Pull your head out of the sand.
Due to Covid, the nearly-year-long-dead-period, and other issues, the bag schools were not ponying up money this year (at least in quantities that they used to pay).
In a cash-poor world, Miami actually had a shot with Marshall. It's not about "stuck" or "not stuck", it was about "paid" or "not paid".
But when the Gaytors suddenly woke up and realized they were going 0-5 at Palmetto, the money floodgates opened.
Keep in mind, Alabama didn't offer what they normally offer. They expected Marshall to pick Alabama on the cheap because Saban. They did not anticipate that Florida would elevate the price of poker.
And maybe it's too late to go back in time on the money issue. But on the secrecy issue, yes, it would be nice to go into a stealth/assassin mode in order to avoid the Palmetto HC/Gaytor coach criminal conspiracy from having time to organize.