Lashlee Embracing Family and Football at Home
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.”
Along with family sports nights, movie nights, pool parties and spending time with Touchdown, the new puppy who has joined the family in recent weeks, the Lashlees have found another fun way to spend their days at home.
After being challenged by some longtime family friends to join video-sharing social media platform TikTok, the Lashlees obliged – and put a Miami twist on their first video they produced, with each family member donning orange and green and throwing up The U while dancing to Soulja Boy’s “Crank That,” a Hurricanes fan favorite.
A week later, the family put together their own version of the “Flip the Switch” challenge, complete with Lashlee and Lauren changing places –and the coach donning Lauren’s pajamas and a facial mask like the one his wife sported moments earlier.
The couple’s children, needless to say, were amused, as were the friends who originally challenged the Lashlees to join the social media platform and Miami fans who caught the video.
“That’s about the only time I think I’ll get that kind of exfoliation on my face,” Lashlee laughed. “My wife was shocked. She was like, ‘I can’t believe you let that go out,’ but the reality of it is, I think we can take ourselves too seriously. I’ll do anything for my kiddos. I just think it shows we’re real people, just like everybody else and we’re all staying home, staying safe and trying to make the most of this.”
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Well…our weekly #stayathome tik Tok Shenanigans at the lashleeZoo-💀🙈😂🤷🏻♂️ #lashleeboysandgirls
Amidst all the family time, there has, of course, been time for football, too.
While Lashlee and the Hurricanes haven’t been on the Greentree Practice Field since March 6, there have been plenty of staff meetings and conversations with his players, both on the phone and on video platforms like FaceTime and Zoom.
And while some might assume the cancelation of spring practice might hurt the Hurricanes, who were in the process of installing a new offense when the sports world came to a complete stop, on that topic too, Lashlee is optimistic.
Miami did manage four practices, including two with limited contact. While that’s far from the 15 the Hurricanes would have had any other spring, the coach says he saw enough to get an idea of what his players can do and how effective they can be when football resumes.
“I think we came away as an offensive staff excited. By no means are we ready to go play anybody and we are anxious to get back out there, start building reps and improving. But we saw that we have guys we can put in position to make plays on all areas of offense, from the line to the quarterback position,” Lashlee said. “When you leave knowing you’ve got a chance. … that’s all you can ask for. We have guys that will work hard, buy into being tough and buy into the philosophy we have and the identity we want to have of playing fast and physical.
“We were having great momentum. And we’re excited. … Like I told our guys in our meeting yesterday, the reality is everybody’s going through this. Our challenge is to stay mentally engaged and keep our confidence and morale level up so that whenever our world is able to get back to some semblance of normality that we don’t lose that momentum when we start practicing and playing football again.”
Until that happens, Lashlee says he’s determined to continue building relationships with his new players, teaching them the best he can and providing them whatever support he can.
And he’s enjoying all the extra time at home in the meantime.
“Our guys have to stay positive, do what they can to take care of the people around them and stay safe,” Lashlee said. “We all know there’s a better day coming and when it comes, we’ll all get back to doing what we love to do.”
