Rhett Lashlee

American college football coach (born 1983)

Rhett LashleeCurrent position

Title| Head coach
Team| SMU
Conference| ACC
Record| 29–12
Biographical details
Born|  (1983-06-09) June 9, 1983 (age 41)
Springdale, Arkansas, U.S.
Playing career
2002–2004| Arkansas
Position(s)| Quarterback
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
2004–2005| Springdale HS (AR) (QB)
2006| Arkansas (GA)
2009–2010| Auburn (GA)
2011| Samford (OC/QB)
2012| Arkansas State (OC/QB)
2013–2016| Auburn (OC/QB)
2017| UConn (OC/QB)
2018–2019| SMU (OC/QB)
2020–2021| Miami (FL) (OC/QB)
2022–present| SMU
Head coaching record
Overall| 29–12
Bowls| 0–3
Tournaments| 0–1 (CFP)
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
AAC (2023)
Awards
ACC Coach of the Year (2024)

Rhett Lashlee (born June 9, 1983) is an American college football coach who is the head coach at Southern Methodist University. He previously served as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Auburn University from 2013 to 2016 and offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at the University of Miami from 2020 to 2021.

Lashlee played college football at the University of Arkansas as a quarterback from 2002 to 2004. Prior to his tenure at SMU, he held various assistant coaching positions at Springdale High School in Springdale, Arkansas, the University of Arkansas, Auburn University, Samford University, Arkansas State University, University of Connecticut, SMU, and the University of Miami.

## Playing career

[edit]

### High school

[edit]

Lashlee attended Shiloh Christian School in Springdale, Arkansas,[1] where he played quarterback under head coach Gus Malzahn. Lashlee posted a state-record 40 career wins (40–3–2 as a starter) and he led his team to three straight state championship games, winning two titles.[2]

Lashlee holds a number of Arkansas high school records.[3]

* 171 career touchdown passes (#4 nationally)
* 672 passing yards in a game (#12 nationally)

Regarded as a three-star recruit by Rivals.com, Lashlee was ranked as the No. 19 pro-style quarterback in a 2002 class that also featured Ben Olson, Trent Edwards, Drew Stanton, and Matt Moore.[4]

### College

[edit]

Lashlee played college football for the Arkansas Razorbacks. Lashlee was a backup quarterback to Matt Jones, from 2002 to 2004 for the Razorbacks. A shoulder injury ended his playing career.[5] Lashlee graduated from the University of Arkansas in 2006.[6]

## Coaching career

[edit]

### Early career

[edit]

Prior to 2017, Lashlee is from Gus Malzahn coaching tree and worked under him for his entire career with the exception of his one year at Samford University.

From 2004 to 2005, Lashlee worked with the quarterbacks at Springdale High School.[2] Following the announcement of Malzahn's hire as Arkansas Razorbacks offensive coordinator in 2006, Lashlee was hired as an offensive graduate assistant.[2] Following this season, Malzahn left to become the offensive coordinator of the Tulsa Golden Hurricane football team. Although invited to join Malzahn's staff at Tulsa, Lashlee left coaching and remained in Northwest Arkansas. Instead, Lashlee and his brother-in-law wrote, published, and marketed High School Sports The Magazine (later renamed Vype), a publication based on high school sports in Arkansas. During the two years Lashlee was involved in the business, he made relationships with high school coaches throughout Arkansas and marketed his magazine to distributors. Lashlee volunteered as quarterbacks coach at Har-Ber High School when his schedule would allow.[7] Malzahn was hired as the offensive coordinator at Auburn for the 2009 season. Following this announcement, Malzahn offered Lashlee to join his staff as a graduate assistant, returning Lashlee to coaching.[2]

### Samford

[edit]

In 2011, Lashlee joined Samford University as their offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. During his first and only season at Samford, Lashlee improved the team's offense in points per game (17 to 26), total offense (57 to 46 ranking nationally), and improved their record from 4–6 to 6–5 through the installation of a high tempo offense.[2]

### Arkansas State

[edit]

In 2012, Lashlee was hired by Arkansas State University as their offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach following head coach Gus Malzahn after his departure from Auburn.[2]

### Auburn

[edit]

On December 6, 2012, Lashlee was hired at Auburn University as their offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach following Gus Malzahn after his return to Auburn after one year at Arkansas State.[5][8][9] In 2013, Lashlee was a finalist for the Broyles Award, given annually to the nation's top college football assistant coach.

