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Rhett Lashlee agrees to contract extension with SMU

On3 imageby: Billy Embody2 hours agoBillyEmbody
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SMU HC Rhett Lashlee. (Matt Visinsky)

With the coaching carousel heating up, SMU locked in a contract extension with head coach Rhett Lashlee, sources told On The Pony Express. The 2-year extension, which has been in the works for weeks, makes 42-year old one of the highest-paid coaches in the country. Yahoo’s Ross Dellenger was first to report the news Friday.

The extension will reportedly make him one of the top-10 highest-paid college football coaches in the country. His new contract will run through 2032.

Arkansas, where Lashlee graduated from, was a program pushing heavily to bring him to Fayetteville, but instead he’s now agreed to a deal that keeps him in Dallas. SMU extended Lashlee last year as well.

Lashlee is 34-15 in three-plus seasons, including a 2023 season where they went 11-3 and finished No. 22 in the country as AAC champions. With the move to the ACC last year, SMU fell just short of an ACC Championship to Clemson in the title game, but still finished No. 12 in the country and made a College Football Playoff appearance.

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SMU’s brought Lashlee back as head coach following a stint as Miami’s offensive coordinator from 2020-22. Lashlee served as SMU’s offensive coordinator under Sonny Dykes from 2018-19. Among the records set by the 2019 SMU offense include scoring (544 points), scoring average at 41.8 points per game, total yards with 6,368 total yards, yards per game at 489.8 and plenty more.

Lashlee’s became a name on the national coaching stage quickly as he helped Auburn to a National Championship as the former Arkansas signal caller rose up the ranks. In an interview this month, he talked about the patience it took from that quick rise to where he is now.

“The journey I’ve had professionally has been one of patience,” Lashlee told ACC Network’s Wes Durham. “When you’re young, you’re not as patient and it’s easy to let your mind drift and think ahead. I got hired by Pat Sullivan at 27 to be the offensive coordinator at Samford. I don’t know why he hired me, but he did. I remember going through the spring and started to realize this coaching thing’s pretty hard. I was just up at the office in June one day in the summer and fortunately the Lord just allowed it to come over me, ‘Man, how blessed are you?’ … Just enjoy where you are. 

“It’s funny when you get that perspective. Doesn’t mean the road’s easy. Doesn’t mean there’s not a lot of ups and downs. That was 27. I didn’t get hired to be a head coach until 38. Had a lot of good times in those 10 years. People thought it would happen sooner. What you learn along the way is to enjoy the moments, be where you are. You don’t just want to be a head coach, you want to be a head coach at the right place at the right time. It all lead me to SMU at the right time when I was ready and now look at the opportunity I have to be here at a time like this. It’s neat to see that journey and that patience pay off.”

Prior to joining SMU’s staff as offensive coordinator, Lashlee served as an offensive coordinator for seven seasons, spending 2017 at UConn, 2013-16 at Auburn, 2012 at Arkansas State and 2011 at Samford.

Entering SMU’s matchup against Miami, Lashlee has the Mustangs at 5-3 overall and 3-1 in ACC play. Last week, a 13-12 loss at Wake Forest ended what was the nation’s longest active regular season conference winning streak.

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