By Jeff Wilson
Frogs Today senior writer
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — The Big 12 championship game, the recruiting trail and a little something called the College Football Playoff have made for a busy December for TCU coach Sonny Dykes.
And then life threw him for a loss. All of college football was thrown for a loss Dec. 12, when Mississippi State coach Mike Leach died unexpectedly at age 62.
As Dykes said on Twitter shortly after the news broke, the only person who had more influence on his coaching life than Leach was his father, Spike.
That’s an incredibly high pedestal, considering all the coaching minds Dykes has tapped into over the past three decades. So, it went without saying that Dykes would attend the memorial service for Leach last week, even if it was the day before the early signing period for recruits opened.
Leach has had a hand in Dykes’ first season with the Horned Frogs, and his presence will be felt Saturday at State Farm Stadium as No. 3 TCU faces No. 2 Michigan in the Fiesta Bowl.
And the Frogs will be underdogs. That’s what Leach was before he revolutionized Dykes’ career and football as a whole.