### UConn

[edit]

In 2017, Lashlee joined the University of Connecticut as their offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.

### SMU

[edit]

On January 4, 2018, Lashlee was hired as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Southern Methodist University (SMU).[10]

### Miami

[edit]

On January 3, 2020, Lashlee was hired as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at the University of Miami under head coach Manny Diaz.

### SMU (second stint)

[edit]

On November 30, 2021, Lashlee was named head coach at Southern Methodist University (SMU), replacing Sonny Dykes after his departure to become the head coach at Texas Christian University (TCU).[11]

## Personal life

[edit]

Lashlee is a Christian.[12] He is married to Lauren Lashlee (née Lee), and they have four children together.

## Head coaching record

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Year  | Team  | Overall  | Conference | Standing  | Bowl/playoffs  | Coaches# | AP°

|
|
|
|
|
|
|

SMU Mustangs (American Athletic Conference) (2022–2023)
2022 | SMU | 7–6 | 5–3 | T–4th | L New Mexico |  |
2023 | SMU | 11–3 | 8–0 | T–1st | L Fenway | 24 | 22
SMU Mustangs (Atlantic Coast Conference) (2024–present)
2024 | SMU | 11–3 | 8–0 | 1st | L CFP First Round† |  |
SMU: | 29–12 | 21–3 |
Total: | 29–12 |
National championship Conference title Conference division title or championship game berth

* †Indicates CFP / New Years' Six bowl.
* #Rankings from final Coaches Poll.
* °Rankings from final AP Poll.

## See also

[edit]

* 2006 Arkansas Razorbacks football team
* 2011 Samford Bulldogs football team

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Rhett Lashlee High School Player Profile". Scout.com. Retrieved December 10, 2012.
2. ^ a b c d e f "Rhett Lashlee Arkansas State Bio". Arkansas State Athletics. Retrieved December 10, 2012.
3. ^ "National Federation of State High School Associations". National Federation of State High School Associations. Archived from the original on December 7, 2012. Retrieved December 12, 2012.
4. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on November 18, 2015. Retrieved November 15, 2015.`{{cite web}}`: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
5. ^ a b "Rhett Lashlee Bio". Auburn Athletics. Retrieved December 10, 2012.
6. ^ Hall, Ray (December 14, 2012). "Auburn names Rhett Lashlee as new offensive coordinator". Raycom Group. Retrieved May 24, 2015.
7. ^ Thamel, Pete (January 6, 2014). "Rhett Lashlee's path from running a magazine to Auburn's offense". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved May 24, 2015.
8. ^ Goldberg, Charles (December 6, 2012). "Auburn hires Rhett Lashlee as offensive coordinator". AL.com. Retrieved December 10, 2012.
9. ^ Erickson, Joel E. (December 7, 2012). "Despite his youth, Auburn offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee has earned Gus Malzahn's trust". AL.com. Retrieved May 24, 2015.
10. ^ Embody, Billy (January 4, 2018). "SMU hires Rhett Lashlee as offensive coordinator". 247Sports. Retrieved November 4, 2024.
11. ^ "Lashlee Named SMU Head Football Coach" (Press release).
12. ^ Romano, Jason. "NEW PODCAST: Rhett Lashlee - Miami Hurricanes Offensive Coordinator". Sports Spectrum. Retrieved December 7, 2023.

## External links

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* SMU profile
* Miami (FL) profile

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Head coach
Gene Chizik

Assistant coaches
Jay Boulware
Eliah Drinkwitz
Scott Fountain
Jeff Grimes
Rhett Lashlee
Phillip Lolley
Curtis Luper
Gus Malzahn
Tracy Rocker
Ted Roof
Trooper Taylor
Tommy Thigpen
Travis Williams
Casey Woods
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