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Rhett Lashlee has agreed to a contract extension that will keep him in Dallas as the head coach of the SMU Mustangs for the foreseeable future.
The school announced the extension on Friday, though it did not release contract details.
According to a report from CBS Sports’ Brandon Marcello, the deal will keep him at SMU through 2030. As a private school, SMU is not beholden to public records requests. USA Today estimates Lashlee’s 2024 salary to be just under $2.4 million, making him one of the lowest-paid coaches in the ACC.
The Athletic’s Chris Vannini reported the school believes if Lashlee were to leave it “wouldn’t be over money.”
SMU enters Week 13 with a 9-1 record. A win at Virginia on Saturday would clinch a spot in the ACC Championship Game for the Mustangs in their debut season in the league.
We have signed Head Coach Rhett Lashlee to a contract extension.#PonyUpDallas pic.twitter.com/jk7dTuVu4r
— SMU Football (@SMUFB) November 22, 2024
Lashlee is in his third season as the SMU head coach.
In 2023, he led SMU to its first conference title since 1984, winning the American and finishing the year with an 11-3 record. The 11 wins marked the most in a single season for SMU since 1982.
Since coming over from Miami ahead of the 2022 season, Lashlee has posted a 27-10 record to begin his coaching career. He also has the Mustangs sitting at No. 13 in the College Football Playoff rankings, positioned to make the 12-team CFP either as an automatic qualifier or an at-large team. At FanDuel, only Miami (+105) has shorter odds to win the ACC than SMU (+150).
Sonny Dykes posted a 10-3 record in 2019 and followed that up with a 7-3 season the following year, but if Lashlee can pull off an ACC title this season, he’ll be responsible for the best stretch of play the SMU program has enjoyed since receiving the death penalty from the NCAA in the 80s.
With NIL legal throughout college football, SMU has been able to push its program back into the spotlight. The Mustangs agreed to forgo television revenue for nearly a decade in exchange for a spot in the league, but it did so because of a group of boosters who pledged to both offset the shortfall and fund the NIL program.
SMU kicks off against Virginia on Saturday at noon ET on ESPN2. The Mustangs are a 10.5-point favorite in the game, via FanDuel.
Derek Peterson does a bit of everything, not unlike Taysom Hill. He has covered Oklahoma, Nebraska, the Pac-12, and now delivers CFB-wide content.
