The Miami Hurricanes football team represents the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, i ...

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football in the United States, American football rules first gained populari ...

. The Hurricanes compete in the

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges ...

(NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision and the

Coastal Division The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate athletic conference located in the eastern United States. Headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC's fifteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Assoc ...

of the

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate athletic conference located in the eastern United States. Headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC's fifteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Assoc ...

(ACC). The program began in 1926 and has won five AP national championships ( 1983, 1987,

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...

, 1991, 2001). The Miami Hurricanes are among the most storied and decorated football programs in NCAA history. Miami is ranked fourth on the list of all-time Associated Press National Poll Championships, tied with

USC USC most often refers to: * University of South Carolina, a public research university ** University of South Carolina System, the main university and its satellite campuses ** South Carolina Gamecocks, the school athletic program * University of ...

and

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

and behind

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = " Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County , LargestMetro = Greater Birmingham , area_total_km2 = 135,7 ...

, Notre Dame, and Oklahoma. Two Hurricanes (

Vinny Testaverde Vincent Frank Testaverde Sr. (; born November 13, 1963) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 21 seasons. He played college football at Miami, where he was an All-American and won the H ...

in 1986 and Gino Toretta in 1992) have won the Heisman Trophy. Twelve

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive attraction devoted to college football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players and coaches of college football that were vo ...

members either played or coached at the University of Miami:

Bennie Blades Horatio Benedict "Bennie" Blades Sr. (born September 3, 1966) is a former American football cornerback and safety in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at the University of Miami. College career Blades played a big ...

, Don Bosseler, Ted Hendricks, Don James (played at Miami but was inducted as a coach), Russell Maryland, Ed Reed,

Gino Torretta Gino Louis Torretta (born August 10, 1970) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for five seasons. He played college football at the University of Miami, won the Heisman Trophy in 1992, and ...

, Arnold Tucker, and coaches

Andy Gustafson Andrew Gustafson (April 3, 1903 – January 7, 1979) was an American football player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College and Polytechnic Institute (VPI ...

Jack Harding John Joseph Harding (January 4, 1898 – February 24, 1963) was an American football, basketball, and baseball player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at St. Thomas College—now the University of ...

, Dennis Erickson and Jimmy Johnson. Miami also holds a number of

NFL Draft The National Football League Draft, also called the NFL Draft or (officially) the Player Selection Meeting, is an annual event which serves as the league's most common source of player recruitment. Each team is given a position in the drafting o ...

records, including most first-round selections in a single draft and most consecutive drafts with at least one first-round selection. As of 2022, at least one University of Miami player has been selected in the

in 48 consecutive NFL drafts, dating back to 1975."Miami mountain man DT Jon Ford drafted by Packers in 7th round, preserves 48-year streak,"
''The Miami Herald'', April 30, 2022 Among all colleges and universities, as of 2022, the University of Miami holds the all-time record for the most

defensive linemen In gridiron football, a lineman is a player who specializes in play at the line of scrimmage. The linemen of the team currently in possession of the ball are the offensive line, while linemen on the opposing team are the defensive line. A num ...

(49) and is tied with

for the most wide receivers (40) to go on to play in the NFL."Colleges with most NFL draft picks by position,"
NFL.com, retrieved April 30, 2022 To date, nine Miami Hurricanes have been inducted into the NFL's

Pro Football Hall of Fame The Pro Football Hall of Fame is the hall of fame for professional American football, located in Canton, Ohio. Opened on September 7, , the Hall of Fame enshrines exceptional figures in the sport of professional football, including players, coa ...

Jim Otto James Edwin Otto (born January 5, 1938) is an American former professional football player who played as a center for the Oakland Raiders of the American Football League (AFL) and National Football League (NFL) for 15 seasons. He played colle ...

in 1980, Ted Hendricks in 1990, Jim Kelly in 2002,

Michael Irvin Michael Jerome Irvin (born March 5, 1966) is an American sports commentator and former professional football wide receiver for the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL). In 2007, he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of F ...

in 2007,

Cortez Kennedy Cortez Kennedy (August 23, 1968 May 23, 2017) was an American professional football player who was a defensive tackle for his entire 11-season career with the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League (NFL). He was inducted into the Pr ...

in 2012,

Warren Sapp Warren Carlos Sapp (born December 19, 1972) is an American former American football, football defensive tackle who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 13 seasons, primarily with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Sapp played college footbal ...

in 2013,

Ray Lewis Raymond Anthony Lewis Jr. (born May 15, 1975) is an American former professional football player who played as a middle linebacker with the Baltimore Ravens for his entire 17-year career in the National Football League (NFL). He played ...

in 2018, Ed Reed in 2019, and Edgerrin James in 2020. As of the end of the 2021 season, the Miami Hurricanes have a compiled record of 644–370–19 since the program's 1926 launch. Since 2008, the University of Miami has played its home games at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, roughly north of the university's primary campus in Coral Gables. Prior to 2008, from 1937 until 2007, Miami played their home games at the Miami Orange Bowl, which was demolished in 2008.

