TCU coach Sonny Dykes was ejected from the Horned Frogs' 66-42 loss to rival SMU on Saturday after earning consecutive unsportsmanlike conduct penalties in the third quarter.
Dykes became the first head coach of a Power 4 program to be disqualified from a college football game for multiple unsportsmanlike conduct penalties since the NCAA established the rule in 2016.
TCU trailed SMU 41-21 at halftime and opened the third quarter with a 93-yard kickoff return touchdown by Jordyn Bailey that was nullified by a holding penalty. Dykes' subsequent arguing with officials resulted in an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and started the drive at TCU's 10-yard line. After the first play of the drive, Dykes continued arguing, received another flag and was escorted out of the road game against his former program.
Dykes was SMU's head coach from 2017 through 2021 and went 30-18 during his tenure before leaving to join the rival Horned Frogs, whom he led to a College Football Playoff title game appearance in 2022. He'd won each of his past two games against the Mustangs in the Battle of the Iron Skillet.
In 2021, Bowling Green coach Scot Loeffler became the first FBS head coach to be ejected for multiple unsportsmanlike conduct penalties in a game.
After the loss, Dykes declined to go into detail about his exchange with the officiating crew but said he did deserve the first penalty and didn't understand why he received the second one.
"Apologize to our players and our fans," Dykes told reporters. "That should never happen, was disappointed it happened. Thought it was maybe unwarranted, but it happened and that's my responsibility to make sure that never happens. So 100% my fault, obviously I've got to be better and our team's got to play better. And we will.
"This is a good football team. We certainly didn't play like it tonight. Based on tonight's performance, you would not say that, but I know we are."