After five quick days, SMU's coaching search is over.
SMU has agreed to terms with former California head coach Sonny Dykes to be its next head coach, a source told SportsDay.
The move comes less than a week after head coach Chad Morris left SMU for Arkansas. SMU's athletic department approached this search with a sense of urgency given the looming early signing period for recruits starting Dec. 20.
Dykes spent four seasons at Cal, going 19-30 from 2013-16. He inherited a 3-9 team from Jeff Tedford. Cal went 1-11 in his first season then followed it up with a 5-7 season. In 2015, Cal jumped out to a 5-0 start, including a 45-44 win over Texas, before finishing the season 8-5 and with a 55-36 win over Air Force in the Armed Forces Bowl.
During his time at Cal, Dykes' teams were known for their "Bear Raid" offenses, a system that he learned during his seven seasons as an assistant and co-offensive coordinator under Mike Leach at Texas Tech. It's not identical to Morris' power-spread attack but similarly believes in an up-tempo and balanced attack.
The 48-year-old Dykes was fired from Cal after a 5-7 mark in 2016. He interviewed for the Baylor opening that winter before Cal decided to part ways with the coach.
Dykes spent the last season as an offensive analyst at TCU, though he did not serve as a coach or recruiter in that capacity.
Prior to Berkeley, Dykes was the head coach at Louisiana Tech from 2010-12. In 2011, Dykes led the Bulldogs to an 8-5 record and the Bulldogs' first WAC title since 2001. He was named the WAC coach of the year following that season. Louisiana Tech followed it up with a 9-3 campaign, averaging 51.5 points and 478 yards per game before Dykes left for the Cal job.
Dykes is a native Texan. He was born in Big Spring and went to Coronado High School in Lubbock. He played baseball at Texas Tech, spending three seasons as a first baseman, before starting his coaching career as the running backs coach at Richardson Pearce in 1994.
