New Miami Hurricanes offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee has spent the majority of his career under Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn. Lashlee spent the last two at SMU following a one year stint at Connecticut.
Rhett Lashlee is regarded as one of the most innovative young minds offensively in college football. Lashlee spent the majority of his career playing for Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn and as an assistant on Mulzahn’s staffs at Arkansas State and Auburn. Lashlee spoke about his influences on the Joe Rose show Friday morning.
David Wilson of the Miami Herald examined Lashlee’s beginnings as a quarterback playing for Malzahn in the late 1990s and early 2000s in Springdale, Arkansas. Twice as a prep QB in Malzahn’s system Lashlee threw the ball 71 times in a game. After leaving Auburn, Lashlee has shown he can lead an elite offense on his own.
Wilson transcribed the entire interview and researched how Lashlee’s offense finished in 2019. SMU had one of the most prolific offenses in the country in 2019. The Mustangs finished second in plays per game, seventh in points per game and 42nd in yards per play. Lashlee improved SMU’s play on offense from 2018 to 2019.
Lashlee discussed with Rose and his co-host Zach Krantz about his background working with Malzahn and the evolution of the spread offense he runs. After leaving Auburn, Lashlee spent the 2017 season working for Randy Edsall at Connecticut. Manny Diaz will be the fourth head coach Lashlee has worked for in his career.
"“I think that’s what’s exciting about it, even back when I played for Gus in high school and all through the years. I think the thing that we really take pride in with our system is it is a player-friendly system, and it’s not complicated.”"
In addition to learning from playing for Malzahn in high school Lashlee ironically also adapted his offensive style from watching Nolan Richardson who once tried out for the then San Diego Chargers coach the Arkansas Razorbacks basketball team in the 1990s to three final fours and a National Championship.
"“I grew up when Nolan Richardson was winning national championships with ‘40 Minutes of Hell’ at Arkansas, and it was just a unique style and brand of basketball that everybody wasn’t really doing, so if we can do something that’s a little different, have something that’s a little unique to us, it gives us an advantage…”"
In his one season at Connecticut Lashlee made a big impact with the offense. Lashlee worked with Randy Edsall who built the Huskies from an FCS program to Big East Champions and a Fiesta Bowl appearance during his first stint as the Huskies coach. One of Lashlee’s biggest supporters is Huskies all-time leading passer, Dan Orlovsky.
To all the @CanesFootball fans. I know Rhett well.
— Dan Orlovsky (@danorlovsky7) January 3, 2020
THIS IS A RUNAWAY HOMERUN HIRE.
Creative/tempo pusher/matchup exploiter/innovative thinker/standard setter/sees the game so well/all has no brakes kinda coach https://t.co/A2CEaVxG0z
Orlovsky has been openly critical of the Miami offense the last two seasons under Dan Enos and Mark Richt. The former Detroit Lions QB has been one of several ESPN analysts stating that Miami should utilize a spread offense based on their personnel. The UConn offense was better in the one season under Lashlee than before or since.
The Huskies finished the 2017 season with Lashlee as the offensive coordinator 50th nationally in total offense averaging 415.2 yards per game. The year before Lashlee was the offensive coordinator at UConn the Huskies averaged 320 total yards per game in 2016, in 2018 UConn fell to 378.5 total yards per game.
Rhett Lashlee ironically tutored QB Bryant Sheriffs at Connecticut who is the brother of former Miami QB Evan Sheriffs. Bryant had by far the best year of his career under Lashlee. Diaz was the defensive coordinator when Evan was the Hurricanes backup QB during the 2017 ACC Coastal division-winning season.
Lashlee brings a lot of excitement with him from SMU and his career before coaching in the Metroplex. The onetime Arkansas Razorback QB discussed with Rose and Krantz the origins of his offense that date back to playing for Mazahn in high school.
"“Honestly for me, it’s what I know. As a player back in the late ‘90s in high school, I played for Gus Malzahn, who’s the head coach at Auburn. I threw it 71 times in a game twice and I think all three years I was in high school we led the offense in total offense or were right up there at the top.We didn’t have a guy who ran faster than a 4.6. We just spread the field, we played fast, we were tough, we were disciplined, we executed and it really gave us an advantage.And so that’s just kind of my background and then I’ve spent a lot of time with Gus, whether it be at Arkansas, Arkansas State, Auburn, when I broke off and kind of gone and done my own thing but there’s still a lot of that philosophy that’s in me. You see what Clemson does — guys like that all come from kind of the same tree.”"
Rhett Lashlee comes to Miami changing the philosophy of the pro-style offense Miami has utilized for the last four seasons first under Richt and then Enos. At the very least the Miami football team should be more exciting to watch on offense in 2020. Lashlee will likely need more than one season to implement the spread.