It’s been a long run hovering in mediocrity for the tried and true Miami Hurricanes enthusiast; as in over-two-decades-since-that-last-national-championship long.
Less than a dozen programs have claimed at least one title since Miami’s perfect season in 2001—and none possessed a modern history of taking care of business the way the Hurricanes did in their hey day, always quick to take back what was lost.
Case in point; an undefeated season down the drain in 1986 after choking away the national championship game? Defy odds and go undefeated the following season with a first-year quarterback, rolling heads against a brutal schedule, knocking off #20, #10, #4, #10, #8 and then #1 for the program’s second-ever title.
Enter the 1988 season with a #6 preseason ranking, despite going 12-0 and winning it all in 1987? Beat the brakes of an arch rival in the season opener, smacking around #1 Florida State, 31-0 and put the nation on notice that a mistake was made.
Fail in the quest for back-to-back rings later in the season by way of a bunk call in South Bend? Stew on it for a year and then completely manhandle #1 Notre Dame, 27-10 in a rematch—demoralizing the defending champs in a backyard brawl, paving the way to a third title for Miami in 1989.
On a grander scale, completely collapse in the mid-nineties due to scandal, probation and becoming the poster child for everything wrong with college football?
Against all odds, rebuild a juggernaut the right way after a brutal five-year drought—inexplicably rising from the ashes to become not just a contender, but a bonafide powerhouse—assembling the best team in history in 2001 and proving to the nation that neither the corrupt NCAA or Sports Illustrated could keep “The U” down.
Hurricanes fans didn’t develop this sense of entitlement out of thin air; this won’t-quit program spent decades avenging losses and righting wrongs in epic fashion, to the point it became embedded in Miami’s DNA.
For all who stumbled out of Sun Devil Stadium punch-drunk and revenge-minded in January 2003—rattled that a controversial call ended a 34-game win-streak and a bid for back-t0-back national championships—it was treated like another speed bump en route to a sixth ring; Miami sitting on a 39-2 record dating back to November 1999, even after that questionable Fiesta Bowl loss to Ohio State.
And why not? For the better part of two decades things constantly worked out in comeback, storybook fashion for the Hurricanes—so of course a once-proud Miami fan base expected things to come back around soon enough.
PINPOINTING WHERE, HOW & WHY THINGS WENT OFF-TRACK
The logical ones can now see how and why Miami’s ongoing drought was less Hollywood superhero storyline and more hard lessons being taught Old Testament style—the Hurricanes’ football program wandering the desert like cursed Israelites for the last two decades—but for the trash-talking rival outsiders, or jaded fans with their big believe-it-when-we-see-it energy, a quick history lesson regarding what was and now is.
Looking back over two decades-of-disaster, it should be acknowledged how positively impactful Donna Shalala was to the University of Miami’s medical department during a 15-year run as the schools president—yet was more like an incurable disease when it came to Hurricanes’ athletics; football seen as nothing more than a necessary evil during her tenure.
It wasn’t even her off-brand efforts to bring in former Wisconsin head coach Barry Alvarez in 2001 soon after UM dragged-ass on a new contract for Butch Davis, which sent the sixth-year Canes coach to the NFL—it was her kill-what-you-eat approach to athletics as a whole that ravaged the football program like an inoperable cancer.
Under her leadership, the role of athletic director was either a short-term stepping stone to bigger gigs—Kirby Hocutt and Shaun Eichorst, we hardly knew ye—before the right lackey stepped into a would-be lifer role and Miami was saddled with the inept, boot-licking Blake James for a decade.
Shalala’s answer to funding Hurricanes football was basic and two-fold; moving from the Big East to the ACC for a better television revenue-share, as well as punting on Nike because adidas was willing to write a bigger check—both drop-in-the-bucket financial moves that had somebody else picking up the tab so Miami didn’t have to fundraise or invest in a quest for greatness.
These low-rent decisions are precisely how the program landed on a promotion-from-within hire, handing the keys to Randy Shannon in 2007, after the Larry Coker era ended with a three-year thud—a first-time head coach and lifer assistant who would never sniffed a role like that again after a failed four-year run for the program where Shannon once thrived at on the field.
From there, the penny-safe, pound-foolish move—billed as an up-and-comer hire in Al Golden; hyped for a 9-4 season at lowly Temple and hiding behind a slick used car salesman image and 300-page binder full of success pillars, deserving victory and other corporate-training jargon that fast-proved he was an empty suit.
Five years—and an indefensible 58-0 home loss to Clemson later—James jumped at the first big name on the board, reeling in Mark Richt at a discount; the former Georgia head coach stepping down after 15 years of getting chewed up in the SEC and on his way to retirement before agreeing to roll up his sleeves for his alma mater.
