The Reclamation Initiative | The Coaching Career of Nico Augustine

[The JZA]

Top class

Gun's cocked ready to bang for the next szn

[The Hunted]

Damn that class is absolute fire man. good luck this upcoming season.

[Captain Canada]

Eli Nall - one to watch. That is a great class, this team is ready for a repeat.

I'm hoping he becomes a shitwrecker by his sophomore year. He's definitely going to be seeing a ton of playing time from the get-go

Reloaded

Top class

Gun's cocked ready to bang for the next szn

Damn that class is absolute fire man. good luck this upcoming season.

Appreciate it boys. Needed to show out to replace the sheer amount of talent going out those doors. Just glad we kept Lonzo

[Captain Canada]

From Trusted Lieutenant to Lead Architect: SMU Promotes Kwame Aguyei to Offensive Coordinator
By Veronica Downs | SMU Daily

DALLAS -- Continuity has been one of the defining traits of SMU's rise under head coach Nico Augustine. Now, as the Mustangs turn the page from a national championship season, that philosophy is shaping the future of their offense.

SMU has officially promoted wide receivers coach Kwame Aguyei to offensive coordinator, replacing Tony Sanchez, who departed Dallas to become the head coach at San Jose State. Rather than looking outside the program, Augustine turned to the coach who ha been at his side the longest - on the field, on the sideline, and in the meeting room.

"This is a natural progression," Augustine said. "Kwame has earned this. He'll have play-calling duties, and full reign of the offense, and how it's designed."

Aguyei's promotion is rooted in a relationship that stretches back more than a decade.

He first played for Augustine as his number one receiver at Western University, where he became a focal point of Augustine's early offensive concepts. When Aguyei graduated, the connection didn't end - it evolved.

Aguyei joined Augustine's staff shortly thereafter and followed him when Augustine returned to coaching as the offensive coordinator at Arkansas State, where Aguyei served as wide receivers coach. When Augustine took over at SMU, Aguyei followed once again, retaining the same role while Sanchez was brought in to run the offense.

Now, for the first time, the keys are fully his.

"Coach Augustine has me since day one," Aguyei said. "This is an opportunity I don't take lightly."

While SMU's offense has been synonymous with Sanchez's spread-heavy approach, Aguyei signaled that change is coming - not a teardown, but an evolution.

"I want to be more multiple," Aguyei said. "We're still going to attack, but I expect to lean on the run game more. We have the personnel to do it, and it opens up everything else."

That shift could mean heavier usage of tight formations, varied personnel groupings, and a greater emphasis on physicality - a contrast to the space-and-tempo philosophy that defined the Mustangs' championship run.

Still, Augyei was careful to note that the offense will remain adaptable.

"You don't ignore your strengths," he said. "You maximize them."

The biggest question surrounding the hire centers on Alonzo Cheeseman, the reigning Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback who returns this season with national expectations - and whispers of a potential second Heisman campaign.

Analysts have debated whether a run-leaning approach could cap Cheeseman's statistical ceiling. But inside the program, that concern hasn't resonated.

"Alonzo is wired to win," Augustine said. "That's it. Everything else is secondary."

Cheeseman echoed that sentiment himself.

"I want to win again," he said. "If leaning into the run game helps us to do that, I'm game. Stats don't mean anything without trophies."

With an elite backfield, a deep receiving corps that Aguyei knows intimately, and an offensive line built for versatility, the pieces are in place for the transition.

For Augustine, the decision to elevate Aguyei was about more than scheme.

It was about trust.

"Kwame understands our culture, our players, and our expectations," Augustine said. "There's no learning curve there."

As SMU prepares to defend its national title, the offense enters a new a chapter - one shaped by familiarity, adaptability, and a coach who has been waiting his turn.

The Mustangs aren't starting over.

They're simply handing the offense to someone who's helped build it from the beginning.

[redsox907]

I fucks with it

[Soapy]

don't want no OC with dreads

#MAGASOAP

[toysoldier00]

love a new OC to keep it fresh and move forward with the times

[djp73]

Mans the OC and he getting his team gear on Temu? WTF is that logo lmao

[Agent]

Looks a gahdamn dinosaur on his chest. Good luck Brodie.