TCU's Sonny Dykes, Michigan's Jim Harbaugh credit their fathers for success

Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh and TCU coach Sonny Dykes acknowledged the impacts their dads had on them during Friday's pre-Vrbo Fiesta Bowl joint news conference on the day before the College Football Playoff.

Jack Harbaugh worked his way up from high school coaching in Ohio in the 1960s to leading Western Michigan and Western Kentucky, raising Jim and John, brothers who ended up meeting as opposing Super Bowl coaches in 2013 when John led the Baltimore Ravens and Jim the San Francisco 49ers.

Sonny Dykes learned valuable coaching and life lessons from his father Spike Dykes, who died in 2017 at the age of 79. He won 79 games as head coach at Texas Tech, second only to Mike Leach, another big influence in Sonny's life, who recently died.

"When you grow up around the game of football, you can't help but respect the tradition and the history of the game," Sonny said. "My dad obviously had a huge impact on my life, the way he dealt with people, the way he treated people, and the relationships he had with players. It was a great lesson to be learned.

"People talk about the football family. Seeing it every day, seeing it with former and current players that my dad and our family interacted with really on a daily basis, we learned kind of after the fact what kind of impact coaches can have on the lives of players across all sports.

"My dad loved teams that were unselfish. That was one of the things he talked about all of the time. It's amazing what he did accomplish when he had people who didn't care who got the credit. I've heard that one millions of times from my dad growing up."

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Dykes feels this TCU team (12-1), which came into the season picked to finish seventh in the Big 12, embodies that philosophy, from quarterback Max Duggan willing wins to that 3-3-5 defense creating turnovers, nobody is above anybody else on the team.

"We have a group of guys who sacrifice for each, really care about each other," Dykes said. "They're going to play through the whistle, through the quarter, through the game. I'm proud of the level of commitment these guys have."

Harbaugh said he and Dykes were talking earlier in the week about how blessed they were to be raised in coaching families. He hung around his dad's teams at a very early age. Jim Harbaugh ended up being the quarterback on Michigan's 1985 team that beat Nebraska 27-23 on New Year's Day 1986 in the Fiesta Bowl.

"Along the way, it becomes, this is not only possible but it's inevitable that I'm going to do something in football," Harbaugh said. "My brother, it's generational. We're so blessed."

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Harbaugh said his dad told him a story this week about how he would go to coaching clinics, where presentations were given.

"The real clinic was afterwards," Harbaugh said. "They'd go to a hotel bar and have a beer. All of a sudden, paper and napkins came flying out. They're drawing plays. They couldn't wait to talk football and share football. You'd tell them everything that you know."

Harbaugh said that he and Dykes did none of that in preparation for Saturday's Fiesta Bowl showdown at 2 p.m., at State Farm Stadium.

"That's something that's changed," Harbaugh said. "That's deep when you start talking about your dads and how much our dads meant to us, the opportunity they've given us."

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Dykes added about the relationships, how after he would play his high school football games, he would see his dad at 1 in the morning talking football and having a drink with former Texas A&M coach R.C. Slocum in the living room the night before Spike's Texas Tech team was to play Slocum's Texas A&M team.

"So that's weird," Dykes said. "I was going to invite Coach Harbaugh over tonight to see if he wanted to dunk a bottle of bourbon and reminisce a little bit. I don't know if he'll take me up on it."

Harbaugh interrupted, "That's past my bedtime."

Dykes said before Saturday's kickoff, he is going to reflect on Mike Leach and what he meant to him, molding him as a coach. Dykes called Leach a mentor. He served as an assistant on Texas Tech teams under Leach.

"That's going to be part of my feelings before the game tomorrow," Dykes said. "The impact he had on my life. We're going to wear a helmet sticker in honor of Coach Leach with a pirate flag on it. He was a huge impact on me. I wouldn't be here without his guidance."

More Fiesta Bowl: Michigan QB J.J. McCarthy gives back to his linemen, children in need | TCU QB Max Duggan's 'warrior' mentality has Horned Frogs in position to reach pinnacle | Time in Haitian orphanage paved way for Michigan LB Junior Colson

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Fiesta Bowl coaches Harbaugh, Dykes blessed to be raised by coaches