CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The plan, he figured, was a simple one.
Once the Hurricanes broke for spring break, Rhett Lashlee would travel to Dallas, meet up with his family and together, they’d complete their move to South Florida, where Lashlee had been living since being hired as Miami’s new offensive coordinator in January.
Then, the COVID-19 pandemic struck and the coach, his wife Lauren and their four young children – 9-year-old twins Thomas and Hudson and 3-year-old twins Rowyn and Scarlet – had to scramble.
“I’m not even sure what date that Monday was, but the moving truck pulled out of Dallas and instead of flying, we loaded up, put all six of our crew in a car and started that 20-hour road trip,” Lashlee recalled. “We kind of took our time and it took us about three days to get down here. The moving truck showed up Friday and that was about the time states and cities were starting the stay-at-home, shelter-in-place orders.
“Fortunately, our movers were able to stay safe and get everything off the truck in time. … It’s not every day you move halfway across the country in a pandemic, but we did it. And it’s been great that we’ve been able to be together, we’re all here in Miami and we’re all safe.”
Safe – and making the most of their extra time together.
Like most college football coaches, Lashlee doesn’t normally get to spend as much time with his family as he’d like, particularly during the season or during spring football.
Had Miami’s campus not been closed this week and classes and football gone on as scheduled, the Hurricanes would have been preparing for their final scrimmage of the spring tomorrow.
Instead, Lashlee has been home helping unpack boxes, playing video games with his boys and swimming in the family pool with his girls between video chats with the rest of the Miami coaching staff and his players, who are now scattered across South Florida and beyond.
None of it is how the coach expected he and his family would be spending their first few weeks together in South Florida, but the Lashlees are trying to stay upbeat.
“We’ve just tried to choose to look at the positives in a situation that has a lot of negatives for a lot of people. We’re trying to stay home and stay safe and do our part, but [also] just look at it as this is a time we’ll never get back and time we’ll never get again,” Lashlee said. “Let’s make the most of it. Even the 20-hour road trip, my wife thinks I’m crazy, but I loved that. That was one time all my kids were in a car and they were stuck with us. Of course, halfway in, we’re stuck with them. We’ve tried to make it fun.”
Added Lauren Lashlee, “In a lot of ways, it’s been really good just because we’ve had a lot of family time, which has been nice, and some downtime with Rhett, which we don’t typically have during this time of year anyway. Navigating homeschooling and that kind of stuff has been interesting as well, but we’re trying to make the best of it and just look at the positives and find the good in every single day. It’s easy to turn on the news and get wrapped up in the sadness and hard moments. We’re sensitive to that, too, of course. But at the same time, you want to find the joy in each day, each moment and that’s what we’re trying to do.”