Will Sonny Dykes Make TCU Football Great Again In 2024? | OutKick Hot Mic

The State Of The Big XII we kick off the show today with TC head coach Sunny dkes who uh joins us live here on Al kick coach good to see you hey good to see you guys thanks for having me appreciate it yeah what a difference a year makes right with the uh conference wise here we go uh and as far as uh I mean as I look at things it's a pretty even conference right now where you sit is that how you see things uh from from our vantage point to yours yeah yeah I think I think so I mean I think you know obviously the last couple years years there's been a significant amount of changes in the Big 12 um you know a lot of teams coming in uh Texas and Oklahoma moving out and then you know adding the four corner schools from the Pack 12 um so you know a lot of new faces in the league uh a lot of teams that have had a lot of success historically you know you add Utah which has been a very very strong program very consistent program for for a long time um you know and you had some some programs that got hot last year like Arizona and you know and had a great season last year and then you add that to you know a Big 12 Conference that has you know been pretty consistent in terms of uh a lot of different teams have had opportunities to play in the conference Championship Game you know six different teams in the last three years so it's been a it's been a league that you know hasn't really had anybody dominate the league in a while uh and and so it's been very competitive um and it's going to be interesting to see how this stuff plays out I mean I I really do think um anybody can win the league uh certainly given um you know the schedule you know everybody's not playing everybody when we when we went 12 and0 in 2022 you know there were there were 10 teams in the league and um and and we played everybody and so you know now it's it's a little bit different and and so a lot of things a lot of differences now than there has been it's also so odd to me to look down at your schedule coach and and realize that you're playing on the road against two ACC opponents and those two ACC opponents in the non-conference are Stanford and SMU and you have Road games against both of those two schools now I know a lot of this stuff is done way in advance but not just the shift in the Big 12 but when you see a program that TCU is very familiar with an SMU making the move to the ACC and how your non-conference schedule is now loaded up for some of these reasons what do you think about not just the shift with your conference but others as well yeah definitely interesting times in college football a lot of movement going on I think a lot of movement still to to occur uh so a lot of things a lot of things happening um you know as you said these schedules are made so far in advance and and you know the TCU rivalry TCU rivalry has been going on for a long time uh that's always been something that the two institutions have done um you know for a number of years and then you know and then at that time Stanford was obviously a Pack 12 team when when the schedule uh was built and so as you know it's a strange time it's a strange time in college football um you know two of those teams you know SMU was was at that time a non- power five team and and Stanford again was a was a pack 12 team and now both of them are ACC members and I don't think anybody could have ever predicted that what would the legendary spike dkes your father say about the state of college football right now well he would he would definitely think it's interesting um you know there there has been a lot of things that have happened here over the last couple of years and I think and I think more to come I really do I I think what's made college football special has been historic rivalries and you hate to see uh that kind of go away in some ways and and you know in some in some ways it's getting rekindled you know Texas and Texas A&M haven't played in a long time and now they're going to play each other every year members of the SEC and and I think that's good for college football I think there's been a um a lot of changes and and some of them I think have been good and some of them have probably not been as good and made as much sense as some others but at the end of the day you know our job is to play the schedule that we have to put the best team on the field the most consistent team that we can we can produce and go out there and win as many games as we possibly can and so that's really been our Focus but it is an interesting time to be a college football fan yeah but put the best on the field and now you can put as many staff members on the field Dana hogerson joins as support staff Todd Graham is also a part of your staff now and uh as a as opposed to what we've seen now those guys can be on the sideline with you how I mean that had to be a massive part of the decision to bring those guys in not just because of their background and knowledge but because they can actually help you on game day yeah for sure for sure I think both of those guys are you know I've been very successful head coaches I've known both of them for 25 plus years um you know Dana and I worked together at at you know back in 2000 at Texas Tech on Mike leech's staff we' we knew each other even before then we've known each other for a long time Todd Graham was a high school coach here in the DFW area and I recruited his school when I was at Texas Tech so I met him in 2000 he was the head coach at at Allen High School and and worked his way up from there and so both of both of them had tremendous success as head coaches um at different institutions and and um and so anytime you can add that kind of experience that kind of knowlege uh those guys are both outside the box thinkers um and so you can you know you have your your system in in place and what you want to do but you also you know are always looking to get better and they'll be able to come in and see what we do how we do it see our structure from everything to to recruiting to