SMU might have been waiting for Sonny Dykes to officially be named the head coach at TCU before making its own announcement that Rhett Lashlee would take his place in Dallas.

But Monday after Dykes' name also remerged at Oklahoma, the school got tired of waiting and confirmed the hire of Lashlee on its Twitter account so that Lashlee could begin recruiting.

Lashlee is returning to the school that propelled him into the offensive coordinator position at Miami. Lashlee's work with Tyler Van Dyke this season was eye-opening and ultimately differentiating in conversations at SMU over whether to offer him the head coaching position.

Van Dyke, a second-year freshman, completed 62.3 percent of his passes with 25 TDs in 10 games along with six interceptions. He averaged 293.1 passing yards per game, and threw for over 300 yards with three or more TDs in the final six games.

"As with previous transitions, our process was thorough and competitive. Ultimately, though, our conversations kept leading us back to one man — Rhett Lashlee,” SMU athletic director Rick Hart told the Associated Press. “Rhett’s ability to connect with recruits, his passion and love for his players and his alignment with our vision and values are among the many reasons he has been selected to lead SMU football.”

Lashlee coached quarterback Shane Buechele to 3,929 yards and 34 passing touchdowns in 2019, both of which led the AAC and set SMU single-season records. He walks into a recruiting mess that he will have to try to repair with just seven remaining commitments and some of them possibly set to follow Dykes to his new destination.

If Manny Diaz is not dismissed in the coming days, he is expected to have Rob Likens call plays in Miami's bowl game. Then, presumably, Diaz would include Likens in the conversation moving forward, but would also likely look at others like South Alabama's Major Applewhite for the position.

Certainly Lashlee has created a high bar with his spread, hurry-up attack at UM.

In his first season last year in Coral Gables, the Hurricanes jumped to No. 32 in FBS in total offense (from No. 98), No. 29 in passing offense (from No. 52), No. 26 in scoring offense (from No. 90), No. 17 in red zone offense (from No. 122) and No. 20 in first downs gained offense (from No. 84). D'Eriq King flourished in Lashlee's attack in 2020, throwing for 244.2 yards per game with 23 TD passes and five interceptions; he added 538 rush yards and four more scores. Plus Mike Harley (799 yards) and Brevin Jordan (576 yards) flourished.

Then this season Lashlee's attack enjoyed continued success with 28 or more points in the final nine games.

Along with Van Dyke's emergence, WR Charleston Rambo set a school single-season record with 1,172 yards and seven TDs.

And the offense is averaging 34.1 points and 448.8 yards per game, respectively ranking No. 26 and No. 23 in the nation.

So the new coordinator has big shoes to fill in Coral Gables.