Tennessee on his mind? SMU’s Sonny Dykes discusses interest in other jobs
By Keith Farner
Published:
SMU coach Sonny Dykes was among several coaches mentioned in connection with the opening at Tennessee. In the days leading up to Tennessee announcing the hiring of Josh Heupel from Central Florida, Dykes, Minnesota’s P.J. Fleck and Penn State’s James Franklin were reportedly on the radar of Tennessee officials.
On Wednesday, Dykes responded in general to being mentioned for other jobs, and while he didn’t mention Tennessee, he has a connection with new Tennessee athletics director Danny White. White’s brother, Mike, was the head basketball coach at Louisiana Tech during Dykes’ time there.
For Dykes, it ultimately comes down to relationships.
“If somebody has an interest in hiring you — especially if you know somebody there, for me it’s always about relationships,” Dykes said, per the Dallas Morning News. “And if you happen to know an athletic director somewhere, or you happen to know the president someplace, or if you happen to know an assistant athletic director — to me, those types of relationships are much more important than logos. A logo doesn’t mean anything to me at all. Nothing.”
Dykes maintained that he loves his job at SMU, where he’s coached the Mustangs to top 20 AP Poll rankings the last two years.
“… There’s been some jobs that people perceive to be, maybe big jobs that I haven’t had any interest in,” he said. “And there’s been some jobs that people would perceive to be maybe not as big a job where I’ve known somebody where I might have interest in if the situation presented itself.”
A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.