As if things couldn’t get worse, Richt’s untimely retirement after year three saw James and Miami playing checkers while Manny Diaz figured out how to play chess—paying Temple a whopping $4-million less that three weeks after the former Canes defensive coordinator agreed to be the Owls new head coach; Diaz holding UM over a barrel and with a now-nor-never threat if he were to take the gig.
It should be noted that Shalala stepped down from her perch in summer 2015 and Miami hired Dr. Julio Frenk as her replacement—and while he wasn’t as hands-on and anti-football as his predecessor—turning major sports-related decisions over to James and a cliquey board of trustees was equally as detrimental for the next five years.
PRECISELY WHERE ‘THE U’ TURNAROUND BEGAN
Time will tell if Billy Corben and his Rakontur crew ever return with The U: Part 3 and another chapter of the rise and fall, rise and fall and eventual rebirth of Hurricanes football—but if there ever is another U-themed 30 For 30, there’s a precise starting point where everything change and wheels were officially in motion; September 25th, 2021.
Year three of the Diaz era, Miami sat at 1-2 one month into a new season—the maligned head coach with a 15-12 combined record, low lighted by a home loss to Florida International in 2019—against Davis on the old site of the Orange Bowl, no less.
Over the previous three weeks of this new season, Miami was embarrassed by #1 Alabama—not just the 44-13 beat down, but mocked for the Turnover Chain after a fumble was overturned and railed on when Touchdown Rings surfaced in a 41-10 game as the Canes finally found the end zone late third quarter.
A week later, a fourth down incompletion was needed to stave off Appalachian State at home and next up, Miami withering late against unranked Michigan State—trailing 17-14 entering the fourth quarter, before getting steamrolled 38-17—outscored 21-3 the final fifteen minutes; something the finish-strong Canes used to own in the hey day.
Miami would host a creampuff on this pivotal day in program’s history; eventually rolling Central Connecticut, 69-0—sideline photo shoots with jewels and props after all ten touchdowns against this glorified high school—players and coaches all missing a College GameDay takedown for the ages, as Kirk Herbstreit eviscerated the current State of Miami.
Summing up the long-time commentator’s on air-rant; pointing out that Miami as a program was averaging 7-5 seasons dating back to 2006—under five different head coaches—and directly calling out an athletic department that is “clearly is not really showing that this something that they are willing to try and make changes”, in regards to losing ways.
Herby pointed out Frenk’s hands-off efforts as president—while citing clear visions between other university presidents and athletic directors at powerhouse programs across the nation.
“I guess football doesn’t matter. It matters to the alum, the brotherhood of The U—but I don’t know if it matters to the people making decisions at Miami—and if they don’t change that, it doesn’t matter who the head coach is,” Herbstreit shared in his mic-drop moment.
Ten weeks later, Diaz was out—fate sealed after a road loss to a brutally bad Florida State team that was 6-13 over two seasons under second-year head coach Mike Norvell—and wheels were in motion to bring then four-year Oregon leader Mario Cristobal back home to Coral Gables.
MIAMI FINALLY PUT ITS MONEY WHERE ITS MOUTH IS
The ins and outs of what took place and the power players involved is neither here nor there, but history will show that some key people stood up and that money—which had forever been the main issue at Miami—would no longer be a barrier to success ever again.
A ten-year $80,000,000 offer was made to Cristobal; Miami’s first real established head coaching hire—in the prime of his career—and it was official.
An important footnote to that story; the fine print that ultimately gave Cristobal the confidence to walk away from Oregon—lots of demands regarding Miami going all in football across the board and not just in hiring him.
If Cristobal was going to leave Eugene—where he had every resource in the world thanks to alum Phil Knight pumping all that Nike money into the Ducks program—the Hurricanes would have to make a commitment to building a football powerhouse in a way it never had before.
What that commitment was, outsiders will never full know—but the proof has been in the NIL pudding, as the Canes Collective and some other big names have kept big cash flowing through the program—Cristobal and staff winning big time recruiting battles, as well as reaping the benefits of the Transfer Portal.
Burying the lead wasn’t the intent of this piece, but before delving into the Cam Ward sweepstakes a history lesson made sense and a how-we-got-here breakdown regarding what is different for Miami entering year three of the Cristobal era.
The 2024 would’ve had a completely different energy if Ward didn’t have a change of heart, pledging his allegiance to The U in mid-January—after a New Year’s Day announcement that he was NFL-bound.
The former Washington State star quarterback was flirting with Florida State and Ohio State, after first visiting Miami late last year—and for a couple of weeks, the Canes were wound-licking and trying to rally after second- and third-choice option went elsewhere—UM mocked nationally for settling on former Albany quarterback Reese Poffenbarger.
