‘I really am enjoying the process of building this program’: UM’s Lashlee talks rumors
Not long after the South Carolina Gamecocks bought out Will Muschamp, the coaching rumors started to swirl and Rhett Lashlee was one of the first names to bandied about on social media.
The offensive coordinator has revitalized the Miami Hurricanes’ offense this season, helping transform it from one of the nation’s worst into a strength for a top-15 team, so it made sense when CBS Sports’ Barrett Sallee suggested Lashlee as a coach “to keep an eye on” for South Carolina’s new opening.
Lashlee didn’t entirely shoot down the idea of jumping to a head coaching job, but he also said he hadn’t heard anything linking him to the Gamecocks job and reiterated how happy he is to be at Miami.
“It’s getting to be that time of year where those kinds of things swirl every year. If in fact that’s the case, I think that’s just a big compliment really to our players, to our assistant coaches, to the program that coach [Manny] Diaz is building that I’m really happy to be a part of,” Lashlee said. “Miami’s a destination spot. This is a great place to be and I really am enjoying the process of building this program to what Coach [Diaz’s] vision is for it.”
Last season, the Hurricanes averaged 367.4 yards per game, 5.7 yards per play and 25.7 points per game, playing them among the bottom 55 nationally in all three categories. This year, those numbers have jumped to 435.6, 5.8 and 33.3, placing Miami (7-1, 6-1 Atlantic Coast) among the top 55 in each.
Over and over, Lashlee used the word “process” to discuss his work with the No. 12 Hurricanes, suggesting he views his current job as a longer-term proposition.
“I love our whole staff, I love our players and helping them be a part of this process of what we’re trying to build on offense,” said Lashlee, who is also the quarterbacks coach. “It’s a process. We’re clearly nowhere near where we want to be and that’s the truth.
“I’m really invested in what we’re doing here. I’m really excited about what we’re building. I think the best is far yet to come and I’m really committed to that.”
Lashlee has bounced around quite a bit in the last decade. He spent one year as offensive coordinator for the FCS Samford Bulldogs in 2011, then spent a year as the Arkansas State Red Wolves’ offensive coordinator in 2012. In 2013, he took over as the Auburn Tigers’ offensive coordinator and spent four years in Alabama before leaving to take the same job with the UConn Huskies in 2017. After one year at UConn, Lashlee left to become the SMU Mustangs’ offensive coordinator and spent two years in Dallas before finally landing at Miami in January.
While Lashlee said he would like to be a head coach one day, he also said it’s not the top priority right now. He moved his family to South Florida in the spring and the whole family has been happy.
“With Coach Diaz being our leader, I can’t think of anyone better to work for. I’m having more fun coaching right now than I think I ever have and then my family does play a big part in it,” Lashlee said. “We love living here in Miami and you’re obviously in a place where you feel like you can build something special. I think that matters. I think if certain people maybe their only drive in life is to be a head coach, or to be this or that, then I get it. That’s not me. I’ve got other goals. That’d be a great opportunity one day, but my family is the most important thing to me, helping these players here, helping us get where we want to get as a program, to me that part excites me, so that honestly is where my sole focus is.”
Diaz also addressed the rumors linking Lashlee to South Carolina.
Broadly, the coach said he believes a foundation is in place to make the Hurricanes an attractive long-term proposition for assistant coaches. Miami is an ACC contender in Lashlee’s first season and the Hurricanes have an real chance to make a New Year’s Six bowl game for the first time since 2017.
The rapid turnaround from Diaz’s debut season suggests Miami is pointed in the right direction, which means other schools will try to poach assistants, but also means assistants might want to stick around as the rebuild starts to yield serious results.
“That’s a compliment to our program,” Diaz said. “That’s something that if we’re doing a good job with our excellence, then those rumors should come and go. ... We’re trying to do everything we can to make everybody really comfortable to be here at the University of Miami. We think we can create a great standard of living here for our coaches that you can’t find other places and what we know is that we have a chance to be really good if we get the right people doing the right things here at UM, so I think all those things make this a very attractive place to come to and a very attractive place to stay as a coach.”
Phillips, Hedley win weekly awards
For the second consecutive week, Jaelan Phillips is the ACC Defensive Lineman of the Week.
Lou Hedley is the ACC Specialist of the Week for the second time this season, too.
The two redshirt juniors were both instrumental in Miami’s 25-24, come-from-behind win against the Virginia Tech Hokies on Saturday, particularly in the fourth quarter.
Phillips led the Hurricanes with eight tackles, and set career marks with 4 1/2 tackles for loss and 2 1/2 sacks. Hedley averaged 52.4 yards per punt on seven attempts and Miami downed three of his kicks inside Virginia Tech’s 20-yard line.
In the fourth quarter, Phillips logged a sack on the Hokies’ second possession and recorded half a tackle for loss on the final play of the game as Virginia Tech tried to pull off a miracle. Phillips’ 4 1/2 tackles for loss were the second in a single game for a Hurricane since coach Manny Diaz took over as Miami’s defensive coordinator in 2016.
Hedley’s fourth-quarter performance was just important. He punted three times in the fourth and all three went for 52 yards. The Hurricanes went three-and-out on each of its final two possessions after scoring the game-winning touchdown, and Hedley forced the Hokies to start their last two drives at their own 4 and 14.
This story was originally published November 16, 2020 at 3:27 PM.
