Previous role: Head coach, SMU Mustangs
Although he was fired by Cal in 2016, Sonny Dykes is back at a Power Five program after a successful five-year run with the SMU Mustangs. He’s willingly leaving a school in SEC country to join a Power Five school that also happens to be in SEC country, so this moves affects Tennessee football in numerous ways even if it’s more in Big 12 country.
Dykes’ hire really affects future SEC foes of the Vols, as if he has success with the TCU Horned Frogs, he could force the Texas A&M Aggies and eventually the Texas Longhorns to compete for recruits. That’s always relevant when it comes to Power Five school in Texas making hires.
Obviously, TCU isn’t the program it was back in 2014, when it finishes with just one loss and captured a share of the Big 12 championship before just barely missing out on the College Football Playoff. That doesn’t mean, as it moves past Gary Patterson and Jerry Kill, the latter of whom served as the interim coach for half of last year, that it can’t return to prominence.
Outside of his tenure at Cal, Dykes’ experience is mostly confined to Louisiana and Texas, so he’s got lots of recruiting connections to compete with all the SEC schools who will be in that area. Three straight winning seasons at SMU also shows what he’s about.