Miami's decision to cancel this weekend's scheduled game against Arkansas State has drawn quite a bit of attention over the last several hours. First, former college football coach and current CBS analyst Rick Neuheisel declared that it was "suspicious" that Mark Richt's team would cancel a road game that was scheduled to take place out of the state. Then, Richt himself went back at the response with a string of tweets that made it known that he wasn't happy that this had become a talking point.
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Then, on Friday morning, former ESPN reporter Brett McMurphy provided the following tweet with a scenario that could have taken place to have Miami reschedule the contest instead of the decision to cancel it.
On cue, Miami defensive coordinator Manny Diaz responded on his Twitter page with a strong message for McMurphy and those who perpetuate the narrative.
"Is this still a thing? After two days of prepping the house and waiting hours for gas and supplies, my family each packed 2 suitcases and spent 13 hours in a car yesterday. What we left behind, we figure we won't see again. It will just about take a miracle for there to be football in this state NEXT weekend let alone this one. The entire state right now is in the cross hairs of the strongest storm ever in the Atlantic. Ever. And we are still talking about football with all these lives in the balance? Come on man, perspective.
That said, thanks to our friends in the coaching and media industry who have reached out in the last few days! Stay safe everyone!"
It is (very) easy to see why Diaz and his colleagues would feel aggrieved in this instance, especially amid the challenges of evacuating a specific area. On one hand, McMurphy can be seen as just doing his job but, on the other, Miami's coaching staff is not pleased with the coverage and they have every right to feel that way.