History

Early history (1926–1978)

1920s

The

football program began with just a freshman team in 1926. Its first game was played on October 23, 1926, a 7–0 win over Rollins College before 304 fans. Under the guidance of head coach Howard "Cub" Buck, the freshman team posted a perfect 8–0 record in its inaugural season. Two of the wins were against the University of Havana, one on Thanksgiving Day in Miami and one at Havana on

Christmas Day Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year, ...

. Miami's last home game of the season featured a first: the first Hurricane football game played on New Year's Day against Howard at Miami's University Stadium. Around this time, the team adopted the official nickname "Hurricanes", though the exact timing and origin of the name is unclear; some reports suggest it was in reference to the devastating power of the 1926 hurricane that postponed the program's first game by a month, and others that it was suggested by a player in response to rumors that university officials wanted to name the team after local

flora Flora is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring ( indigenous) native plants. Sometimes bacteria and fungi are also referred to as flora, as in the terms '' gut flora'' or '' skin flora''. ...

fauna Fauna is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is '' flora'', and for fungi, it is '' funga''. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively referred to as '' biota''. ...

. Varsity competition began in 1927, with Miami beating Rollins, 39–3, in its first game and going on to a 3–6–1 record. The team improved to 4–4–1 in

1928 Events January * January – British bacteriologist Frederick Griffith reports the results of Griffith's experiment, indirectly proving the existence of DNA. * January 1 – Eastern Bloc emigration and defection: Boris Bazhano ...

, but it was not enough for Buck to keep his job, and he was replaced prior to the 1929 season with J. Burton Rix, previously head coach at Southern Methodist. Rix's arrival was funded by a group of local businessmen. That off-season, the program, which competed as an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independe ...

during its first two years of existence, joined the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association (SIAA). 1929 saw Miami play its first varsity road game (a 14–0 loss at Southwest Louisiana), and Rix led the team to its first winning season, going 3–2. His tenure, however, was short-lived; off-campus financing for the program dried up in the wake of the 1929 stock market crash, and he resigned after one season.

1930s

Ernest Brett replaced Rix, and in 1930, Miami played

Temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...

in its first game outside the South, losing 34–0 to the Owls in

Atlantic City, New Jersey Atlantic City, often known by its initials A.C., is a coastal resort city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. The city is known for its casinos, boardwalk, and beaches. In 2020, the city had a population of 38,497.

. On October 31, 1930, the Hurricanes played in one of the nation's first night games vs. Bowden College in Miami. Brett only lasted one year, and Tom McCann became the program's fourth head coach in 1931. Under McCann, the football program experienced its most successful seasons to that point. After a difficult first year, Miami put together a winning record in 1932 and served as host to the inaugural Palm Festival (later to be known as the

Orange Bowl The Orange Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in the Miami metropolitan area. It has been played annually since January 1, 1935, making it, along with the Sugar Bowl and the Sun Bowl, the second-oldest bowl game in ...

), defeating Manhattan College 7–0 at Moore Park in Miami. A 5–1–2 campaign and another Palm Festival berth followed in

1933 Events January * January 11 – Sir Charles Kingsford Smith makes the first commercial flight between Australia and New Zealand. * January 17 – The United States Congress votes in favour of Philippines independence, against the wis ...

, and in 1934, the program played in its first official

bowl game In North America, a bowl game is one of a number of post-season college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). For most of its history, the Division I Bowl Subdivis ...

, losing to Bucknell in the first Orange Bowl, 26–0. In 1935, a group of Miami football supporters sought to hire Red Grange as coach. However, the move was vetoed by President

Bowman Foster Ashe Bowman Foster Ashe (April 3, 1885 – December 16, 1952) was a U.S. educator who served as the first president of the University of Miami. Early life and education Bowman Foster Ashe was born in Scottdale, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Pittsburgh, ...

, in part because of the $7,500 salary that Grange had requested. Instead Irl Tubbs took over as head coach in 1935, and though Miami compiled an 11–5–2 record in his two seasons, it did not play in a bowl in either year. After Irl Tubbs resigned following the 1936 season to become head coach at

Iowa Iowa () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wiscon ...

was hired to serve as both head football coach and

athletic director An athletic director (commonly "athletics director" or "AD") is an administrator at many American clubs or institutions, such as colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches and ...

at Miami. In 1937, the Hurricanes moved into the brand new Burdine Municipal Stadium (renamed the Orange Bowl in 1959), located west of downtown

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...

in Little Havana. The following year, Miami played archrival

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and ...

for the first time, defeating the Gators 19–7 at

Florida Field Ben Hill Griffin Stadium (in full Steve Spurrier-Florida Field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium),Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association title with an 8–2 record. The Hurricanes, though, left the SIAA just three years later, becoming an

once again.

