SMU officially hired Miami Hurricanes offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee as head coach on Monday. The rumors that Lashlee would be hired to succeed Sonny Dykes as the Mustangs head coach broke on Friday. Lashlee spent two seasons as the SMU offensive coordinator before being hired by Miami in January 2020.
Dykes is leaving SMU to become the head coach at TCU. TCU has not made an official announcement regarding Dykes. A Tuesday press conference is expected to officially introduce Lashlee as the new SMU head coach. Any replacement for Lashlee at Miami will depend on the job status of head coach Manny Diaz.
There are numerous directions Miami could go. There are many former head coaches with offensive backgrounds out of jobs, lifelong successful offensive coordinators or young offensive coordinators with experience in the position who could be hired by the Miami Hurricanes football program.
Lashlee did an exceptional job in two years running the Miami offense. The Hurricanes improved in the first season under Lashlee from 25.7 points per game in 2019 to 34.0 PPG in 2020 and from 367.2 yards per game to 439.8 YPG. Miami went from a pro-style offense under Dan Enos to a spread run by Lashlee.
305 to the 214.
— SMU Football (@SMUFB) November 29, 2021
Mustang Family, welcome HC Rhett Lashlee BACK to the Hilltop! #PonyUpDallas pic.twitter.com/dSCMypvODt
Miami will be an attractive destination for whoever succeeds Lashlee as the offensive coordinator. The Hurricanes return the majority of their offensive skill position players in 2022. Miami will have to rebuild their offensive line and the Hurricanes will lose star wide receiver Mike Harley and likely leading receiver Charleston Rambo.
Lashlee will reportedly take Miami offensive line coach Garin Justice, wide receivers coach Rob Likens and several graduate assistants with him to SMU. Likens is expected to be named the Mustangs offensive coordinator. Justice and Likens both have prior experience as offensive coordinators.
If Diaz is retained as the Miami head coach, Likens could potentially be elevated as the Hurricanes offensive coordinator replace Lashlee. In the next few weeks the Miami coaching staff will have a major transition for the fourth season in a row regardless if Diaz stays or is fired and a new head coach is hired.
Diaz is in his third season as Miami head coach. When he was hired to replace Mark Richt in December 2018, Diaz replaced nearly the entire offensive coaching staff. After a poor performance in 2019, Diaz again replaced the majority of the offensive coaching staff. Miami made major changes with the defensive coaching staff in 2021.