Canes fans got a double dose of good news when they awoke Monday morning. The Miami Hurricanes baseball squad overtook the #1-ranking in the Baseball America polls – thanks to a sweep of Clemson and formerly top-ranked Arizona State dropping two at Stanford.
On the hardwood, Miami basketball head coach Frank Haith signed a five-year extension and will remain at The U through the 2012-2013 season. Some had Haith pegged to make the leap elsewhere after guiding Miami basketball out of the basement and into the NCAA tourney this year, but Haith wanted to stick around and finish what he started.
As the press release reminded the nation, Haith’s Hurricanes upset Duke this past season for their first victory against a top 5 team in nine years. Every Canes’ All American Jack McClinton was the first ever Miami player selected for the All-Atlantic Coast Conference first team.
Miami went 12-20 a year ago and we’re predicted to finish dead last in conference at the preseason ACC meeting. Instead, the Canes rolled up an 8-8 conference record for a fifth place finish and sported a 14-2 home record, with the highest attendance since the on-campus arena opened five years ago. The Canes wrapped up the year 23-11 with a season-ending loss to Texas in the second round of the NCAA tourney.
Congrats to Miami Baseball for their efforts these past few weeks and to The U for locking down a very solid coach after years of screwing things up contract-wise. This Haith situation is the complete opposite of how the university handled the renegotiations with former coaches Perry Clark, Fern Labati and Larry Coker.
The success of the Miami basketball and baseball programs is a reminder to all Canes fans that it takes time to build a winner – and that’s a piece we’re working on this week regarding Miami Football.
Check back later this week for our outlook on The State of Miami and the direction of the football program.