SMU Mustangs head coach Rhett Lashlee could have hypothetically coached at a “big-time” school in 2026.
In a coaching cycle that saw jobs open up at Arkansas, Florida, LSU, Penn State and Auburn, Lashlee would have been arguably the most intriguing name on the job market.
He’s a 43-year-old former college quarterback (who played at Arkansas) with assistant coaching experience at places like Auburn and Miami.
He’s gone 38-16 in four seasons at SMU and he took the Mustangs to the ACC title game and the College Football Playoff in 2024. SMU didn’t make the CFP last season, but Lashlee and his team beat Clemson, Louisville, and No. 10 Miami before beating No. 17 Arizona in the Holiday Bowl.
Lashlee seems like a big-time coach, but he feels like he has everything he needs at SMU. That’s why he signed a contract extension with the Mustangs on Oct. 31, 2025.
Those contracts are hardly worth the piece of paper they’re written on when it comes to coaching (and now player) movement in college football, but Lashlee also stuck with SMU through the entire coaching cycle.
Why’s that?
He believes in the Mustangs, and he saw what Curt Cignetti was able to do with the Indiana Hoosiers and he believes SMU can have the same type of success.
It’s a new era in college athletics.
“It’s different than it was three years ago,” Lashlee told Chris Vannini of “The Athletic.”
“Look at Indiana winning the national title and us making the Playoff. There’s more parity now, and if universities are willing to invest, you can compete no matter where you are.”
SMU Mustangs have poured resources into Rhett Lashlee and the football program
It helps that SMU invested in Lashlee himself. His extension made him one of the top 10 highest-paid head coaches in college football. His contract details aren’t public because SMU is a private school, but he’s apparently making over $9 million a year.
“If people knew the numbers in Rhett’s deal, they would be shocked,” a source told “The Athletic.”
SMU also invested in a strong staff and has become unwilling to be outbid. The Mustangs have a strong budget for their roster and will pay up to keep players from leaving.
For Lashlee, it all amounts to a sense of comfort he doesn’t want to leave.
“It’s hard to build a program now,” Lashlee said. “Man, if you’re at a good place and you’re happy and can build where you are, why go start somewhere else and go through all that work all over again? You take a new job, you lose the entire roster.”
Can SMU be the next Indiana and Lashlee be the next Cignetti? Only time will tell, but the Mustangs are certainly giving it their best shot financially.
