Former Texas Tech football coach Spike Dykes, whose homespun humor belied coaching acumen that took the Red Raiders to a school-record seven bowls from the late 1980s through the '90s, has died, the university Monday via social media. He was 79.

William Taylor "Spike" Dykes was born in Lubbock, played football at Stephen F. Austin and was a high school coach and college assistant for almost 30 years before landing his first college head-coaching job in 1986 when David McWilliams left for Texas after one season as the Red Raiders' head coach.

It proved to be a good move on Tech's part. Dykes would go 82-67-1 in 13 seasons, and the 82 victories were tops among Red Raiders coaches at the time he retired in 1999. Mike Leach, who took over for Dykes in 2000, would surpass his win total by two over the next 10 seasons.

Sad to hear the news on Spike Dykes - great coach, mentor, and person. My thoughts and prayers go out to his family & the Tech community
— Bob Stoops (@OU_CoachStoops)

Favorite Spike Dykes quote: "They say you lose 10 percent of your fan base every year. And I've been here 11 years, so you do the math."
— Brian Davis (@BDavisAAS)

Dykes earned three Southwest Conference and one Big 12 Conference Coach of the Year honors. But more important to West Texans, he leveled the playing field against the Lone Star State's marquee program — despite sprinkling his analysis of his team with comments like "They whipped us like a tied-up goat."

He became the first Texas Tech coach to defeat Texas six times — no small feat considering the Red Raiders have 16 wins in the all-time series that dates to 1928.

He is the father of Sonny Dykes, the former Cal coach who is now an offensive assistant at TCU.