Its rare that among the nominees for college football coach of the year, that the winner is so obvious. Only NCAA politics could keep SMUs Head Coach Rhett Lashlee from the award he clearly earned. But let's take a look at the evidence and see if I can convince you of this truth.
There are several Coach of the Year awards, here is a quick summary of those.
AFCA COY - Picks their national winner from 5 regional winners. Coach Lashlee was not among those 5. Some folks just don't follow college football.
AP COY - I cannot find a list of finalists. But like the clowns above, they took pity on Sonny Dykes of TCU and gave him the award last year. Remember Sonny, he was the coach who set the record for the most humiliating defeat in a national championship game, losing 65-7? Then he followed that up with a brilliant 5-7 campaign in 2023. Wait a tic, I think Georgia just scored again!
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| Sonny's Last Days At SMU |
Eddie Robinson COY - Voted on by the Football Writers Association of America, this one has released its finalists and it does include Coach Lashlee. The finalists are David Braun of Northwestern; Jamey Chadwell of Liberty; Kalen DeBoer of Washington; Eliah Drinkwitz of Missouri; Jedd Fisch of Arizona; Rhett Lashlee of SMU; Chuck Martin of Miami (Ohio); Mike Norvell of Florida State; Barry Odom of UNLV; Nick Saban of Alabama; Steve Sarkisian of Texas; and Jon Sumrall of Troy.
I will be using the above list of finalists for some of my comparisons, as it seems to be one of the better collections of coaches. This same group also selected Sonny Dykes last year as COY, but they can atone for this horrible mistake by supporting a truly gifted coach, SMUs Rhett Lashlee.
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| SMU Heisman Winner Doak Walker |
George Munger COY - Another one that includes Coach Lashlee as a finalist. Many of the same coaches above are finalists here. Willie Fritz of Tulane won last year. I give kudos to this organization because when news of Joe "Pa" Paterno came out that he protected a rapist on his team, and enabled a pedophile to roam the campus for decades, they rightly rescinded their three awards to him. It is also why the Joe Paterno award no longer exists. Pedophile enablers, even if they win football games, should NEVER be celebrated.
Home Depot COY - Already made their decision. They selected Kalen Deboer of Washington. So make sure you shop at Lowes or Ace from now on. They also picked TCUs Sonny Dykes last year, so not real sharp when it comes to understanding the game.
Paul "Bear" Bryant COY - Yet another that picked Sonny D last year - I do not understand how this man fooled so many otherwise intelligent folks. They did include Coach Lashlee in their finalists, so they can also atone for their mistake.
Bobby Dodd COY - Focused on teams that meet Academic Progress Rates that exceed 965, and coach must be in their 2nd year or longer to be eligible. Lashlee qualifies on both counts (2nd year; APR 977 T53rd). Willie Fritz of Tulane won it last year - making you think that Lashlee would be in a good position to win this year. The Mid-season watch list did NOT include Lashlee, and I have not seen a finalist list as of yet.
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| SMU WINS! |
There are a few others, but you get the idea.
Let's first look at some of the other finalists. Remember, in most cases, this award is based on performance to date, not what might happen in the bowl games.
POWER CONFERENCE COACHES
I am not opposed to a Power Conference coach winning the award. But what I want to see is a coach who overcame significant hurdles, losing season in 2022, injuries to key players, tragic events like a death in the program family - major obstacles to achieve greatness. Why? If you are in a Power conference you already have NUMEROUS advantages over your peers. Texas, Washington, Alabama, Florida State, Missouri can literally choose who they want to sign. They are major state schools with HUGE budgets, filled stadiums, numerous boosters, best facilities, and play on major networks at the best times. Even Northwestern still benefits GREATLY in the Big10, even though the results may not be as good as their peers.
I also want to see a significant change from the prior year, and achievement WAY BEYOND expectations. Four mentioned above were picked either 1st or 2nd in their conference preseason polls. Improvement from 11 wins to 13 as a Texas or Alabama is not impressive. In the case of Texas, they routinely out recruit all their peers, and load up on talent. Winning in double digits is EXPECTED. Same goes for Alabama, FSU, and Washington. You could make a case for Northwestern or MAYBE Missouri, a big turnaround, but not even a conference championship game? Again, with all their resources, I would expect so much more, even playing in the Big 10 or SEC.
G5 COACHES
I truly despise that term, and HATE that college football is segregated. Thankfully, SMU returns to Big Boy football next year, playing in the ACC. As much as I hate the label, it is a reality of college football today. G5 teams are playing at a SIGNIFICANT disadvantage compared to the POWER teams. Talk to any recruit with any talent, they are far more likely to sign with a Power team than any G5. The reasons - the prestige factor, more likely to play on the biggest stage and against the best opponents. They are far more likely to get a chance to play for a national championship. Facilities are generally better, in fact most everything is bigger and better at a Power school. Even if you leave home, your family is far more likely to see you play at a Power school - carried on major networks, rather than a G5 team on streaming services - if at all.
With that said, consider the coaches who had an impact this year. Did any of these earn coach of the year - even with the limitations of G5 status? I'm working backwards from last to first.
Jon Sumrall, Troy - SOS 95
- '22 12-2 (7-1) SBC; '23 11-2 (8-1) Bowl: Birmingham Duke (7-5) FPI 32
- UNRANKED: CFP, AP, Coaches
- FPI 45; Sagarin 45; Massey 39*
Troy was picked 1st in West and led all teams with 92 points and 10 1st place votes. Very little change from last year, met expectations and yet unranked. A solid bowl win over a Power team would be a great cherry on top. Solid play earned Sumrall a new coaching gig. But coach of the year?