1940s

Harding led the Hurricanes to eight- and seven- win campaigns in 1941 and 1942, respectively, before he was called away by

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

service. Eddie Dunn, a former star running back at Miami under Harding, stepped into the void and served as head coach during Harding's two-year war service. Though the Hurricanes won five games in 1943, they faltered in 1944, winning just one game against seven losses and a tie. Fortunes changed with Harding's return in 1945, as the Hurricanes went 9–1–1 and returned to the

for the first time since 1934, defeating Holy Cross 13–6 in a memorable game. With the score tied 6–6 and only seconds remaining, Holy Cross quarterback Gene DeFilippo was intercepted by Miami's Al Hudson at the 11-yard line. Hudson dashed 89 yards the other way for the game-winning touchdown as time expired. Harding's Hurricanes won eight games in 1946, but after the team slipped to 2–7–1 in 1947, he resigned as head coach, but continued as athletic director. He hired

as the new head coach, closing out a nine-year tenure in which Miami went 54–29–3 and won at least eight games in four different seasons.

1950s

One of

's major innovations at Miami was the "drive series" offense, an option-oriented attack from the Split-T formation that relied on zone blocking and featured either a fullback fake or carry on every play. Under Gustafson's tutelage, Miami produced its first All-American, Al Carapella, in 1950 and went 9–1–1 in 1951, including a 35–13 win in its first-ever game against rival

Florida State Florida State University (FSU) is a public research university in Tallahassee, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher education in the sta ...

and a 15–14 loss to Clemson in the

. The following season, Miami won eight games and went to a bowl game in consecutive years for the first time in school history, shutting out Clemson 14–0 in a rematch at the Gator Bowl. In the middle of the 1954 season, the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges ...

imposed two one-year

penalties Penalty or The Penalty may refer to: Sports * Penalty (golf) * Penalty (gridiron football) * Penalty (ice hockey) * Penalty (rugby) * Penalty (rugby union) * Penalty kick (association football) * Penalty shoot-out (association football) * Penalty ...

against Miami for providing transportation and tryouts to prospective players. As a result, Gustafson's 1954 squad was ineligible to play in a

, and the 8–1 Hurricanes, whose lone loss came 14–13 at No. 14 Auburn, finished the season ranked ninth in the

Coaches' Poll The Coaches Poll is a weekly ranking of the top 25 NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) college football, Division I college basketball, and Division I college baseball teams. The football version of the poll has been known officiall ...

, the first top ten poll finish in school history. Two years later in 1956, an 8–1–1 Miami team, led by team captain and All-American Don Bosseler, was under consideration to play in the

Sugar Bowl The Sugar Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in New Orleans, Louisiana. Played annually since January 1, 1935, it is tied with the Orange Bowl and Sun Bowl as the second-oldest bowl games in the country, surpassed only ...

, but the program's bowl-ban was not due to expire until ten days after the game, rendering it ineligible to participate. The team finished the season ranked sixth in both the AP and Coaches' Polls.

1960s

In the later years of Gustafson's tenure, two-time All-America quarterback

George Mira George Ignacio Mira (born January 11, 1942) is a Cuban-American former professional American football player, a quarterback in eight National Football League (NFL) seasons for four teams. He then played five seasons in the Canadian Football Leag ...

guided the Hurricanes to berths in the

1961 Events January * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba (Cuba–United States relations are restored in 2015). ** Aero Flight 311 (K ...

Liberty Bowl The Liberty Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in late December or early January since 1959. For its first five years, it was played at Philadelphia Municipal Stadium in Philadelphia before being held at Atlantic Cit ...

and the 1962 Gotham Bowl, where they lost both games. In 1963, the team struggled to a 3–7 record. Nevertheless, Mira, who set many of the school's passing records during his four years at Miami, appeared on the cover of ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence tw ...

'' and finished fifth in the Heisman Trophy voting as a senior. Following the season, Gustafson decided to step down as head coach and

Charlie Tate Charles William Tate (February 20, 1919 – June 10, 1996) was an American football player and coach. Tate served as the head coach of the University of Miami for six seasons during the 1960s and two games during the 1970 season. Early life Ch ...

, an assistant at Georgia Tech, was hired to replace him. Gustafson has the Hurricane record for most years as head coach (16) and most wins (93).

's first seasons at Miami were uneventful, with the team posting a 4–5–1 record in 1964 and a reverse 5–4–1 record in

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The Prime Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is sworn in for a full term ...

. 1966 brought the arrival of

defensive end Defensive end (DE) is a defensive position in the sport of gridiron football. This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formations over the years have substantially changed how the position is p ...

Ted Hendricks, the only three-time All-American in school history, and the Hurricanes won eight games, earning a trip to the

, where they defeated No. 9

Virginia Tech Virginia Tech (formally the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and informally VT, or VPI) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia. It also has educational facilities in six re ...

, 14–7. In December 1966, the program was integrated when

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...

wide receiver Ray Bellamy signed a letter of intent to play football at the university. Miami returned to bowl play in 1967, dropping the Bluebonnet Bowl to

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the ...

, 31–21. The Hurricanes had a 5–5–0 season in 1968 and 4–6–0 in 1969.

