College Football

The Great Miami Hurricane Makeover

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 4:58 p.m. ET

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Fansided, Roman Marciante/FanSided via Canes Warning

The Miami Hurricanes revealed a massive infrastructure overhaul in 2016 that will improve the perception of the U brand nationally.

Staff and facilities have been a centralized focus. In the modern day college arms race, Miami will enter the competition with something it hasn’t seen in years. Upgrades.

Coach Mark Richt was named the 24th head coach in Miami Hurricane History in December of 2015. Richt is a proud alumnus who thankfully was of right mind and instantly became the face of the program when he accepted the position. Richt averaged over 10 wins a season at the University of Georgia and erased the common misconception that Miami was unwilling to pay for a quality and reputable coach.

It is believed Mark Richt will make about four million plus annually. (Private Schools are not obligated/required to release coaches salaries) Richt’s expected salary would rank him among the top 20 highest-paid coaches in college football according to a FOX Sports Report by Aaron Torres reported earlier this year.

The first and most important piece of infrastructure change was not a building. It was not a rigid piece of steel, panes of glass, a therapeutic whirlpool or a stainless steel slide for that matter. It was a legitimizing the head coach’s position. Mark Richt was a great hire to do that.

Sep 3, 2016; Miami Gardens, FL, USA; A general view of Hard Rock Stadium before the game between the Miami Hurricanes and the Florida A&M Rattlers. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

Last fall the University of Miami announced that they were embarking on a project to significantly improve the school’s athletic facilities. Among the upgrades is an indoor practice facility.

The 81,800-square-foot-facility will be the center piece of an ever important bold declaration. This will show the rest of the country that Miami is serious about their athletic facilities.

The project includes a 20,000-square-foot football operations center which will have a mezzanine level to accommodate coaches’ offices, meeting rooms, lounges and a state-of-the-art video center.

This project simultaneously extends and interconnects the weight room. Miami has often been publicly and nationally criticized for using the same weight room from the Jimmy Johnson era. Well maybe not that old.

This added benefit from intuitive design will allow the Hurricanes to conduct practices with function and flair. The dreaded harpy-like lightning siren canceling coveted and precious practice time will be a thing of the past. The South Florida afternoon monsoon has been bested. Practice will go on.

Facility Spotlight: Indoor Practice Facility

The Hurricanes will also add new student housing as part of the upgrade. State of the art dorms are an important recruiting tool as more schools upgrade all of their facilities and go high tech and high end for a college dormitory.

The play-maker Michael Irvin joked that the dorms looked the same when he enrolled his son Michael Irvin Jr in 2016. That will soon change as the University of Miami submitted plans for a brilliant and plush 155 million dollar new living complex. The proposed complex has the ability to house 1100 undergrads including student athletes.

Twenty-three modern interconnected buildings will provide five levels of dorm-style living spaces for students. It will contain study lounges, outdoor recreational decks and roof gardens on the second level of the structures. Designed to provide a student centered living environment, the compound will encompass learning centers, a 200-seat auditorium, mini-movie room, bike shop and recreation room among other plush amenities.

The above description sounds like a calculated real estate pitch selling a time share but ultimately the dorms have been in need of an upgrade for a very long time. Recruits have murmured over the years that the dorms have a quaint prison feel.  The prison break begins when the construction crews break ground hopefully sometime in the near  future.

The upgrade is a long time coming. Dorms like the one that opened at the University of Kansas in the fall of 2015 are huge recruiting tools.

Aug 29, 2016; Miami Gardens, FL, USA; A general view of Hard Rock Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

Miami has never had an on-campus stadium en route to five national championships. Due to campus geographic limitations and traffic concerns echoed by the city of Coral Gables, Miami probably never will. However the benefit of having an NFL stadium which is set to host a Super Bowl in 2020 has it’s perks.

Whereas the college atmosphere remains tropically quaint among the confides of its campus, Hard Rock Stadium provides an innovative and unique game day environment unlike any in college football under the canopy.

The majestic and revered Orange Bowl was erased by demolition crews in the blink of an eye. For many Canes fans, a cavernous hole was left lifeless in their chest. The Miami Hurricanes new home however, is alive and kicking.

The Miami Hurricane program introduced a commitment geared towards the infrastructure of the program unlike any have witnessed in their lifetime. A gorgeous and well needed makeover that simultaneously energized a starving fan base occurred in a relatively a short amount of time. Sixteen short months prior the Miami program was called bankrupt. I’m not sure you can say that now.

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