Of course all joking went out the window two weeks later when the nation’s top-ranked transfer quarterback brought all his big alpha dog energy to South Florida—Cristobal and staff raving about the quarterback’s leadership traits, which are a direct contrast to what Miami fan saw the last two years with the passive and quiet Tyler Van Dyke under center.
“What really stands out in the short time we’ve been around him is he’s an alpha leader,” Cristobal shared soon after winning the Ward sweepstakes. “Whenever he has a bad plan, his ability to bounce back and make things right … he’s aggressive.”
The third year coach had more news for jaded fans rattled with recent Miami quarterback play.
“I would say his competitive nature to come back and make things right … to go and make up for maybe a play that was negative, was really impressive. That has really stood out at his time through spring practice as he just build and gained the trust of his teammates.”
More reason to believe; improved offensive line play at Miami—as Cristobal and line coach Alex Mirabal have put such a heavy focus on building a wall up front—something Ward lacked in Spoakane as he was sacked over 80 times last season with the Cougars.
RESURRECTING ‘QUARTERBACK U’ IS THE KEY TO NATIONAL SUCCESS
For those who have followed Miami’s program over the past several decades, an awareness that the Hurricanes tend to go as far as a quarterback will take them.
Whether that was freshman Bernie Kosar on the inaugural national championship squad in 1983, first-year started Steve Walsh in 1987, the fiery Craig Erickson in 1989, the stable Gino Torretta in 1991 or headstrong Ken Dorsey in 2001, all were in the driver’s seat for those five title runs.
Conversely, when Torretta and Dorsey had lesser offensive line support in 1992 and 2002, Miami left titles on the field—while five interceptions out of Heisman winner Vinny Testaverde got the Hurricanes a championship in 1986.
Then there’s the revolving door of would-be greats who couldn’t grab the brass ring in recent memory; Brock Berlin the last almost-was for the Hurricanes, whose 20-5 run between 2003 and 2004 felt lesser at the time as Miami was on a 38-2 run with Dorsey at the helm before his arrival—Berlin still going 5-0 combined against Florida and Florida State, with the Canes facing both in regular season games two postseasons he was in charge.
Quarterback play aside, a culture shift is underway and beyond apparent as year three is weeks away.
Fans wanted an immediate upgrade the day well-paid Cristobal took over for the the 2022 season, but a head coach focused on correcting a broken culture—a quick fix was impossible when realizing the program didn’t need paint and patch work, but would legit need to be stripped down the studs for a rebuild.
Optics-wise, matters were made worse as Lincoln Riley got off to an 11-2 start at Southern Cal in 2021, by way of running own offense and bringing his Heisman-worthy quarterback with him from Oklahoma—both of which allowed him to poach the current Biletnikoff winning receiver from the portal for a high-octane offense season, where the defense-less Trojans could outscore most opponents; something not as easy to do year two en route to an 8-5 season.
USC is now a card-carrying member of the Big Ten year three for Riley—LSU and Michigan off the bat as well as road trips to former Pac-12 foes in Washington and UCLA, closing out again Notre Dame in the Colosseum—all without the comfort of last year’s Heisman-winning quarterback leading the charge.
OPTIMAL SEASON SCHEDULE IN ’24 WILL END WELL
As for Miami, a much more tame journey through this year’s division-less ACC—Virginia Tech, Florida State, Duke and Wake Forest all rolling south to HardRock—while the Canes hit the road for conference showdowns against Cal, Louisville, Georgia Tech and Syracuse.
The season opens with Miami’s first trek to The Swamp since 2008; facing a rebuilding Florida squad—followed by home games against FAMU and Ball State, before a road trip to South Florida.
It’s hardly a Murder’s Row schedule—which timing-wise is great for Miami in what is such a pivotal year—especially with tougher runs in 2025 (Florida, Notre Dame, Florida State), 2026 (South Carolina, Notre, Dame, Florida State, Clemson) and 2027 (Utah, Florida State, South Carolina).
Part of fandom itself is tracking rivals and their growth trajectory, as programs all seem to ebb and flow—and while Miami will never chase little brother Florida State in anything; not championships, head-to-head match-ups or NFL-bound talent—the Noles are two years further down there road with Norvell and there are a few things worth noting trajectory-wise regarding new coaching regimes.
Miami fans are quick to remind, while Florida State faithful are quick to forget—but go root around some Seminoles message boards from late 2021 and read the commentary about Tallahassee’s not-so favorite new coach.