1970 to 1978

Tate resigned as head coach two games into the 1970 season, later citing burn out and fatigue from "fighting the money battle and other battles" as the basis for his decision. Walt Kichefski, an assistant on Tate's staff, was elevated to head coach in the wake of Tate's resignation and coached the team to a 3–8 record in 1970. He was not retained the following season. On December 20, 1970,

Fran Curci Fran Curci (born June 11, 1938) is a former American football player and coach. He was an All-American quarterback at the University of Miami in 1959. He served as head coach at the University of Tampa from 1968 to 1970, the University of Miami ...

, a former All-American quarterback for the Hurricanes under

, was named as the program's new head coach. Curci's 1971 team improved by a game, but rival Florida Gators defeated Miami in a game that came to be known as "the Gator Flop." The Gators led throughout the game and were up 45–8 when John Reaves threw an interception to Miami's defense with little time left in the fourth quarter. Reaves needed just 15 more passing yards to break the

record for career passing yards. But with time winding down and Miami driving in Florida territory, there was a good chance the Gators offense would not get the ball back. After the Miami snap at the Florida 8 yard line, nearly all the Gators defensive players "flopped" down on the field. Miami quarterback John Hornibrook walked in untouched for a touchdown. A few minutes later, Reaves got his record as time expired. Curci called the incident "the worst thing I have ever seen in football." 1972 brought another memorable finish for Miami, when the inadvertent gift of a "fifth down" by officials enabled the Hurricanes to edge Tulane in the waning moments of the game for a 24–21 win. Curci left the program at the conclusion of the season and was replaced by

Pete Elliot Peter R. Elliott (September 29, 1926 – January 4, 2013) was an American football player and coach. Elliott served as the head football coach at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln (1956), the University of California, Berkeley (1957–1959), ...

. Elliot, in turn, lasted two seasons and stepped down in 1975 to become Miami's

. Offensive coordinator

Carl Selmer Carl Selmer (c. 1925 – November 2020) was an American football player and coach. He was the head coach of the University of Miami football program from 1975 to 1976. Before becoming head coach, he was the offensive coordinator for Miami, and b ...

was named the program's fifth head coach in six years. Under Selmer, a trend that started earlier in the decade continued, with home attendance declining every year. After finishing 2–8 in 1975 and 3–8 in 1976, the university fired Selmer, citing concerns about dwindling attendance and the loss of local blue-chip recruits to other schools. After a national search, Lou Saban, formerly head coach of the NFL's

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division ...

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquar ...

, and

Boston Patriots Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, was hired on December 27, 1976, as head coach. Miami only won three games in 1977, but Saban was able to put together a well-regarded recruiting class that included future

quarterback Jim Kelly of

East Brady, Pennsylvania East Brady is a borough in Clarion County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 822 at the 2020 census. History East Brady is named after Captain Samuel Brady, who battled Native Americans at that location.Egle, William H. ''An Illus ...

. Kelly had been recruited by Penn State as a

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, ...

and agreed to come to Miami after Saban promised him he would play quarterback. Among the other 30 signees in Saban's first recruiting class were 11 future NFL players. The Hurricanes improved by three games in Saban's second season and Ottis Anderson emerged as an NFL talent. Anderson became the first Miami running back to rush for 1,000 yards in a season and led the team in rushing for three straight seasons from 1977 through 1979. Anderson set numerous school rushing records and was Miami's career rushing leader until 2014, when he was overtaken by

Duke Johnson Randy "Duke" Johnson Jr. (born September 23, 1993) is an American football running back for the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the Cleveland Browns in the third round (77th overall) of the 2015 NFL Draft. ...

. After just two seasons as head coach, Saban resigned in the wake of a controversy concerning football players throwing a Jewish man into Lake Osceola, an on campus lake. He left after the 1978 season to take the head coaching position at

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

Howard Schnellenberger era (1979–1983)

Saban's departure, the constant coaching upheaval Miami experienced during the decade, and assorted fiscal problems sparked the university's board of trustees to hold a vote on whether to drop the football program down to the Division I-AA level or eliminate it altogether. University executive vice president Dr. John Green was able to convince the board to give

Division I-A The NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A, is the highest level of college football in the United States. The FBS consists of the largest schools in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). ...

football another shot and hired Howard Schnellenberger, offensive coordinator for the NFL's

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team p ...

, to succeed Saban. Despite not having any college head coaching experience, Schnellenberger had impressive credentials, playing end at

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...

from 1952 to 1956 under head coach

Bear Bryant Paul William "Bear" Bryant (September 11, 1913 – January 26, 1983) was an American college football player and coach. He is considered by many to be one of the greatest college football coaches of all time, and best known as the head coach of ...

and serving as Bryant's offensive coordinator at

from 1961 to 1965, helping the Crimson Tide win three national championships in 1961, 1964 and 1965. Schnellenberger also served as offensive coordinator for the NFL's

under

Don Shula Donald Francis Shula (January 4, 1930 – May 4, 2020) was an American football defensive back and coach who served as a head coach in the National Football League (NFL) from 1963 to 1995. The head coach of the Miami Dolphins for most of his ca ...

, helping the team achieve an undefeated,

Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual final playoff game of the National Football League (NFL) to determine the league champion. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966, replacing the NFL Championship Game. Since 2022, the gam ...