nil to Player Development to to scheme to all the different things and and have some ideas on how how we can get better and how we can improve and and both those guys are are um very smart and and very successful and have been able to to navigate different places and have success really uh a different institution so their their experience is inv valuable and it's going to help uh help our coaching staff we already have a really strong staff and and these guys are certainly going to add to it coach you had referenced that magical run you guys had in 2022 going all the way to the national championship game you fall back a year ago five- seven season but often times when you have that magical run you don't really see the bump from that until not the next season but the season after because you're bound to lose a lot of players from from the one great team are you seeing that now within the program are you seeing that some in recruiting of of of people knowing you because of that 2022 season and you start to see the benefit in 2024 yeah I think so for sure you know certainly uh you know that run we had in 22 getting to the national championship game I think gave our our program some credibility you know TCU has had a really strong program for a long long time um and and has been very consistent through those years but you know there's nothing like getting in the college football playoff and there's nothing like winning a semi-final game and Advan into the national championship and so I think it did give us credibility I think it did open some people's eyes to what this uh University and this football program is capable of um you know and then we took a big step back last year you know we we had a had that run had a really good team you know just assumed that there would be some carryover from last year and uh and there wasn't and and we didn't do a very good job I certainly didn't do a good job handling the team and and making sure that that those guys you know knew that we had to start from scratch and I think there was this assumption that okay we've done this now we can build on that and in today's college football it's it's a different team every year it's an entirely new roster and uh we didn't handle it particularly well and so I think there's a hunger and a desire and a and an edge to this football team to get back to where we were in 22 and to have that kind of season season um the work ethic has been outstanding our guys have done everything we've asked and we've gotten off to a really good start so far in Fall camp and so you know we feel like we're we're headed to a good place but a lot of work needs to be done a lot of things that are going to happen between you know now and that first game at Stanford and uh but but we feel like we're in a good place for sure coach one Handling Michigan's Sign Stealing of the things you did handle well was changing the the signs uh against Michigan Chad and I are going to discuss the the notice of allegations a bit later in the show uh but did the did the NCAA reach out to you or TCU about that and how you handled that preparation against uh what was going on there at the time no not not that I'm aware of they haven't reached certainly haven't reached out to me and and I'm not aware if they've reached out to anybody else on our staff but you know I think that it sounds to me like they've done a pretty thorough investigation of everything and and sounds to me like they've they've uh you know come to some conclusions and are getting ready to to share them with us all and it was definitely an interesting uh a different definitely an interesting time you know we were preparing for Michigan we had a long time to prepare for him and as we got started you know how it is you call uh people that you know at some of the schools that they that they played and you know everybody kind of kept saying Hey Watch the watch the signals and be careful with this and you know you hear that from people and and often you hear that from people that lost the game as kind of an excuse and I think we treated it that way at first a little bit and then I think as we started to hear it more and more and started to to into it a little bit it seemed pretty obvious maybe that something something was going on uh but we had no idea what or to what extent you know I think stealing signals is pretty common in college football um but I think that you know Michigan you know took it to a to a different level is what it sounds like to me and and certainly that what we heard and so we made a couple of changes wasn't anything Earth shattering uh made some changes to you know to to kind of protect our our offenseive defense uh you know from them and and as we played in that semi-final game um and I think it it certainly helped us and and you know I don't know that we would have been able to win that game had we not gotten some of that information so I mean it could be as simple as just having a dummy call or a dummy sign and was there a was there a play that comes to mind where you knew you got them on on a a sign that they thought a play was coming but it really wasn't that play oh I can't think of anything specific but I but there was some times where you know we we got into a formation and we we checked did a check with me on the sideline and signaled in a dummy call and and they signaled in a call um and we didn't change the call to to the signal and and I think that there was the Assumption maybe that it had been or it certainly looked that way right it's speculation on my part but but one or two I think plays in the ball game probably resulted from that again it's hard to say that for sure but um but you know I think we can speculate that way and one or two plays is about you know one or two of the five or six of the determin a football game yeah well very very smart by you and your coaching staff I am curious though if and we don't know this and we haven't read the notice of allegation but we're seeing some reports coming out of it if it comes out that and you mentioned this was a little