Norvell went 3-6 in the COVID-shortened 2020 season—including a 52-10 loss at Miami—and that was fast 3-10 after going 0-4 out the gate in 2021; including a home loss to Jacksonville State.
Sitting at 6-12 as year two stumbled down the stretch, the aforementioned upset of Miami that was the final nail in Diaz’s coffin—Norvell was 8-13 entering year three and fans were imploding, afraid that FSU couldn’t afford to buy the man out as they were still paying off the Willie Taggart walking-money buyout.
And then year three happened.
THE RIGHT-FIT QUARTERBACK SPARKED FSU’S REBIRTH
Jordan Travis started to find his way at quarterback, some new transfers hit the ground running and Florida State got their lighter-load schedule—beating all nine unranked teams it faced in the regular season, while falling to all three ranked teams (#22 Wake Forest, #14 North Carolina State and #4 Clemson)—and drawing a 6-6 unranked Oklahoma squad in the Cheez-It Bowl, eking out a 35-32 win for a 10-3 season.
Year four, an even more-improved Travis at quarterback, more work in the portal and another step forward—handling #5 LSU in the opener and taking care of business against a slew of unranked teams, before a win over #16 Duke and spending almost the entire season in the top five.
Travis famously suffered a season-ending injury against North Alabama mid-November, derailing the Noles dreams of the College Football Playoffs—close wins at Florida and #14 Louisville in the ACC Championship keeping Florida State out of the party, while a slew of opt-outs led to revenge-minded #6 Georgia mauling them, 63-3 in the Orange Bowl.
Still, the history books show a 13-1 season and a 23-4 run over the past two years—all behind one good quarterback and a handful of portal pick-ups—opposed to a top-to-bottom overhaul and a back-to-basics approach like Miami is seeing as Cristobal effectively takes out the trash and rebuilds a hard-ass, culture-driven program in the model of the Hurricanes’ teams he grew up playing for.
LOW-RENT CANES GOT WHAT THEY PAID FOR; PAYING BIGGER NOW
Too many false starts in the past have understandably left Miami supporters jaded, but if truly unpacking these past two decades the issue was less about this Hurricanes program and was absolutely rooted in misguided false hope—believing things had to eventually get better, simply because this was “The U” and the program had bounced back in the past.
In reality, college football passed Miami by for the better part of two decades—and brand equity wasn’t enough to overcome a garbage-in, garbage-out reality—as the lack of leadership, a low-rent game plan and no bankroll absolutely crippled the program, resulting in the type of 7-5 seasons that fast became the new reality.
Looking back, of course Miami didn’t win big under Shannon, Golden, Richt or Diaz—just as the Coker era went from two title game appearances, one ring and a 35-3 record with Davis’ hard-ass, loaded squads—to a 25-12 run over his final three seasons, ending with a 7-6 thud in 2006.
Miami finally got its man with Cristobal in 2021; a 35-12 run at Oregon over four seasons—including a Rose Bowl win and 12-2 run year two, two conference titles and a season-defining upset at #3 Ohio State in year four—proving that four seasons under the tutelage of Nick Saban at Alabama taught Cristobal how to build an SEC-like program with the Ducks.
If Cristobal was on the brink of winning big in Oregon—handing the keys to first-time head coach Dan Lanning, who has gone 22-5 and continued building off the hard-nosed brand predecessor left him—realistically, what is the ceiling for Cristobal at Miami if and when he starts keeping the Sunshine State’s best talent home and builds a two-deep in the mold of what Saban taught him with the Crimson Tide?
There was always a secret sauce and a special magic when the Hurricanes were a powerhouse; alpha dog players, harder workers, out-of-nowhere superstars becoming household names and star-aligning moments that paved the way to ultimate success—Miami the living definition of luck being what happens when preparation meets opportunity.
Unfortunately the opportunities were nil these past couple of decades as the program was ill prepared, poorly run, underfunded and a has-been—but with money in the bank, a real one leading this program a quarterback conundrum solved and a year-three roster full of right-fit guys—zero reason to stay in wait-and-see mode; it’s buy-in time as the Canes’ ascension back to the top of the college football world starts this fall.
Christian Bello has been covering University of Miami athletics since the mid-nineties. Getting his start with CanesTime, he eventually launched allCanesBlog—which led to a featured columnist stint with BleacherReport. He’s since rolled out the unfiltered, ItsAUThing.com where he’ll use his spare time to put decades of U-related knowledge to use for those who care to read. When he’s not writing about ‘The U’, Bello is a storyteller for some exciting brands and individuals—as well as a guitarist and songwriter for his Miami-bred band Company Jones, who released their debut album “The Glow” in 2021. Hit him on Twitter for all things U-related @ItsAUThingBLOG.