-winning season in 1972. Schnellenberger served as head coach of the NFL's Baltimore Colts from 1973 to 1974. At the outset of his tenure, Howard Schnellenberger announced to his staff and players his intention to win a national championship within five years, a bold claim for a program that was seemingly on its last legs. His five-year plan had two main priorities: installing a pro-style passing offense and upgrading the talent level on the roster through a new recruiting strategy aimed at heavily targeting the best local talent from the city of Miami and the region of South Florida, a strategy that would drastically change national recruiting in the state of

in the coming years. On the recruiting front, Schnellenberger spoke of mining the "State of Miami", which entailed fencing off the fertile South Florida recruiting base from other programs and cherry-picking the rest of the nation for a few choice recruits. To help with the new pro-style offense, Schnellenberger hired former Baltimore Colts quarterback Earl Morrall as a volunteer quarterbacks coach. Schnellenberger also sought to exploit the freedom provided by Miami's

schedule to gain "intersectional exposure" and make the program "national." On the field, Miami went 5–6 in Schnellenberger's debut season, which was highlighted by a 26–10 upset win at No. 16 Penn State in which

redshirt Redshirt, Red Shirt, or Redshirts may refer to: Entertainment * ''Red Shirts'' (film), a 1952 film about Anita Garibaldi by Franco Rossi * Redshirt (stock character), originally derived from ''Star Trek'', a stock character who dies soon after b ...

freshman Jim Kelly threw for 280 yards and three touchdowns in his first career start as Miami's quarterback. Schnellenberger set a bowl berth as the goal of the 1980 campaign and the team made good on its head coach's expectations, winning nine games and earning a trip to the 1981 Peach Bowl, where the Hurricanes defeated

20–10. The bowl berth was Miami's first since 1967 and the team finished the season ranked 18th in both the AP and Coaches' Polls. Miami continued to improve in 1981, going 9–2 and defeating No. 1 Penn State 17–14 in a late-October game at the

. In the season's final game, the Hurricanes topped rival Notre Dame for the first time since 1960, 37–15, finishing the season eighth in the AP Poll. The following season, the team finished with four losses following Kelly's shoulder injury. Entering the 1983 season—the fifth of Schnellenberger's tenure—the program had to find a replacement for the recently graduated Kelly. Ultimately, Schnellenberger chose Bernie Kosar as the team's starting quarterback over fellow redshirt freshman

1983 season and first national championship

The 1983 Miami Hurricanes started the season unranked and lost 28–3 at

in their first game, though Kosar tied

's single-game school record of 25 pass completions. The Hurricanes rallied by winning their next 10 games, including a 20–0 early-season shutout of Notre Dame, and earned a berth to the 1984 Orange Bowl to play the undefeated, top-ranked

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the sout ...

team that had both Mike Rozier and Turner Gill. The Orange Bowl-berth was Miami's first since 1951, but the program's first national championship remained a long shot, as the Hurricanes entered the game ranked fifth. Miami got much needed help early on New Year's Day when second-ranked

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

, the nation's other undefeated team, lost in the

Cotton Bowl Classic The Cotton Bowl Classic (also known as the Cotton Bowl) is an American college football bowl game that has been held annually in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex since January 1, 1937. The game was originally played at its namesake stadium in ...

and fourth-ranked

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rock ...

lost in the Rose Bowl. Behind Kosar's passing, Miami jumped out to a 17–0 lead, but Nebraska battled back and cut Miami's lead to 31–24 in the fourth quarter. With 48 seconds remaining, Nebraska scored a touchdown to make it 31–30 and, being the number one-ranked team in the nation, needed only to kick the extra point to tie the game and put itself in position to win the national championship. Nebraska head coach Tom Osborne elected to go for the win and attempt a two-point conversion instead. On the ensuing play, Miami

safety Safety is the state of being "safe", the condition of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings There are two slightly di ...

Kenny Calhoun tipped away Gill's pass to receiver Jeff Smith in the end zone, saving the game and winning Miami the national championship when it leap-frogged No. 3 Auburn to finish first in the final polls. Although Schnellenberger had made good on his five-year plan to win a national championship, he left after the season to accept a head coaching position in the USFL.

Jimmy Johnson era (1984–1988)

Fox NFL Sunday team at Bagram Airfield 2009-11-07 2 (cropped)

Two weeks later, athletic director

Sam Jankovich Sam Jankovich (September 10, 1934 – October 30, 2019) was an American sports administrator who held several positions, including athletic director at the Washington State University and the University of Miami. He also was the CEO of the New En ...

hired

Oklahoma State Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, ...

head coach Jimmy Johnson to fill the vacancy. One of Jimmy Johnson's immediate priorities upon taking over as Miami head coach was to switch to a 4–3 defense. Johnson wanted to implement the change for his first season, but lacking the time, personnel, and staff, he decided to postpone the switch and kept Schnellenberger's 5–2 defensive package for the 1984 season. The team struggled to an 8–5 record in Johnson's first season, losing a number of noteworthy games. In the next-to-last game of the regular season, the No. 6 Hurricanes squandered a 31–0 halftime lead against

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean t ...

and lost 42–40 in what was then the biggest comeback in NCAA football history. The following week, Miami lost 47–45 when

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Founded in 1863, the university has more than 9,300 full-time undergraduates and nearly 5,000 graduate students. Although Boston College is classified ...

