Rhett Lashlee appears to be staying at SMU.
Sources told Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger that Lashlee is in the midst of finalizing an extension with the Mustangs that would make him one of the 10 highest-paid coaches in the country.
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Lashlee could have been a candidate for the many open power conference jobs this coaching cycle, with Florida, LSU and Penn State already looking for head coaches. However, he’s getting a sizable raise at SMU. According to USA Today’s coaching salary database, Lashlee’s 2025 salary ranked 65th in the country at just over $2.5 million.
The No. 10 coach in the country, Lane Kiffin, made $9 million in 2025.
SMU is in its second season in the ACC and just lost its first regular-season ACC game in Week 9 with a 13-12 loss at Wake Forest. The Mustangs went 8-0 against league competition in 2024 on the way to a spot in the College Football Playoff and were 3-0 ahead of the loss to the Demon Deacons.
The loss dropped SMU to 5-3 overall ahead of a big game against No. 10 Miami on Saturday. Both the Hurricanes and Mustangs are just a game back of Georgia Tech and Virginia in the loss column. Whoever loses on Saturday is probably out of the running for the ACC title.
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Lashlee was the offensive coordinator at Miami for two seasons before he took the SMU job ahead of the 2022 season. He came to Miami from SMU, where he was the offensive coordinator in 2018 and 2019. A former Arkansas quarterback, he’s also coached at Arkansas State, Auburn and UConn.
SMU is 34-15 during Lashlee’s time as head coach. After going 7-6 in his first season, SMU was 11-3 in 2023 in its final season in the American Conference before a move to the ACC that was facilitated by the school’s donors offering to cover media rights money that the school forfeited.
