SMU to name Miami offensive coordinator as next head coach

SMU head coach Sonny Dykes is going to be the next man up at TCU. He will be replacing Gary Patterson, who was in Fort Worth for two decades.

Searching to find a replacement did not take long for the Mustangs, with On3’s Matt Zenitz confirming Miami offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee will be the next head coach.

Lashlee will finish out the Hurricanes regular season against Duke on Saturday before officially making the switch to Dallas. Dykes will coach for SMU for the final time against Tulsa.

Before accepting the Miami offensive coordinator job, Lashlee was the SMU offensive coordinator for two seasons. He led the Mustangs to 41.8 points per game in 2019, good enough for No. 7 in the country.

SMU will be Lashlee’s first head coaching job, at any level, during his career. He’s made previous stops as an offensive coordinator at Auburn, Arkansas State, Samford, and UConn as well.

With head coach Manny Diaz possibly getting fired at the end of the season, there is a chance Lashlee would not have been with Miami away. Now, he will get the opportunity to take over his own program for the first time.

Lashlee and SMU will have the opportunity to get their revenge on Dykes and TCU, with the two rivals set to face off on Sept. 24, 2022, in Dallas. A rivalry that was already heated will take to another level with these coaching changes.

SMU loses Sonny Dykes to TCU

Less than 30 days removed from the split with Gary Patterson, Horned Frogs athletics director Jeremiah Donati went just 35 miles down the road to Dallas to pick up his new head coach.

Sonny Dykes has led SMU to a 30-16 record in his four seasons at the helm on the Hilltop. The Mustangs achieved rankings in the AP top 25 in each of his last three seasons since taking over for former Arkansas head coach Chad Morris. They ascended as high as No. 15 in 2019 before finishing the season unranked with a loss in the Boca Raton Bowl.

To try to hold on to Sonny Dykes, earlier this month, the Mustangs reportedly offered the fourth-year head coach a $4 million salary with a five-year extension. Also allegedly on the table: a larger pool of money for assistant coaches and plans to build a new football-only facility.