Report: Rhett Lashlee leaves Auburn to be UConn offensive coordinator

Well, this is odd. Auburn Tigers offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee has left the program to join Randy Edsall’s staff with the UConn Huskies.

While the head coaching carousel has stopped in college football, the coordinator carousel is just getting started. On Wednesday night, we have an absolute shocker. Former Auburn Tigers offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee will leave Gus Malzahn’s program to join Randy Edsall’s UConn Huskies.

Lashlee was Malzahn’s high school quarterback at Shiloh Christian School in Arkansas. He had been Malzahn’s offensive coordinator since 2012 with the Arkansas State Red Wolves.

To leave an SEC West blue-blood program like Auburn for essentially a basketball school like UConn is a strange lateral move for Lashlee to make. Perhaps this is done to distance himself from Malzahn to give him a better shot at future head coaching opportunities?

Edsall is in his second stint at UConn where he was wildly successful before eventually leaving to coach the Maryland Terrapins. Getting a proven offensive coordinator that is very strong in the up-tempo spread attack in Lashlee is a slam dunk hire for Edsall and the UConn program.

On the other side of the coin, what does this mean for Auburn? Malzahn had been on the hot seat entering the 2016 despite getting a five-year contract extension from Auburn athletic director Jay Jacobs. Auburn was a top-10 team at one point in 2016, but finished at a so-so 8-5, getting absolutely boat raced in the Allstate Sugar Bowl by the Oklahoma Sooners.

Next: Best college quarterback born in every state

Could there have been friction between Malzahn and Lashlee in 2016? Frankly they didn’t display the best body language during the 2016 season. If it is a divorce from his mentor Malzahn, then leaving The Plains for Storrs could not be a further landing spot for Lashlee.