Introduction
James Dickey (born March 22, 1934) is a former American football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at Kansas State University from 1978 to 1985, compiling record of 24–54–2. In 1981, he redshirted 18 players, including eight seniors and almost all of his best players. With all of those players returning the following season in 1982, Dickey led Kansas State to their first bowl game appearance in school history, the Independence Bowl, where they lost to the Wisconsin Badgers. 1982 was also the first winning season for the program since 1970 under head coach Vince Gibson.
After opening the 1985 season with two consecutive losses to I-AA teams, Dickey was forced to resign on September 15. Assistant athletic director Lee Moon coached the team for the remainder of the season posting a 1–8 record.
Dickey is the father of the former Kansas State quarterback and former head football coach at the University of North Texas, Darrell Dickey.
Head coaching record
| Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl/playoffs | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kansas State Wildcats (Big Eight Conference) (1978–1985) | |||||||||
| 1978 | Kansas State | 4–7 | 3–4 | T–5th | |||||
| 1979 | Kansas State | 3–8 | 1–6 | 8th | |||||
| 1980 | Kansas State | 3–8 | 2–5 | 6th | |||||
| 1981 | Kansas State | 2–9 | 1–6 | 8th | |||||
| 1982 | Kansas State | 6–5–1 | 3–3–1 | 4th | L Independence | ||||
| 1983 | Kansas State | 3–8 | 1–6 | 8th | |||||
| 1984 | Kansas State | 3–7–1 | 2–4–1 | T–5th | |||||
| 1985 | Kansas State | 0–2* | |||||||
| Kansas State: | 24–54–2 | 13–34–2 | |||||||
| Total: | 24–54–2 | ||||||||
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* Dickey resigned as head coach after the second game of the 1985 season. |
Coaching tree
Assistant coaches under Jim Dickey who became NCAA head coaches:
- Jim Donnan: Marshall (1990–1995), Georgia (1996–2000)
- Dennis Franchione: Pittsburg State (1985–1989), Southwest Texas State (1990–1991), New Mexico (1992–1997), TCU (1998–2000), Alabama (2001–2002), Texas A&M (2003–2007), Texas State (2011–2015)