The SMU Mustangs are getting proactive.
With head coach Rhett Lashlee becoming a top target for a handful of college football head coach openings, SMU locked him down with another contract extension. The program and Lashlee are finalizing a two-year extension to his current contract that would keep him on the Hilltop through 2032, a person familiar with the deal confirmed to The Dallas Morning News.
The raise will make Lashlee one of the top 10 highest-paid coaches in all of college football.
This is the third consecutive season Lashlee has received a contract extension at SMU.
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Rhett Lashlee and SMU are finalizing a 2-year extension and raise to make him one of the top-10 highest-paid coaches in the country, sources tell @YahooSports.
In his fourth season, Lashlee is 34-15 and led Mustangs to the CFP last season. He’s fielded interest from other jobs.
— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) November 1, 2025
Lashlee, 42, is in his fourth season at the helm at SMU and is coming off a stellar 2024 season in which he led the Mustangs to their first-ever College Football Playoff appearance and the ACC championship game in their first year in the conference.
He led the program through its jump to a power conference, going 11-1 through his first 12 ACC games. He’s 3-1 in conference in 2025 with wins over Syracuse, Stanford and Clemson. SMU dropped its first regular-season ACC game last week to Wake Forest.
With SMU being Lashlee’s first head coaching job, many wondered whether he’d be destined for the SEC soon.
Lashlee’s success at SMU garnered attention from around the country. Notably, Lashlee was a potential candidate for the open Arkansas job after the Razorbacks fired Sam Pittman earlier this season. The Arkansas-born coach and former Razorbacks quarterback was a top target to bring back to Fayetteville.
Lashlee responded to the rumor mill last month.
“I’m happy, I’ve got a great job,” Lashlee said at the time. “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.”
Beyond Arkansas, many wondered whether Florida could pursue Lashlee to take Billy Napier’s role, or if Auburn fires Hugh Freeze, would Lashlee return to the program where he won a national championship as a graduate assistant in 2010?
SMU has made any of those moves unlikely, as the Mustangs continue to give their coach the salary and resources competitive with any program in the country.
Lashlee has always considered SMU to be a destination job with strong NIL resources and an elite recruiting pool in its backyard. The only thing SMU was missing was a spot in power conference, which the Mustangs have now achieved.
The SEC may be the gold standard of college football, but Lashlee may have an easier shot of reaching the College Football Playoff every year in the ACC than at a program like Arkansas in the SEC.
Lashlee and SMU can now turn their attention to keeping the Mustangs in the conversation for a spot in the ACC title game. SMU already has three losses this season, including one in ACC play, so it will need some help from other teams to have a shot at returning to Charlotte.
But a win over No. 10 Miami Saturday at Ford Stadium would be a key step in the right direction.
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