{"id":267096,"date":"2025-09-30T17:53:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-30T17:53:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/267096\/"},"modified":"2025-09-30T17:53:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-30T17:53:11","slug":"smu-head-coach-rhett-lashlee-responds-to-reports-tying-him-to-arkansas-job","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/267096\/","title":{"rendered":"SMU head coach Rhett Lashlee responds to reports tying him to Arkansas job"},"content":{"rendered":"

UNIVERISTY PARK \u2014 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. <\/p>\n

SMU head coach Rhett Lashlee said Tuesday that he hasn\u2019t \u201cgiven any thought\u201d to the reports that have linked him to the head coaching vacancy at his alma mater Arkansas.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m happy, I\u2019ve got a great job,\u201d Lashlee said Tuesday after practice. \u201cI think when your name gets linked to jobs it means your team has done well, your program has done well, so it\u2019s a compliment to what our staff, administration and players have built over the last three plus years. A lot of times there\u2019s obvious connections. If it\u2019s your alma mater it\u2019s easy to link names.\u201d<\/p>\n

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. <\/p>\n

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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. <\/p>\n

\u201cUntil there\u2019s things to talk about, you don\u2019t talk about them,\u201d Lashlee said. \u201cInternally, we haven\u2019t said a word about it, because in my world nothing is going on. Outside of our world there\u2019s a lot of speculation and that\u2019s part of our business. It\u2019s probably not going anywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

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. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think when you look at it, we\u2019ve got a chance to go 1-0 in the league this year, which would be nine straight conference [wins] to start the ACC,\u201d Lashlee said. \u201cI think what we\u2019ve began to build is really fun and what we can build is even more special. We\u2019ve got an excellent recruiting class that\u2019s freshman right now, a top 25 recruiting class in \u201826 and a lot of guys on this roster that can come back. Those are the guys that we\u2019re focused on.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Athletic\u2019s Bruce Feldman<\/a> 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\u2019d support \u201ca guy who coaches down the street here at SMU\u201d to replace Pittman. He vouched for interim head coach Bobby Petrino but said that the NFL doesn\u2019t encourage involvement in college head coach searches. <\/p>\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t given it any thought because there hasn\u2019t been anything to give thought to,\u201d Lashlee said. \u201cIt\u2019s a fair question. I\u2019m really excited with what we\u2019re building here. I am not discouraged at all by the fact that we\u2019re sitting here at 2-2.\u201d<\/p>\n

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. <\/p>\n