's Doug Flutie connected with Gerard Phelan for a 48-yard

Hail Mary The Hail Mary ( la, Ave Maria) is a traditional Christian prayer addressing Mary, the mother of Jesus. The prayer is based on two biblical passages featured in the Gospel of Luke: the Angel Gabriel's visit to Mary (the Annunciation) and Mary' ...

touchdown on the final play in what has been called the

Hail Flutie The Hail Flutie game, also known as the Miracle in Miami, is a college football game in 1984 that took place between the Boston College Eagles and the Miami Hurricanes on November 23. It has been regarded by FOX Sports writer Kevin Hench as ...

game. The Hurricanes ended the season on a three-game losing streak by dropping the

1985 Fiesta Bowl The 1985 Fiesta Bowl was the fourteenth edition of the college football bowl game, played at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona, on Tuesday, January 1. Part of the 1984–85 bowl game season, it matched the fourteenth-ranked UCLA Bruins ...

to UCLA, 39–37, in a game that featured six lead changes. During the off-season, Johnson made a number of coaching changes, facilitating the switch to the 4–3 defense, and junior

succeeded early-graduate Bernie Kosar at quarterback. The 1985 team opened the season with a loss at

before winning their next four games, including a 38–0 win over

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line w ...

that began a then NCAA-record 58 game home winning streak, heading into a matchup at No. 3 Oklahoma. Facing the nation's top-rated defense, Testaverde amassed 270 yards passing and threw touchdowns to

and Brian Blades, while also running for an additional score, in a 27–14 win over the Sooners. The Hurricanes ascended to number two in the rankings following a 58–7 victory over Notre Dame in the final game of the regular season, earning a trip to the

to play the No. 8 Tennessee Volunteers. With No. 1 Penn State losing to Oklahoma in the

, Miami was in position to capture its second national championship, but those hopes were dashed with a lopsided 35–7 loss to Tennessee. Miami opened its 1986 season as the third-ranked team in the country and climbed to number two after winning its first three games, setting up a No. 1 vs. No. 2 showdown at the Orange Bowl against top-ranked and defending national champion Oklahoma. After much pre-game trash-talk between Oklahoma's Brian Bosworth and Miami's Melvin Bratton and

Alonzo Highsmith Alonzo Walter Highsmith, Sr. (born February 26, 1965) is an American football executive, former fullback, and former boxer. He is a General Manager for the University of Miami. He served as the vice president of player personnel for the Cleve ...

, Testaverde tossed four touchdown passes in a 28–16 win. Testaverde's performance led Oklahoma head coach Barry Switzer to remark that he had "never seen a better quarterback" in his 21 years with the Sooners, and at the conclusion of the regular season, Testaverde was awarded the Heisman Trophy with the fifth largest margin of victory in the voting's history. Having seized the number one ranking with the win over Oklahoma, the Hurricanes finished the regular season at 11–0, outscoring their opponents 420–136, and accepted a bid to the

1987 Fiesta Bowl The 1987 Fiesta Bowl was a college football bowl game that served as the final game of the 1986 NCAA Division I-A football season. Part of the 1986–87 bowl game season, the 1987 Fiesta Bowl also served as the National Championship Game, between ...

to play No. 2 Penn State. There, the team's "outlaw" image grew when players like Dan Sileo was doing interviews in a Hells Angel jacket, plus arriving in Arizona clad in

fatigues Workwear is clothing worn for work, especially work that involves manual labour. Often those employed within trade industries elect to be outfitted in workwear because it is built to provide durability and safety. The workwear clothing industry i ...

and

Jerome Brown Willie Jerome Brown III (February 4, 1965 – June 25, 1992) was an American football defensive tackle for the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League (NFL). He played his entire five-year NFL career with the Eagles from 1987 to 1 ...

staged a walkout of a pre-game steak fry attended by both teams. Before an estimated television audience of 70 million people, Penn State upset the heavily favored Hurricanes 14–10 to win the national championship, forcing seven turnovers, including Pete Giftopoulus' game-sealing interception of Testaverde in the end zone in the game's final seconds.

1987 season and second national championship

Led by

and new quarterback Steve Walsh, the 1987 Miami Hurricanes won the school's second national championship and completed its first undefeated varsity season. The season was highlighted by one of the most memorable games in the history of the Miami – Florida State rivalry. Trailing No. 4

19–3 in the third quarter at Doak Campbell Stadium, the Hurricanes rallied to take a 26–19 lead late in the fourth quarter on a 73-yard touchdown pass from Walsh to Irvin. Florida State responded with a touchdown in the final minute, but Seminoles head coach Bobby Bowden opted to go for two points and the win rather than kick the extra-point for a tie, and Miami's Bubba McDowell broke up the conversion pass in the end zone to preserve the 26–25 victory. Following the 1987 season, more than 60 players on the combined rosters for the game went on to play in the NFL. The 12–0 campaign was capped by a 20–14 win over the then-No. 1

Oklahoma Sooners The Oklahoma Sooners are the sport, athletic teams that represent the University of Oklahoma, located in Norman, Oklahoma, Norman. The 19 men's and women's varsity teams are called the "Sooners", a reference to a nickname given to the early part ...

in an

billed as "The Game of the Century." The win was Miami's third over Oklahoma in the last three seasons, accounting for Oklahoma's only losses during that time period.

