Rhett Lashlee

[indianmustang]

his name popping up on potential
https://twitter.com/RossDellenger/statu ... 2647638234

[smubrooks]

You have a massive war chest, in a hotbed of talent, headed to a winnable power conference. Why would he even consider that job? Plus the old cliche, I hear his wife loves living in HP!

[Donnell88]

I have confidence that Coach Lashlee will not treat us the way Sonny Dykes did. As Eric Dickerson said recently, coaches are going to change schools but there is a right way to do it. Flying into TCU's stadium two days after our season ended, and persuading two of our top recruits to join him. is not the right way.
Dykes quickly forgot that SMU picked him off the floor a year after he had been fired at Cal. The only job offer he received was from Gary Patterson who hired him as an offensive analyst, although I have never really understood what they are supposed to do.
SMU hired him as a head coach
when no one else was interested. But loyalty is a one-way street with Coach Dykes. I don't remember him thanking SMU for giving him an opportunity to revive his career.
And I am sure that I am not the only one enjoying that TCU is likely to finish below .500

[highlander]

I have confidence that Coach Lashlee will not treat us the way Sonny Dykes did. As Eric Dickerson said recently, coaches are going to change schools but there is a right way to do it. Flying into TCU's stadium two days after our season ended, and persuading two of our top recruits to join him. is not the right way.
Dykes quickly forgot that SMU picked him off the floor a year after he had been fired at Cal. The only job offer he received was from Gary Patterson who hired him as an offensive analyst, although I have never really understood what they are supposed to do.
SMU hired him as a head coach
when no one else was interested. But loyalty is a one-way street with Coach Dykes. I don't remember him thanking SMU for giving him an opportunity to revive his career.
And I am sure that I am not the only one enjoying that TCU is likely to finish below .500

Speaking of Sonny Dykes: his current situation should also serve as a reminder to Lashlee that the grass is not always greener (especially now that SMU will be in a P-5 conference). Sonny goes across town to TCU, and immediately takes them to a NC game! What does that get him? A half-season grace period! Now the spoiled TCU fans miss the good old days of his predecessor. So yeah, Rhett would do well to spend a couple more years at a school whose arrow is definitely pointed UP and see where it goes.

[Insane_Pony_Posse]

headed to a winnable power conference

The ACC is winnable?
when?
I doubt we would have 8 wins if we were in the ACC this year.
Moving to the ACC is great!
But how long has it been since we won even a jr league conference title?
If we dont beat Memphis this weekend, bye AAC Conference Title.
I expect we are headed for some 500 seasons, but will improve over time.
But what's great...is I guess we'll see wont we?
I hope you are right!

[Charleston Pony]

Let's all remember it took Ron Meyers 4 years before his teams finally had a winning season, but there was improvement year after year. He went 3-8, 4-7 and 4-6-1 before the Pony Express broke through. Rhett went 7-6 last year and is guaranteed to do better this year thanks to a very favorable AAC schedule. The challenge begins next year when we face a new level of competition

[1983 Cotton Bowl]

The main difference is that Ron Meyer didn't have a transfer portal to work with. I'm not saying we'll win the ACC or anything like that next year. . .I wouldn't expect that. But with the portal I think we have an opportunity to upgrade the team where needed pretty rapidly. Certainly more rapidly than Ron Meyer could have done.

[PonyPride]

SMU Will Need to Step Up Game Big Time This Hiring Season
by Kent Smith

DALLAS – With the way SMU keeps winning, it was bound to happen.

With the firing of Jimbo Fisher, Zach Arnett and presumed eventual firing/retirement of Sam Pittman, the name Rhett Lashlee is going to start popping up often and continue to pop up as more jobs come open.

It comes with the territory of having a winner at a school that isn't a perennial Top 10 program. Ole Miss deals with it this time each year with Lane Kiffin's name showing up on wish lists, and it used to happen all the time with Houston Nutt during his heyday with Arkansas. No matter how many wins he amassed and how loyal he was thought to be, there was always a Nebraska, LSU and eventually Ole Miss knocking on the door to steal him away.

To read this story in its entirety, CLICK HERE.

[BUS]

Thank you for the post. A good read. I bet they are already talking to Rhett about his raise and an increase for assistants.

Go Mustangs and as stated - Get Ye To A Seat In Ford.

[Graceland Tar Heel]

You have a massive war chest, in a hotbed of talent, headed to a winnable power conference. Why would he even consider that job? Plus the old cliche, I hear his wife loves living in HP!

Miss St is a #2 school and #2 football program in small, poor state. The odds of Miss ST ever again getting to a single SEC Championship Game are between very small and Zero.

[Graceland Tar Heel]

his name popping up on potential
https://twitter.com/RossDellenger/statu ... 2647638234

So because Lane Kiffin left FAU for Ole Miss, which is a cool place, it makes sense to assume that Tim Herman would leave FAU for uncool Miss St.

The only two coaches ever able to win consistently for more than maybe 3 or 4 years at Miss ST are Jackie Sherrill, now 79n or 80, and Dan Mullen. And even Sherrill closed his career with 3 consecutive losing seasons at Miss St.

Miss St should work very hard trying to get Mullen to return. If that fails, it should be focused on Memphis HC Ryan Silverfield. He knows the landscape and what it takes to be successful in it.

[Insane_Pony_Posse]

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.

[JasonB]

1) Lashlee never made a promise that he would be here forever. And he isn't going to TCU. At some point he may leave, and when he does we won't bear any ill will towards him.

2) His coaching staff is built for the SEC. That is where they will end up eventually. So all of these openings will appeal to him one way or another.

3) Moving to a new conference is hard. TCU did okay and the coach did fine. But look at where UCF, Cincy, and Houston are right now. All of those staffs are at risk going into next season. Look at what our record was after we moved from CUSA to the AAC. Yes, Jones had something to do with it, but so did an uptick in the quality of competition. So, does he have the support here that if we struggle for a couple of years in the ACC that he is going to get the opportunity to help the team grow? Does he know he has a long road to grow the roster more? How much time do you get at Ark or Miss St? Probably not long. Is a lower tier SEC school really that much better for what would be in the beginning a lower tier ACC school?

If I were making the decision, I wouldn't leave because I think I have a longer runway at SMU and I have a great recruiting class lined up in 2025 that is built around kids staying in Dallas. But I know he loves the SEC, we will see if that has too much pull to overcome.

[Graceland Tar Heel]

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.

[Mustangs_Maroons]

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.

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