The SMU Mustangs are moving to the ACC and the outlook for the former power is as positive as it’s been since before the program suffered the “Death Penalty.”
Rhett Lashlee enters his third season in charge with a career record of 18-9 after the Mustangs won the AAC with an 11-3 overall record in 2023.
Who is on Rhett Lashlee’s coaching staff at SMU?
SMU Mustangs Coaching Staff
Head Coach, Rhett Lashlee
Lashlee is in his third year as a head coach after taking the SMU job when he was the offensive coordinator at Miami in 2020 and 2021, returning to Dallas to coach the Mustangs after he was the offensive coordinator in 2018 and 2019.
Aan offensive coordinator by trade, Lashlee was best known for his four years at Auburn. Serving there from 2013-16, Lashlee helped lead the Tigers to a National Championship appearance in his first year with the program.
Lashlee has also been the offensive coordinator at Samford, Arkansas State, and UConn in his relatively short coaching career.
Offensive Coordinator/Tight Ends/Chief of Staff, Casey Woods
Casey Woods is a long-time coaching veteran and maybe a surprising part of the staff of a head coach with plenty of play-calling experience.
Woods actually doesn’t have a ton of recent overlap with Lashlee in his career as he came to SMU from Missouri, where he was the tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator.
He coached with Lashlee at Auburn and Arkansas State and was the recruiting coordinator at UAB when that program was restarted in 2016.
Defensive Coordinator/Safeties, Scott Symons
Scott Symons is actually Lashlee’s second defensive coordinator, joining the program in 2022 after coaching the Liberty defense. He’s considered one of the best young defensive coordinators in the sport and has the Mustang defense keeping up with the offense.
Symons has coached at Memphis and was the defensive coordinator at Division II power West Georgia in the early 2010s. He’s also worked at Arkansas Tech and worked with Lashlee at Arkansas State
Special Teams Coordinator/Running Backs, Kyle Cooper
Cooper is another up-and-coming coach under Lashlee, Cooper was an offensive quality control coach under the head man when Lashlee was at Miami.
He has been a graduate assistant at Westminster College and UConn and spent a bit of time in Hilltop with the Mustangs in 2018 and 2019, also with Lashlee.
Associate Head Coach/Co-Offensive Coordinator/Wide Receivers, Rob Likens
Rob Likens is a 30-year coaching veteran who coached under Lashlee at Miami. He’s been all over the country coaching several different positions.
He was Jayden Daniels’ quarterbacks coach at Arizona State and helped coach Jared Goff at Cal. Likens has also coached at Louisiana Tech, Central Connecticut State, Temple, North Alabama and others in his long coaching career.
Assistant Head Coach/Offensive Line/Co-Offensive Coordinator, Garin Justice
Like a couple of the other coaches on this list, Garin Justice followed Lashlee from Miami to become offensive line coach in December 2021. A long-time offensive line coach, Justice has also been the offensive coordinator at UNLV and has made stops at Concord University, FAU, Florida State, and West Virginia.
Quarterbacks, D’Eriq King
D’Eriq King is best known for his time as a quarterback at Houston and Miami, but he’s making a name for himself as a young offensive mind under Lashlee as he led Preston Stone to unprecedented heights in 2023.
A recent 30-Under-30 selection, King is entering his first year as quarterbacks coach after being an offensive analyst in 2023.
Co-Defensive Coordinator/Cornerbacks, Rickey Hunley Jr.
Rickey Hunley Jr. followed Symons from Liberty to join Lashlee’s original staff at SMU in 2021. Hunley is considered an excellent recruiter and teacher and has been a huge part of SMU’s recent defensive success.
A former recruiting coordinator at FCS UIW, Hunley got his start in the high school coaching ranks in both Iowa and Texas.
Defensive Line, Calvin Thibodeaux
Calvin Thibodeaux came to SMU via Oklahoma in 2021 after six seasons with the Sooners. He’s considered an excellent developer of talent and gets the best out of his units.
Thibodeaux spent a season at Kansas in 2015 and spent time at Tulsa and Dartmouth before that. A standout defensive lineman at Oklahoma, he finished with 10 sacks in 2005.
Edges, Sam Dunnam
Unlike many of the other coaches on this team, Sam Dunnam joined the staff in 2022 after spending the 2021 season in the high school rankings.
Last season, Dunnam’s first with the program, the Mustangs finished with 47 sacks and were constantly in the backfield. He’s spent most of his coaching career at the Division II level, but did spend the 2018 season with North Carolina.
Linebackers/Co-Defensive Coordinator, Maurice Crum Jr.
One of the more recent additions to Lashlee’s staff at SMU, Maurice Crum Jr. came to Hilltop in January 2023 after a season with Ole Miss and a stint as Western Kentucky’s defensive coordinator.
Crum started his on-field coaching career in 2015 at Indiana State, coaching cornerbacks there. He was on staff for three years at Kansas, mostly in off-field and recruiting-heavy roles.
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