In the middle of a chaotic coaching carousel, another college football program has locked up its successful and highly coveted coach.
SMU has signed coach Rhett Lashlee to a two-year contract extension, the university announced on Saturday, Nov. 1, hours ahead of the Mustangs’ game against No. 9 Miami.
The 42-year-old Lashlee is in his fourth season at SMU, where has racked up a 34-15 record and helped the program successfully transition to the ACC. Last season, he guided the Mustangs to an 11-3 mark and a spot in the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff.
‘Rhett has shown an unwavering commitment to elevating SMU Football to new heights, and under his leadership, we are building a program that will compete for championships year in and year out,” SMU athletic director Damon Evans said in a statement. “I look forward to him and his family being on The Hilltop for years to come.’
While terms of the contract were not disclosed by the school, multiple outlets reported Lashlee’s new deal will make him one of the 10 highest-paid coaches in the sport.
Lashlee had been mentioned as a candidate for several of the 10 FBS vacancies that have come up since the start of the 2025 season, most notably at Arkansas, his home state and the school where he played quarterback in the early 2000s.
He’s the latest coach who has turned external interest into a new deal at his current employer. Last month, Indiana’s Curt Cignetti signed a new eight-year, $93 million contract at the school and on Thursday, Nebraska inked Matt Rhule to a two-year extension through 2032 that increased his buyout after this season from $5 million to $15 million. Both coaches had been connected to vacancy at Penn State.
A former offensive coordinator at Miami, SMU, UConn, Auburn and Arkansas State, Lashlee’s teams have been among the most explosive in the sport during his SMU tenure. The Mustangs have finished among the top 15 teams nationally in scoring offense in each of the past three seasons.
‘SMU is a special place to our family,” Lashlee said in a statement. “We are so excited for the opportunity to continue the process of building our program on the national stage.”