Dickey as new offensive coordinator a solid hire for Texas A&M

[Harry]

Texas A&M’s new offensive coordinator might never call a play, but there’s a lot to like about Jimbo Fisher’s hire of Darrell Dickey.

The 58-year-old Dickey comes from a football family. He played at Kansas State for his father, Jim Dickey. His brother, Jim Dickey Jr., was a high school football coach in Texas, including Crosby from 1994-2001. Darrell Dickey also knows the Lone Star state, having been an assistant SMU, Texas State and UTEP. He also was head coach at North Texas from 1998-2006, and he started his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Texas A&M in 1985 under Jackie Sherrill.

All that experience seemingly helped Dickey find his niche as the offensive coordinator at Memphis. The Tigers are 37-13 in the last four seasons under former head coach Justin Fuente and current coach Mike Norvell, a pair of offensive minds on the rise. Fuente got hired at Virginia Tech after turning Memphis around, and Norvell recently opted to stay after getting a new $13-million deal through 2022.

Fuente called his own plays at Memphis, just as Norvell has, but with plenty of help from Dickey, dubbed “Norvell’s eye in the sky.” Fisher called his plays at Florida State and you’d expect him to do the same at A&M, so Dickey can become “Jimbo’s eye in the sky.”

What Fisher and Dickey need to do is sign or develop the kind of quarterbacks both have worked with — Fisher had Heisman Trophy winner Jameis Winston and Memphis had Paxton Lynch and Riley Ferguson.

read more:  http://www.theeagle.com/aggie_sports/cessna-dickey-as-new-offensive-coordinator-a-solid-hire-for/article_e246dcba-df0d-11e7-9e2e-979bd60258d4.html