1988 season

The Hurricanes had a then-school record 12 players from the 1987 team selected in the following spring's NFL Draft, including Irvin and

, but with Walsh returning in 1988, the team gained the number one ranking with a season-opening 31–0 shutout of then-No. 1 Florida State at the Orange Bowl. The following week, Miami scored 17 points in the final 5 minutes and 23 seconds to top No. 4

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and t ...

31–30 at Michigan Stadium. Hopes of a repeat national championship were dashed, however, in the so-called Catholics vs. Convicts game, with Miami dropping an emotional 31–30 loss to eventual-national champion Notre Dame on a failed two-point conversion pass in the final minute. Johnson left the program in February 1989 to become the head coach of the NFL's

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divis ...

, ending his tenure at Miami with a 52–9 overall record and a 44–4 mark over his last four seasons.

Dennis Erickson era (1989–1994)

Despite having the support of students, players, and even the Miami police and fire departments, offensive coordinator Gary Stevens was bypassed for the head coaching job and athletic director

chose Dennis Erickson of

Washington State Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a U.S. state, state in the Northwestern United States, Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first President of the United States, U.S. p ...

to succeed Jimmy Johnson instead.

1989 season and third national championship

, Erickson became just the second Division I head coach to win a national championship in his first season at a school. Erickson's 1989 team, led by

Craig Erickson Craig Neil Erickson (born May 17, 1969) is a former professional quarterback who was selected by the Philadelphia Eagles in the fifth round of the 1991 NFL Draft and also by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the fourth round of the 1992 NFL Draft. He ...

(no relation) at quarterback, rebounded from a 24-10 mid-season loss at

and moved back into the national championship picture with a 27–10 win over then-top-ranked Notre Dame in the final regular-season game. Miami's 33–25 win over No. 7

in the

, combined with No. 1

's loss to Notre Dame in the

, earned the program its third national championship. On October 28, 1989, Miami mascot Sebastian the Ibis was tackled by a group of police officers for attempting to put out Chief Osceola's flaming spear prior to Miami's game against long-standing rival

at Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee. Sebastian was wearing a fireman's helmet and yellow raincoat and holding a fire extinguisher. When a police officer attempted to grab the fire extinguisher, the officer was sprayed in the chest. Sebastian was handcuffed by four officers but ultimately released. Miami quarterback

, who started the game in place of injured

, told

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

, "Even if we weren't bad boys, it added to the mystique that, 'Man, look, even their mascot's getting arrested.'" Miami entered the following season as the number one team in the country, but a 28–21 upset loss to Ty Detmer and No. 16 BYU in the opener derailed both the team's national championship chances and Craig Erickson's nascent Heisman campaign. Later in the year, the Hurricanes lost to Notre Dame 29–20 in a game dubbed the "Final Conflict", as Notre Dame had decided to discontinue the 27-game rivalry, feeling the intensity of the series had reached an unhealthy level. Miami ended the season with a 46–3

victory over No. 3

in the

1991 Cotton Bowl Classic The 1991 Mobil Cotton Bowl Classic was a post-season college football game played on January 1, 1991. It pitted the #3 Texas Longhorns, champions of the Southwest Conference, against the independent #5 Miami Hurricanes. Team backgrounds Mi ...

in which the team was penalized a bowl- and school-record 16 times for 202 yards, including nine unsportsmanlike conduct or personal foul penalties. On one play, Randal Hill scored on a 48-yard touchdown reception and continued to sprint out of the end zone and up the Cotton Bowl tunnel, where he then pretended to shoot at the Longhorns with imaginary pistols. The program was widely criticized for its conduct, with Will McDonough of the ''

Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Gl ...

'' likening the Cotton Bowl Classic display to a "wilding" and Bill Walsh calling it "the most disgusting thing e'dever seen in college sports." After the season, the

responded with the so-called "Miami Rule", which made it a 15-yard penalty to engage in excessive celebration or flagrant taunting. Also during the off-season, Miami ended its 48-year status as an

and joined the Big East Conference.

1991 season and fourth national championship

The 1991 Hurricanes finished 12–0 and captured the program's fourth national championship in nine years behind quarterback

and a linebacking corps that featured Jessie Armstead and

Micheal Barrow Micheal Colvin Barrow (born April 19, 1970) is a former American college and professional football player who was a linebacker in the National Football League (NFL) for twelve seasons. He played college football for the University of Miami, an ...

