The 2026 season will be TCU’s fifth under veteran head coach Sonny Dykes, who’s 36-17 during his time in Fort Worth. But what changes have been made to his staff since finishing 9-4 and winning the Alamo Bowl over USC?
The most notable shift comes on offense, where the Horned Frogs lost offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Kendal Briles to South Carolina and running backs coach Jimmy Smith to Georgia Tech. To fill those vacancies, Dykes hired UConn offensive coordinator and former offensive line
coach Gordon Sammis to replace Briles. The team also brought in UConn running backs coach Antonio Wilcox to replace Smith. Lastly, TCU hired Tulsa offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Brad Robbins to become the team’s next quarterbacks coach.
A.J. Ricker returns as TCU’s offensive line coach, while Malcolm Kelly is back at wide receivers coach and Mitch Kirsch remains the tight ends coach. Defensively, the Horned Frogs are riding with defensive coordinator Andy Avalos, who enters his third season and recently received a contract extension. JaMarkus McFarland is back as the defensive line coach, Ken Wilson remains the linebackers coach and Tre Watson continues on as the passing game coordinator and safeties/nickels coach. Mark Tommerdahl is also back as the special teams coordinator.
One change on defense comes at cornerback, where Benny Boyd arrives from Wyoming to replace Julius Brown. Boyd was also a co-special teams coordinator and brings years of experience as a cornerbacks coach at Wyoming, Eastern Illinois, Central Washington and North Dakota. Brown moves into an assistant coaching role for 2026.
