UNIVERISTY PARK — The college football head coach carousel has begun to spin. The declarations and comments from those whose names populate the rumor mill will now follow.
SMU head coach Rhett Lashlee said Tuesday that he hasn’t “given any thought” to the reports that have linked him to the head coaching vacancy at his alma mater Arkansas.
“I’m happy, I’ve got a great job,” Lashlee said Tuesday after practice. “I think when your name gets linked to jobs it means your team has done well, your program has done well, so it’s a compliment to what our staff, administration and players have built over the last three plus years. A lot of times there’s obvious connections. If it’s your alma mater it’s easy to link names.”
Lashlee is a native of Springdale, Ark., which is eight miles north of Fayetteville, and played quarterback for the Razorbacks from 2002-04 before a shoulder injury ended his career. His first collegiate job was at Arkansas as a graduate assistant.
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The Razorbacks fired head coach Sam Pittman Saturday after a 56-13 loss vs. Notre Dame dropped them to 2-3 on the season.
“Until there’s things to talk about, you don’t talk about them,” Lashlee said. “Internally, we haven’t said a word about it, because in my world nothing is going on. Outside of our world there’s a lot of speculation and that’s part of our business. It’s probably not going anywhere.”
The Mustangs are unranked, 2-2 and start ACC play this Saturday vs. Syracuse. They reached the College Football Playoffs last season in their first year with the new-look conference and were ranked No. 16 in the preseason AP Top 25 poll.
“I think when you look at it, we’ve got a chance to go 1-0 in the league this year, which would be nine straight conference [wins] to start the ACC,” Lashlee said. “I think what we’ve began to build is really fun and what we can build is even more special. We’ve got an excellent recruiting class that’s freshman right now, a top 25 recruiting class in ‘26 and a lot of guys on this roster that can come back. Those are the guys that we’re focused on.”
The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman reported Sunday that Lashlee has the support of Cowboys owner and Arkansas alum Jerry Jones. Jones was asked Tuesday in an interview on 103.5 The Fan if he’d support “a guy who coaches down the street here at SMU” to replace Pittman. He vouched for interim head coach Bobby Petrino but said that the NFL doesn’t encourage involvement in college head coach searches.
“I haven’t given it any thought because there hasn’t been anything to give thought to,” Lashlee said. “It’s a fair question. I’m really excited with what we’re building here. I am not discouraged at all by the fact that we’re sitting here at 2-2.”
Lashlee has led the Mustangs to a 31-14 record in four seasons. The team reached two straight conference championships in the American Conference under his direction before it transitioned into the ACC prior to last season.
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