Miami’s facilities suck. Did you get the memo? ESPN made much ado about it during last week’s televised 17-14 win over Boston College and since then, every member of the sports media community has ranted and raved about how dilapidated and run down things are inside the walls of The U.
The photo above was taken in the supposedly “run down” Hurricane Strength and Conditioning Complex at the Hecht Athletic Center. The 11,500-square foot facility is barely five years old and is double the size of the old weight room.
It’s stocked with the latest in strength and conditioning equipment and is the focal point of Miami’s annual NFL Pro Timing Day each spring.
In the off-season, it’s a who’s who of the NFL. Former Canes show up in droves to work out here. Santana. Sinorice. Edgerrin. Reed. Vilma. Gore. McGahee. Wayne. D.J. Parrish. Kenard. Clinton. Ray-Ray. Bubba. The Playmaker. Shockey.
You name ’em, they’re here – and when they show up, they usually don’t come alone. Several former Canes have been known to recruit current NFL teammates to spend their off-season training in Miami at The U.
Call me crazy, but if things are so run down and in need of a facelift how come so many NFL superstars spend their time training here instead of at their respective franchise’s multi-million dollar facilities? I’ll tell you why. Because things aren’t as bad as the media are making them out to be and in this case, a winning tradition, attitude and mindset outweight the bells and whistles.
Can Miami compete with the likes of Oregon and their facilities? Not unless a Hurricanes alum has Nike money. Literally. Swooshes and all.
Phil Knight has donated over $50M for the Autzen Stadium renovation and the most state of the art locker rooms in the sport. We’re talking plasma screens at every locker and fingerprint biometric locks. This place is straight out of a science fiction movie.
But it’s also home to no tradition, history or success. If you want a PlayStation 3 and a once a decade Rose Bowl birth, be a Duck. If you want to earn a ring, head to The U.
“Do you want one of these?” That’s what former Miami offensive coordinator Gary Stevens would tell recruits as he extended a hand with a 1987 National Championship ring on it.
Nice locker room? Expanded stadium? Plasma TVs and high-tech fingerprint operated locks? To hell with ’em. At day’s end, recruits have to ask themselves one question.
Do they want a ring?
When world class bodybuilders train, where do they go? A candy-ass health club where they hand you a plush towel and lemon-flavored water as you walk through the electric sliding door? Hell no. They get down and dirty and go to and old school gym.
Rocky III ring a bell? Stallone’s character was fat and happy as the world champ. He living a cush lifestyle and was caught up in all the frills which come with being a pampered champion.
When Clubber Lang whooped his ass in that first fight, Rocky Balboa did some soul searching. If he was going to get back on top, he needed to get back to his roots. He and Apollo Creed left Philly for a gritty part of LA to train.
Down and dirty and old school, Balboa got knee-deep in it and found himself as there are no distractions when training hard and focusing on the task at hand. While this was simply a movie, people connected with the concept. Strip away all the “filler” and get down to business.
In this day and age, you can wow an 18-year old with a PS3 – but you can win him over with a proven track record. Miami has that edge over everyone else in the modern era.
Kirk Herbstreit mentioned that the Orange Bowl needed a new coat of paint. That and much more will be taken care of. $150M has been allotted by the City of Miami for a full on renovation which officially starts in 2007 an will be complete by the 2009 season opener.
Are the locker rooms as bad as people make them out to be? Hardly. The recent Football Locker Room Improvement dramatically upgraded the team’s Hecht Athletic Center facility.
The project includes 105 new maple players lockers, 36″ X wide X 24″ deep X 88″ high with stainless steel hardware and a clear coat finish; 19 maple coaches’ lockers; 4 double display cabinets and an expansion to the equipment room.
Will anyone start confusing Miami’s facilities with Oregon’s anytime soon? Of course not. But a prettier set up for the Ducks won’t make them Hurricane-like champs anytime soon, either.
Southern Cal is another program knocked for their facilities, yet it’s hardly a chink in the armor of the Trojans current dynasty. Facilities also didn’t stop the Canes from tallying up five titles since 1983 and a 34-game win streak between 2000-2003.
The sport’s two greatest dynasties this decade and both are supposedly in the bottom 1/3 regarding their facilities.
If that doesn’t tell you all this talk is blown out of proportion, nothing will.
.:Canes305:.
Chris, I thank you very much for letting us know the truth. Having never been inside the hallowed halls of the training facilites, I fell into the trap of taking an analyst for his word. I assumed Herbstreit of ESPN would know better than I would, and would paint an accurate picture. I guess I was wrong. As you said, it was good enough to rpoduce all those first round draft choices and win after win, so how bad can it be? I don’t really care about the frills, only the substance, as players should. I was really pissed that someone supposedly unbiased as Fowler would have the nerve to say that the Miami job is not a good one. Based on what? It’s only the most successful program over the last 20 years easily. If any coach is afraid of expectations, please, we don’t want you. We expect greatness from players AND coaches. If they don’t want to get ring #6 then go somewhere else like NC State where only being competitive is expected.