Dickey's best team was the Texas Tech's 1996 unit, which finished 30–2, including an undefeated record in the final season of Southwest Conference play.
It was discovered during the inaugural Big 12 basketball tournament, however, that two players had played the entire season while academically ineligible.
Hours after the team's first-round game, Texas Tech announced that it was withdrawing from postseason consideration and forfeiting its entire conference schedule.
A subsequent investigation revealed massive violations dating back to 1990 in men's basketball and nine other sports (though Dickey himself was not personally implicated).
**Texas Tech forfeited its entire 1996–97 conference slate due to ineligible players, but Dickey was ruled not to have been affected.