Feb. 13, 2026, 12:08 p.m. ET<\/p>\n
The SMU Mustangs<\/a> have finished top 35 in the country in scoring defense in each of the last three seasons, routinely fielding a strong unit on that side of the ball. Unfortunately for them, a new coach will have to call the shots moving forward, as defensive coordinator Scott Symons has been hired by the Dallas Cowboys<\/a> as their inside linebackers coach, per Tom Pelissero.<\/p>\n Symons spent four seasons as the Mustangs’ defensive coordinator, leading the way for consistently elite groups headlined by several all-conference selections.<\/p>\n This will be Symons’ first stint in the NFL, as he’s spent time at Arkansas State, Arkansas Tech, West Georgia, Memphis and Liberty before landing the defensive coordinator job at SMU.<\/p>\n Symons is considered a rising star in the coaching ranks, as he was named to the Dave Campbell’s Texas Football 40 Under 40 list prior to the 2022 season. He’s only impressed more since then after taking over the Mustangs’ defense.<\/p>\n Now, he’ll step in and help a Cowboys defense that ranked dead last in points allowed and 30th in yards allowed, an abysmal year on that side of the ball that resulted in the firing of defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus.<\/p>\n Need a news break? Check out the all new PLAY hub with puzzles, games and more!<\/a><\/p>\n In Eberflus’ place, newly-hired Christian Parker will lead the defense aided by the key addition of Symons to his defensive staff.<\/p>\n Contact\/Follow\u00a0@College_Wire<\/a>\u00a0on X and\u00a0@College_Wires<\/a>\u00a0on Threads. Like our page on\u00a0Facebook<\/a>\u00a0to follow ongoing coverage of college sports news, notes, and opinions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Feb. 13, 2026, 12:08 p.m. ET The SMU Mustangs have finished top 35 in the country in scoring…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":751295,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2066],"tags":[95878,230,229,257,2461,7,6,102328,96940,95882,107711,107712,96027,95896,95906,95884,95883,95881],"class_list":{"0":"post-751294","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas-cowboys","8":"tag-accessfree","9":"tag-cowboys","10":"tag-dallas","11":"tag-dallas-cowboys","12":"tag-dallascowboys","13":"tag-football","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-sstssportscollegecollege-football","16":"tag-sstsncollege-football","17":"tag-tagamerican-football","18":"tag-tagarkansas-state-university","19":"tag-tagarkansas-tech-university","20":"tag-tagcollege-sports","21":"tag-tagnational-sports","22":"tag-tagoverall-positive","23":"tag-tagsports-coaching-training","24":"tag-tagsports-news","25":"tag-typestory"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116068315912535167","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/751294","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=751294"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/751294\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/751295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=751294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=751294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=751294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}