Chuck Martin, Miami (Ohio) - SOS 114
- '22 6-7 (4-4) MAC; '23 11-2 (8-1) Bowl: Cure App St (8-5) FPI 68
- UNRANKED: CFP, AP, Coaches
- FPI 71; Sagarin 75; Massey 61*
Miami (OH) was picked 3rd with just 2 1st place votes. Nice jump from 6-7 to 11-2 and winning the MAC championship. Team was unranked, a terrible SOS and landed in the high 60s, low 70s for most rating services. A bowl win would be a nice reward for a good season. But what did the coach do to deserve COY?
Barry Odom, UNLV - SOS 68
- '22 5-7 (3-5) MWC; '23 9-4 (6-3) Bowl: Guaranteed Rate Kansas (8-4) FPI 29
- UNRANKED: CFP. AP, Coaches,
- FPI 74; Sagarin 74; Massey 77*
UNLV was picked 9th with 1 1st place vote. This coach should be worthy of some serious consideration. Took a 5-7 team to 9-4 and won the MWC when nobody thought they stood a chance. SOS is average at 68, not ranked, and ratings in the 70s holds them back IMHO.
Jamey Chadwell, Liberty - SOS 133
- 22 8-5 Ind; '23 CUSA13-0 Bowl Fiesta Oregon (11-2) FPI 4
- CUSA champs - New conference with two teams transitioning to FBS.
- Tot Off #3; Tot Def #47
- Score Off #5; Score Def #40
- Tackles for Loss #54; Team Sacks #80
- Def Tds #25 33-Way TIE;
- CFP #23; AP #18; Coaches #18
- FPI 49; Sagarin 47; Massey 35*
Liberty was new to CUSA this year, so somewhat of an unknown. They were selected 2nd of 9 teams, with 4 of 22 1st place votes. I've added some statistical information for additional scrutiny. The biggest downside simply cannot be overlooked - SOS 133. The absolute worst of FBS. Any FBS school would look good statistically and would stack up wins playing Liberty's schedule this year. Just based on roster rankings, half of SMUs schedule would go undefeated playing that schedule. And the offense SHOULD put up huge numbers, and be very stingy on defense, yet they didn't rank so well on D. They managed to get ranked in all the polls, but the ranking services looked at them far more objectively with a 35 - 49 range - which is probably a bit high, but fair. The college football fairies gave them the Golden Ticket to face Oregon in the playoff. This appears like a repeat of the 2008 Sugar Bowl, where an undefeated Hawaii, who played a dreadfully weak schedule, got humiliated by Georgia on national TV - much to the delight of the TV execs and folks who make money off this segregated football crap. If they keep the game within two TDs, I will be pleasantly surprised.
- '22 7-6 (5-3) AAC; '23 11-2 (9-0) Bowl: Fenway Boston College (6-6) FPI 86
- AAC Champs - 1st SOLO Conference Title since 1982 (84 shared)
- AAC CCG win over '22 champ Tulane, SMU w/o starting QB
- Tackles for Loss #13; Team Sacks #2
- CFP #24; AP #17; Coaches #19
- FPI 20; Sagarin 21; Massey 26*
In the new AAC, SMU was disrespected in a number of ways. Players were overlooked for all conference teams, and most importantly the media voted SMU 3rd of 14 teams in 2023, with only 3 of 34 1st place votes. This is AFTER the departure of Cincinnati, Houston, and UCF to the Big 12. To the credit of this staff, they went to work recruiting and in the portal to add depth and quality, especially on defense, and it showed. This was the best defense by any measure going back to the 80s. And they accomplished something else that has not been done since that decade - a conference championship and undefeated in conference play. In every category that matters, offense and defense, SMU was a top 15 team. And they played a schedule that included two ranked teams, and last year's national runner-up, TCU. I mock TCU and Sonny Dykes, but that team is still LOADED with talent and played a very tough schedule. That team would have easily been undefeated playing LUs schedule.
The point being that SMU maintained the high rankings on both sides of the ball, even against some pretty good teams. Last year, SMU stumbled into their bowl game with a number of key starters either out, or playing injured. This year, the depth was such that SMU was able to prevail even when key starters were hurt. The best example was the dominant performance against Tulane in New Orleans. QB Preston Stone went down in the last regular season game with a broken leg. Kevin Jennings RF stepped in and was able to play well enough for the win. They say defense wins championships, it certainly applied to that game.
And one final note, Action Network announced their All American Team and SMU had one player on the 1st Team - DL Elijah Roberts. The American conference, in a moment of pettiness, did not think he did enough to earn a spot on the All Conference first team. They even chose Tulane coach Willie Fritz as coach of the year!
Fenway is a nice reward, but SMU deserved better. And Coach Rhett Lashlee, for all that he has done for the team, and the SMU community, has earned the Coach of the Year award.
*Massey Ratings. I did not use the Massey Composite because some of the ratings are downright ridiculous. For instance, Liberty is rated as high as 3 and as low as 89. If you believe either is remotely true, you are delusional. SMU is equally mishandled, with ratings as high as 11 and as low as 78. Clearly, a case of too many cooks in the kitchen who know little about college football. For grins, LUs composite is 20, SMUs 22.
Links to all the ranking service pages under the Lashlee profile.
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| Mustangs Stampede To Victory! |
SMU At Tulane - AAC Championship Game 2023
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| Miami (OH) Redhawk |
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| Troy (Modern) Trojan |
| Liberty Flames? Did Not Compute. |
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| Vegas Rebel And finally.... The College Football Playoff Committee Hard At Work
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