bit above and beyond as opposed to what you see with normal sign stealing in college football if in some way it's released that other programs believe they were affected teams that Michigan weren't was not even playing but were going to be affected positively by if they lost in the playoff off race how much worse do you think that is from a coaching standpoint oh I think I think it's like anything I mean look we have so much on our plates right now that that we have to we have to kind of move on you know I I think we we all know that um you know things happen sometimes in college football that maybe we're not comfortable with and and you know you hope at some point that um that it's taken seriously and investigated and you hope at some point that if they decide to to you know punish a school and I'm not talking about Michigan specifically any school really for that matter that it has teeth just to encourage people to not do it and I think that's been probably part of our biggest issue in college football has been when we found programs um you know guilty of violations that there really hasn't been anything that's encouraged them uh significantly enough not to do those violations or commit those violations again and so you just hope that at some point you know whether like I said it's Michigan or whom uh that that you know that that finds some wrongdoing within the program that there's there's something with teeth to to encourage programs to do things the right way yeah I'm kind of amazed by sort of the arrogance of it if a lot of coaches knew about it and multiple coaches were talking you would think Michigan would from your perspective with your program in terms of a self Scout uh just in general how do you go about that with you and your coaches from season to season to to adjust not something specifically like this but maybe something you can pick up that other programs are seeing around you how does that work when you start to self Scout your own program yeah you know look there are there are coaches and programs that have reputations um you know I think that that's pretty common knowledge in college football in some ways I mean you know we're going to play some folks that that I think you know historically sign stealing's been you know a pretty significant um you know part of what they do and a very important part of what they do and and a very important part of their success you know the I think we're trying to do what we can in college football to to fix those issues now with the helmet communication I think is the is a step in the right direction I don't know that it's necessarily going to be able to fix everything because you're going to have teams that no huddle and go fast and and are going to want to have you know quick communication whether it comes you know via the sideline to the quarterback and then is is communicated to the players or whether comes directly uh from the sideline to all the players you know you're still going to have issues but at the same time I think that this will do some pretty significant things to fix it and you know and I think that's all you can ask for is progress um you know for whatever reason for a long time there was this uh uh you know there wasn't really a lot of concern about that in college football you know the NL for years and years and years has had you know direct contact from the coach and staff to the to the quarterback or a defensive player typically a linebacker uh to to deal with some of those issues and and we haven't had that in college football and thankfully we do now and and I think that will it will change people's philosophy they'll have to change a little bit of how they do things um you know probably moving forward uh but again that's still going to be part of the game and and a part of the game that we don't particularly like you know what's been interesting in college football and I think it's really been embarrassing in some ways is you know you look on a college football sideline and there's people holding up cards and there's people you know holding up uh towels and and different things to block signals and I mean it looks like a circus out there and it's a shame that it got to that point before we tried to address it but I think luckily we are and hopefully it'll fix the problem do you think the College Should College Football HOF Change Its Criteria? Football Hall of Fame should change their 60% win criteria to allow for Mike Leech to be in the Hall of Fame oh certainly I mean look you've got to have some kind of criteria because there's always going to be people that that you know you feel like that need an exception but if there's anybody that ever would get an exception it would be Mike Leech just for what he did for college football and how profound his impact and and far-reaching his impact was on the game you know I think um I think I just saw that you know Kentucky may have to Forfeit some of their games uh and one of those win against Mississippi State and if that's the case I think that'll put Mike Leech over that 60% threshold it would and I think that would obviously be um something that should happen regardless and and Mike was Mike was incredibly Innovative and my opinion one of the biggest innovators in the history of of college football and that carried over to the way the game is played at every single level now um and you know he needs to be in the in the College Football Hall of Fame without a doubt and again I understand their point of view you have to have some kind of criteria but but my hope is whether or not that vacated wind matters that he that he gets in because he certainly deserves it coach uh you The Leadership Of The Big XII certainly are known for great leadership uh scaling up commissioner wise we always discuss Greg sanki and Tony petiti now with the big 10 how about leadership of the Big 12 with Brett ymark uh and and seeing what the other two are doing and trying to make sure that the Big 12 stays relevant how would you assess overall leadership from the top down well it's my opinion that