William Taylor "Spike" Dykes (March 14, 1938 – April 10, 2017) was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

coach. A high school and college football coach throughout his career, he last served as head coach at

Texas Tech University Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas. Established on , and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the main institution of the five-institution Texas Tech University Sys ...

from 1986 to 1999.

Coaching career

Early years

Born in

Lubbock, Texas Lubbock ( ) is the 10th-most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and the seat of government of Lubbock County. With a population of 260,993 in 2021, the city is also the 85th-most populous in the United States. The city is in the northw ...

and raised in Ballinger, Dykes graduated from Ballinger High School in 1955 and Stephen F. Austin State University in 1959. At Stephen F. Austin, Dykes played

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...

on the Lumberjacks football team. Upon graduation, he served in several high school head and assistant coaching positions, including a stint as

defensive coordinator A defensive coordinator is a coach responsible for a gridiron football (American football) team's defense. Generally, the defensive coordinator, the offensive coordinator and the special teams coordinator represent the second level of a team's c ...

under

Emory Bellard Emory Dilworth Bellard (December 17, 1927 – February 10, 2011) was a college football coach. He was head coach at Texas A&M University from 1972 to 1978 and at Mississippi State University from 1979 until 1985. Bellard died on February 10, 2011 a ...

at San Angelo Central High School in

San Angelo, Texas San Angelo ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Tom Green County, Texas, United States. Its location is in the Concho Valley, a region of West Texas between the Permian Basin to the northwest, Chihuahuan Desert to the southwest, Osage Plai ...

. In 1972, Dykes became an assistant coach at the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

. He filled assistant roles at two other universities before returning to the high school level to coach at Midland Lee from 1980 to 1983.

Texas Tech

Dykes moved to Texas Tech in 1984, serving as defensive coordinator under Jerry Moore and David McWilliams. When McWilliams left for

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

after the 1986 season, Dykes was named his successor. He was the first coach in school history to lead the team to seven straight bowl-eligible seasons and to coach the team in seven bowl games. Dykes was the school's first coach to defeat the Texas Longhorns in six different seasons. He earned three

Southwest Conference The Southwest Conference (SWC) was an NCAA Division I college athletic conference in the United States that existed from 1914 to 1996. Composed primarily of schools from Texas, at various times the conference included schools from Oklahoma an ...

and one

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its ...

Coach of the Year honors. His record at Tech stands at 82–67–1. On November 20, 1999, Dykes retired after 13 seasons as head coach. His 82 wins were the most in school history until his successor, Mike Leach, passed him in 2009.

Late life and death

Dykes moved to

Horseshoe Bay, Texas Horseshoe Bay is a city in Llano and Burnet counties in the U.S. state of Texas. Situated on Lake Lyndon B. Johnson and the south branch of the Colorado River, it is known in the region for its golf courses, hotel and resort, and water sports. ...

after retiring from coaching and also bought a house on Matagorda Bay. On March 11, 2008, Dykes was inducted in the

Texas Sports Hall of Fame The Texas Sports Hall of Fame recognizes athletes, coaches, and administrators who have made "lasting fame and honor to Texas sports". It was established in 1951 by the Texas Sports Writers Association. Once it made its first induction (baseball ...

. Dykes died on April 10, 2017, in

, at age 79.

Family

One of Dykes' two sons, Sonny, is also a college football coach, currently the head football coach at

Texas Christian University Texas Christian University (TCU) is a private research university in Fort Worth, Texas. It was established in 1873 by brothers Addison and Randolph Clark as the Add-Ran Male & Female College. It is affiliated with the Christian Church (Disciples ...

(TCU). The younger Dykes previously served as the head football coach at

Louisiana Tech University Louisiana Tech University (Louisiana Tech, La. Tech, or simply Tech) is a public research university in Ruston, Louisiana. It is part of the University of Louisiana System and classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activ ...

from 2010 to 2012, the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

from 2013 to 2016, and

Southern Methodist University , mottoeng = "The truth will make you free" , established = , type = Private research university , accreditation = SACS , academic_affiliations = , religious_affiliation = United Methodist Church , president = R. Gerald Turner , prov ...

(SMU) from 2017 to 2021. Dykes' other son, Rick, spent many years as an assistant football coach at Texas Tech, including a stint as

offensive coordinator An offensive coordinator is a member of the coaching staff of an American football or Canadian football team who is in charge of the team's offense. Generally, along with the defensive coordinator and the special teams coordinator, this coach re ...

. Rick was later a partner of the now disgraced Reagor Dykes Auto Group. Dykes also had a daughter, Bebe.

Head coaching record

College

*Dykes coached

bowl game In North America, a bowl game is one of a number of post-season college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). For most of its history, the Division I Bowl Subdivis ...

after McWilliams left for

Bibliography

* *

References

External links

Texas Tech profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dykes, Spike 1938 births 2017 deaths American football centers Mississippi State Bulldogs football coaches New Mexico Lobos football coaches Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks football players Texas Longhorns football coaches Texas Tech Red Raiders football coaches High school football coaches in Texas Sportspeople from Lubbock, Texas People from Ballinger, Texas People from Horseshoe Bay, Texas Coaches of American football from Texas Players of American football from Texas