Relationships, teaching are Dickey's strengths
STILLWATER — Each winter, when the book had been closed on the past season, and focus was turning to the next, Charlie Dickey would hold individual meetings with each of his offensive linemen. Then a Kansas State assistant coach, Dickey routinely met with his players throughout the year, but the winter meeting held a certain significance. It set the table for what goals the coach believed his player could accomplish in the coming year, and what the player could expect from Dickey to help those goals be accomplished. Each time former Kansas State star Dalton Risner walked into Dickey's office for that meeting, Dickey laid out the course to a significant accomplishment for the coming year. A starting job as a freshman. All-Conference recognition as a sophomore. All-America status as a junior. “Going into my senior year, he said: `Dalton, you're the best offensive lineman in the Big 12 and one of the best in the nation. You're going to go out and show people,'” Risner remembers Dickey telling him. “I won Big 12 Lineman of the Year and was a first-team All-American in a lot of places.
“What he showed me with those meetings was how much he believes in his players. I thought it was remarkable how every year, he set a goal for me, and we, together, managed to accomplish that goal. It's really powerful when a coach believes in you like that. It makes you that much better of a player.” Dickey, hired as the new offensive line coach at Oklahoma State last Saturday, will have to get to know his new corps of linemen a little better before he begins projecting goals for them. But it might not take too long for the 56-year-old who has surpassed 30 years in the coaching game. The coach-player relationship is among his specialties. His offensive lines over most of the last 10 years at Kansas State were respected for their toughness and discipline, and those traits have followed Dickey throughout his career — from his first Division I job under Dick Tomey at Arizona in the early 1990s to a fouryear run at Utah, then a decade under Bill Snyder at K-State and now, to Stillwater. Dickey takes over a group that was being rebuilt by Josh Henson over the last two seasons, and is set up for success both in the short term and long term. OSU returns four veteran starters, plus a large group of young players ready to be molded into stars. When Kyle Whittingham was hired as the head coach at Utah before the 2005 season, he knew who Dickey was, but didn't know much about him. “Dick Tomey raved about him, and told me what a phenomenal coach he was, not only with his position group, but as a recruiter,” Whittingham said. “He was able to develop a great rapport with his players. “Offensive line, probably more than any position group, is reliant upon the chemistry and the cohesion of the five guys out there. Charlie has a unique ability to really make those guys play together and come together and love each other.” Dickey was the glue that bonded them. “He was never too busy to answer your questions, or stay after practice and help you,” said Risner, who has been projected as high as a first-round pick in April's NFL Draft. “If you wanted to, in between two-a-days, go out on the practice field and get some more reps with him, he was gonna be there. He was a workhorse. “He's a very hard coach, a strict coach, a very passionate coach, and he wants perfection from you.” As a recruiter, Dickey's honesty and genuine approach have been his biggest assets. “In recruiting, trust is the biggest issue, and Charlie has no problem with that,” said former Kansas State offensive coordinator Del Miller, who worked with Dickey from 2009-16. “He's honest, and he has excellent personal skills, in terms of, what you see is what you get. He's a good recruiter, and he works hard.” Beyond the relational aspects of his coaching ability, he's a technician and a teacher. “He's clear, concise and direct,” Whittingham said. “A great teacher can take complex information and present it in a simplistic way. That's what Charlie's able to do. “When you're a coach, it doesn't matter what you know, it's what your players know. They're on the field and they better know what they're doing. Charlie's guys were always prepared and always played at a high level.”