that you know had it not been for for Brett ymark and his uh VIs and and risk taking um that that he undertook I don't know that we would have a Big 12 right now to to be real honest with you I think you know I think the league was was on kind of shaky ground uh as some teams you know the announcement with Oklahoma and Texas leaving and I think Brett went out there and brought in some quality teams you know most of them from the east coast and with the addition also of BYU and then you know and then jumping ahead of the Pack 12 when it came to television contract negotiations to me that was the most shrewd move and I think it solidified the Big 12 it gave us you know the stain power that we needed and then I think probably you know led to the to the demise of the Pack 12 uh so Brett I think and you know some of that was obviously with with uh those major institutions moving on to to the Big 10 but also part of it was um you know the other institutions coming over to the Pack 12 and so look he's a he's a tremendous leader he's got great vision he knows what he wants uh he's an outside the box thinker he's a very very smart uh businessman uh and the thing I love about Brett is he understands business and he understands he may not know the ins and outs of football and he lets football people make those decisions while he goes out and and makes the the very profound business decisions that it really uh helps strengthen our league and so for me uh I think he's I think he's the best conference commissioner that there is I think that again had it not been for his uh Insight his ability to see see the future I think that this the Big 12 might be in serious trouble so we're excited about the future of this league I think it's going to continue to grow and get stronger um and as I said I don't think we're too far off from adding other schools and continuing to grow so I think the future is very very strong we know you've got the frogs logo behind you uh what what do you have what keeps do you have behind you that uh you would say is most you're most fond of oh I've got some stuff you know from my dad some photographs of he and I uh from uh a long time ago um some some hats I see yeah some hats I got a letter from President Bush cool to my dad when when my mom passed away I think is probably one of the cool things that's back there as well and which one and so uh George W okay yeah and so you know the Bush family kind of West Texas folks and our family have known each other for a long time and um you know they've always been uh you know uh good family friends of ours and and so anyway just some cute shakes like that and some cool stuff and um you know one thing that's pretty cool that you might not be able to see is there's a there's a football that Nike sent us uh that came from uh from Phil Knight's wife uh when we got to the the college football playoff it's a pretty special thing as well so pretty cool stuff uh you know and again some of it is is uh you know wouldn't mean much to anybody else but me but but uh some of it's actually pretty cool as well what's the craziest thing you've done to uh try to impress or catch the eye of a recruit in your office oh man I mean there's no limits to what you know football coaches will do we have we have no Pride when it comes to recruiting have you pulled a Lamborghini around I mean I I saw what Kirby Smart had a a crystal football or something you know he's got one of the Championships but I'm I'm trying to think of what the recruit would want to see did Sark let you borrow one of his Ferraris or Lamborghinis that they park out front yeah we're we're not really a Ferrari type of program you know one thing we've got and I think that that's you know our bling is we got a 71 Ford Bronco that's purple that I bought for my wife a couple years ago and and that's kind of our our our bling around here we're we're kind of a blue collar a blue collar deal and and uh we we try not to use too many fancy cars to to help us Rec cve no doubt what's the schedule like today for you well we've got we're actually in an interesting schedule we've got two morning practices uh followed by an evening practice and so we're we're practicing at six o'clock pm tonight we just had two early morning practices the previous two days uh we're trying to give our guys 36 hours worth of rest before this uh before this practice and and then we'll have the day off tomorrow and have 36 hours of rest before we practice again on the following day so that's kind of our schedule we had meetings this morning we had a walkth through uh we just got done with the staff meeting we're getting ready to to meet with our players again um and have another walkth through and then we'll go out and practice at 6 PM so should be a it should be a heck of a day you know it's going to be hot here and it'll be a challenging practice I it's going to be well over 100 degrees I think 103 104 today so our guys are going to go out and have to to grind through it and make sure that we are uh you know we're getting tough and doing the things that we have to do while at the same time making sure we're taking care of our players and that's always a really fine line so it's a big practice for us um and uh and you know and our guys have really practiced well so far so I'm excited to see how they do today you need to be into 71 Ford Broncos to get through weather like that not Ferraris or lamber G feels like temperature is that here so that that's more the weather for someone into a 71 Ford BR sounds like westex fight through that too yeah hey coach M coach Mack says hello by the way and go for frogs I appreciate that tell him tell tell him tell him it's good good to hear from him I will I'll let him know hey uh this has been uh a real treat to have you on thanks for joining us ahead of the season and the perspective on maybe some things that went on in past Seasons there yeah thank you guys for having me always good to talk to you guys and appreciate what you do for college football thanks thank you co wait there's uh there's Sunny D