Rhett Lashlee

[leopold]

Guys

At this point most any coach who is successful here is going to get considered for a bigger, better job and will probably eventually leave and, frankly, that's fine. We are what we are - a small private school with limited relative resources who is punching above its weight. We need them to continue to win, DO IT CLEANLY, and hopefully not leave us for our biggest damned rivals.

Everybody knocks Morris for leaving us for Arkansas, but that's our ideal situation right now. Take a loser to a winner, leave our program better than it was, get us millions of dollars in return from the buyout, and even take our erratic, maxed-his-potential-out QB with him. I'd take that deal every time given where we are right now.

We've shown the capacity to replace coaches win, and that's a testament to where the program is right now. If CRL leaves, good luck and it's next man up.

[Insane_Pony_Posse]

Nice getting perspectives from sensible fans of other teams, and I found this to be a very thoughtful post. Good stuff!

The point isn't Miss State. Yes it could be Ark or many others! Especially if we win 10 games and/or the conference title.

It is fantasy land to deny the nature of the game and coaching moves...and pretend we are or will be immune to this.

The point is (and this is why I included it in my post) "Coach Lashlee will most likely leave if now or in the future he is offered more than double his SMU salary. It's just a fact of life and common occurrence in college football or actually life in general"

We've heard the same BS about June before he tried to go to Arizona, we've heard the same BS about Chad, "oh his son is at HP HS playing football, and his wife loves Highland Park", we heard the same BS about Sonny "oh he's been an SMU fan since he was a kid"....blah blah....No team's fans are thrilled when a good coach leaves for a big raise.

The point is with 95% of college coaches they either get fired or leave to take a job that greatly increases their salary. 90% of the posters on this board that demonize every coach that leaves SMU would leave their job for a HUGE raise.

To me what is not sensible is to believe many coaches stay anywhere for very long. Ok Patterson is the rare exception, but playing in the Rose Bowl can do that to you. Yes there are a few exceptions to any rule and I hope Coach Lashlee stays here a long time.

But remember there were people on this board questioning if Coach Lashlee was the right coach after the TCU/OU losses this season. And if we go 500 in the better ACC for a couple of years, you'll hear the wolves hollering "Fire His Arse".

[Terry Webster]

I suspect that there are already hefty raises in store for RL and staff starting the day when we are officially part of the ACC.

[HubbaHubba]

Being successful in a P5 conference is more of an incentive for him to stay. The chance of of being in the conference finals of the ACC >>> the chance of being in the finals of the SEC (at Miss St or Ark., if Saban retires, all bets are off).

[PonyME]

It’s a great point…at what point is ‘more’ less. Ask Luke Fickell. In my opinion he would have had Cincy mid level in the Big 12 this year and consistently competing for a conference championship and possible CFP berths each year. Sorry I don’t see that happening at Wisconsin anytime soon. Is he ‘better off’?

[highlander]

Yes Miss State is no great place, but the point is they were paying Mike Leach $5.5 million a year. Coach Lashlee makes around $2 million. Most posters on this board would leave their current job if a new job basically performing the same duties was offered at more than double their current salary. Sure many of these coaches love the program they are at, but they also think about securing their family for the future. Coach Lashlee will most likely leave if now or in the future he is offered more than double his SMU salary. It's just a fact of life and common occurrence in college football or actually life in general.

Leach was an extremely successful HC before getting the Miss ST HC job. He had overachieved at Texas Tech and Wazzou. Lashlee is in his 1st HC gig, and only in the 2nd year of that. Those facts explain what you note as pay discrepancy. If SMU is in the AAC CCG, I expect your boosters will make certain his contract is renegotiated. It likely will not match 5.5 million per year, but it will be more than enough to keep the Lashlee family more than comfortable in Highland Park.

What I would be concerned about is the Arkansas job. He grew up maybe 10 miles from the campus and was a Hawg. That homecoming might draw him. Even so, the SMU job is a very good one now. That's a place that can now start landing big talent every class. And all kinds of coaches are aware of that.

If I were Lashlee's agent, I would advise him that perhaps the last thing I would want to do so early in my HC career is try to run the Murderer's Row gauntlet of SEC football as HC of one of the league's bottom half of football powers. It would be very easy to come out of that looking like a big time loser.

The Arkansas job is a Schidt-show. Sam Pittman had done wonders for that program up until this year, but they have fallen so far that he is almost back to square one. Also, ask Chad Morris about "moving up" to the bottom of the SEC.

No - Lashlee may leave, but if he has half a brain it won't be for Arkansas.

[highlander]

For context, Mike Elko's (Duke) salary started at $2.1mil in 2021, and he just got a raise a few months ago up to a reported $3.5.