The last time Willis May, the football coach at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High, spoke with Miami Hurricanes coach Mark Richt, horror was unfolding in Parkland.
On the afternoon of Feb. 14, May, some of his players, and two assistant coaches from Nichols College who were visiting South Florida on a recruiting trip, hid in May’s office as a gunman made his way through Douglas, killing 17 and wounding 17 others.
As May, his players and the coaches were escorted out of the school by armed police officers, his phone rang. It was Richt, who coaches Douglas alum Corey Gaynor, calling to check in.