stories of the college football season—is only a preview of what he hopes to build in the years ahead.
The expedited rebuild can be traced back to a few factors, he says: inherited talent that has flourished under his tenure coupled with a jolt of meaningful transfers, the most notable being former Texas quarterback Shane Buechele, whose 23 passing touchdowns this year are tied for ninth nationally.
All these years after that high schooler assumed SMU couldn't stay down long, optimism has finally returned. And others are taking notice.
For Dykes, that has made the past few months all the more satisfying.
"You walk around, and there's SMU everywhere now," Dykes says. "There are bumper stickers on cars, and people wearing it on hats and sweatshirts. There's just a general excitement around the university right now. It's just been fun to be a part of it."
https://bleacherreport.com/articles/286 ... m-the-dead
Dykes, now 49, grew up in Big Spring, Texas, about a four-hour drive from Dallas and the SMU campus. He knew just how potent the area was when it came to producing high school talent, and knowing that, he assumed it was only a matter of time before the Pony Express resumed a run of dominance that had seen it go 41-5-1 from 1981 to '84.
The team was banned for the 1987 season—prompting an exodus of players and coaches. In 1988, it remained on ice, practicing but not participating in games. But it was after that, ironically, when the team returned to the field in 1989, that reality hit with a 2-9 season. Then 1-10. Then 1-10 again. Outside a handful of semi-successful seasons, SMU proceeded to spend the next three decades as a football doormat.
Dykes kept tabs on the school as his own football career grew—from coaching Texas high school ball to assisting at Texas Tech to heading up a rebuild at Cal.
Then after a four-year stint at Cal, Dykes was named SMU head coach in December 2017. "This is a place I had my eyes on for a long time," Dykes tells B/R. "There are so many things that are attractive about the program, and I love being able to live in Dallas. My wife and I still talk about it every day. We wake up in the morning and we talk about how happy we are to be here."
His vision for the program, at least when he took over, was to bring it back in three or four years. But even in his first season, 2018, the team went 5-7 and there were signs that the rebuild would come in ahead of schedule.
"I thought when we went and played Michigan last year, we really battled those guys—even though we ended up losing by a couple of scores," Dykes says. "We lost to a really good Cincinnati team in overtime, and we probably should have won the game. There were moments when you thought you were headed in the right direction. There were others when I thought it may take a little longer than I originally thought."
Then came this season and the 8-0 start, including a win over ranked TCU, that has the program already tied for its highest win total since 1984. Dykes' team is averaging 43.6 points per game, seventh in the nation, and had climbed as high as No. 15 in the AP rankings—after not being featured in polling since the death penalty—before finally losing a game this past Saturday.
Over the past three decades, the ritual of defeat had grown common at SMU. But this year, even the one loss didn't come quietly—a 54-48 thriller against No. 24 Memphis.
With three wins in its final four games—home against East Carolina, at No. 25 Navy, home against Tulane and then a bowl game—SMU could even tie for its highest total since 1935.
And this is just the beginning. For Dykes, the thrill of SMU's rise in 2019—one of the best stories of the college football season—is only a preview of what he hopes to build in the years ahead.
The expedited rebuild can be traced back to a few factors, he says: inherited talent that has flourished under his tenure coupled with a jolt of meaningful transfers, the most notable being former Texas quarterback Shane Buechele, whose 23 passing touchdowns this year are tied for ninth nationally.
All these years after that high schooler assumed SMU couldn't stay down long, optimism has finally returned. And others are taking notice.
For Dykes, that has made the past few months all the more satisfying.
"You walk around, and there's SMU everywhere now," Dykes says. "There are bumper stickers on cars, and people wearing it on hats and sweatshirts. There's just a general excitement around the university right now. It's just been fun to be a part of it."
https://bleacherreport.com/articles/286 ... m-the-dead