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Texas Tech football classics: “Air Raid” era born as Tech tops OU in 1999

By Matthew Conner

STILLWATER, OK - SEPTEMBER 25: The Texas Tech Red Raiders flag flies outside the stadium before the game against the Oklahoma State Cowboys September 25, 2014 at Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater, Oklahoma. The Cowboys defeated the Red Raiders 45-35. (Photo by Brett Deering/Getty Images)
STILLWATER, OK - SEPTEMBER 25: The Texas Tech Red Raiders flag flies outside the stadium before the game against the Oklahoma State Cowboys September 25, 2014 at Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater, Oklahoma. The Cowboys defeated the Red Raiders 45-35. (Photo by Brett Deering/Getty Images) /
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Mandatory Credit: Joe Patronite/ALLSPORT
Mandatory Credit: Joe Patronite/ALLSPORT /

A fitting farewell for Spike

Tech was able to send Dykes off into the sunset in the most fitting of ways, with an upset.  That’s because, in his career, Dykes was known for pulling off the unexpected.

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In fact, earlier that year, the Red Raiders managed one of the biggest surprises of the season when they took down No. 5 Texas A&M 21-19 in Lubbock. In all, Dykes beat both Texas A&M and Texas six times, which was by far the best success any Red Raider head coach had managed over the program’s two chief rivals up to that point.

But of course, the humble Dykes did not want the focus to be on him on this day, though it was unavoidable.  Telling his players to win the game for themselves and not “some old fat guy”, he managed to put the perspective where it needed to be, on the players.

Born in Lubbock and raised in tiny Ballinger, Texas, Dykes coached at eight different high schools before being hired as Red Raider defensive coordinator in 1984.  Two years later, he was tabbed as interim head coach for the 1986 Independence Bowl when David McWilliams left Tech to return to his alma mater Texas after one season in Lubbock.

A three-time SWC Coach of the Year and the1996 Big 12 recipient of the same award, Dykes took Tech to six bowl games, the most of any coach in program history at that time.  In 2008, he was inducted into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame.

But as good of a coach as he was, Dykes was even better of a storyteller.  And those stories came flooding back to the surface when he passed away in 2017.

On such example comes from this article by Rob Breaux of 1340 AM in Lubbock.

"“Spike told a story once about the first elevator he ever saw. His mother, father and himself went to Clovis, N.M. Spike and his dad saw these big silver doors that slid open and closed. They watched as one group of people went through the doors, after which it closed. When the doors reopened, an entirely different group of people exited. They stood watching with their mouths open for a few minutes when this old hunched over woman went through the doors. When the doors opened, out stepped this well dressed gorgeous woman. Spike said his father looked at him a minute then said, ‘Son, go get your mother.’ “"

The man who used to drive across Texas using a putter as a primitive form of cruise control was a one-of-a-kind character.  And with the odd and fascinating personality of his successor Leach, Red Raider fans grew accustomed to having one of the most colorful coaches in the nation for over 20 years.

Next. Tech classics: Red Raiders stun Nebraska in 2005. dark

With his family on the sidelines in the final minutes and his son Rick calling plays as the offensive coordinator in the booth, Dykes flashed a look of tearful satisfaction as the final seconds of the game ticked away.  The Red Raiders swarmed their head coach following the game and hoisted him onto their shoulders carrying him not off the field but rather to the 50-yard-line, which was fitting because between the lines is where Spike’s heart always seemed to be.

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