. Miami's toughest test came in mid-November at then-No. 1

in the initial Wide Right game; with the No. 2 Hurricanes leading 17–16 in the final minute of the game, Florida State kicker Gerry Thomas' potential game-winning field goal attempt sailed "wide right" of the uprights. Miami completed the second undefeated season in school history with a 22–0 shutout of No. 11

in the 1992 Orange Bowl and finished first in the

AP Poll The Associated Press poll (AP poll) provides weekly rankings of the top 25 NCAA teams in one of three Division I college sports: football, men's basketball and women's basketball. The rankings are compiled by polling 62 sportswriters and br ...

, splitting the national championship with

champ

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

1992 through 1994 seasons

Hurricane Andrew devastated much of South Florida in August 1992, causing the program to relocate its preseason practice sessions north to Dodgertown in Vero Beach. That season, Miami went 11–0 against the second-toughest schedule in the country, topping No. 3

Wide Right II Wide Right II is a colloquial name for the 1992 college football game between the Miami Hurricanes and Florida State Seminoles. The game is notable in the Florida State–Miami football rivalry and derives its name from the colloquial name Wid ...

and No. 7 Penn State the following week in Beaver Stadium. Meanwhile, Torretta became the second Hurricane to win the Heisman Trophy, throwing for 19 touchdowns and 3,060 yards on the season and setting 11 school passing records during his career. Miami earned a trip to the 1993 Sugar Bowl, where the top-ranked and heavily favored Hurricanes were denied a repeat national championship by No. 2

, 34–13. The Sugar Bowl loss ended the program's 29-game winning streak, which dated to 1990. The Hurricanes were frequently thrown off their rhythm by Alabama's 11-man fronts. Torretta threw three interceptions, one fewer than he had all season, in what would be the only loss of his collegiate career. After the 1992 season, defensive coordinator Sonny Lubick left to take the head coaching position at Colorado State. Although it was not apparent at the time, the Sugar Bowl loss marked the start of a downturn in Miami's fortunes. In 1993, the Hurricanes lost three games in a season for the first time since 1984, failed to win the Big East for the first time since joining in 1991, and was shut out in the

Fiesta Bowl The Fiesta Bowl is an American college football bowl game played annually in the Phoenix metropolitan area. From its beginning in 1971 until 2006, the game was hosted at the Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona. Since 2007, the game has been pl ...

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

, still the worst loss Miami has ever suffered in a bowl game. This led observers to wonder whether the Hurricanes were in decline. In

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nels ...

, Miami defeated Georgia Southern in the season opener for its 58th consecutive home win, setting an NCAA record. The streak, which began in 1985, was snapped two weeks later when

defeated the Hurricanes 38–20 at the

. Led by All-American defensive tackle

and sophomore linebacker

, the team rebounded to earn a berth in the

1995 Orange Bowl The 1995 Orange Bowl was a college football bowl game played on January 1, 1995, as the 61st edition of the Orange Bowl and the national championship game for the 1994 season. It featured the Nebraska Cornhuskers of the Big Eight and the Miami ...

, where No. 1

outscored Miami 15–0 in the final quarter to win the game, 24–17, and the national championship. With the threat of NCAA sanctions hovering over the program for a variety of infractions, Erickson stepped down after the 1994 season to become head coach of the NFL's

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) West, which they rejoined in 2002 a ...

. Erickson departed Miami with a 63–9 record over six seasons and the highest winning percentage (.875) and most national championships (2) of any coach in school history.

Butch Davis era (1995–2000)

Following Erickson's departure, Miami initially pursued former University of Miami defensive coordinator and then- Colorado State head coach Sonny Lubick; however, he withdrew from consideration and opted to remain with the Rams. Eventually, Miami settled on another former Hurricanes defensive assistant coach, then-

defensive coordinator Butch Davis. The Hurricanes finished Davis's first season with a record of 8–3. However, on December 20, 1995, the NCAA announced that Miami would be subject to severe sanctions for numerous infractions within the athletic department. The Hurricanes were forced to sit out postseason play for the first time since 1982 and docked 31 scholarships from 1996 to 1998. Miami had actually self-reported the violations in 1991. However, when the Department of Education got word that school officials helped athletes fraudulently obtain Pell Grants, it asked Miami to stop its own investigation while it conducted its own. Ultimately, 60 athletes were implicated, but all of them avoided criminal charges after being sent through a pretrial diversion program.Holiday, Pete
Football's Dirtiest Programs: No. 10, Miami

FanHouse FanHouse was a sports website owned by AOL. Launched in September 2006, FanHouse was considered the Internet's most linked sports blog by aggregator BallHype won Editor & Publisher's 2008 EPpy Award for "Best Sports Blog", and was named as a finalis ...

, July 23, 2007. In 1994, Tony Russell, a former University of Miami academic advisor, pleaded guilty to helping more than 80 student athletes, 57 of whom were football players, falsify Pell Grant applications in exchange for kickbacks from the players themselves. The scandal dated all the way back to 1989 and fraudulently secured more than $220,000 in federal grants. Federal officials later said that Russell had engineered "perhaps the largest centralized fraud ever committed" in the history of the Pell Grant program. In late 1995, the NCAA concluded that, in addition to the fraudulent Pell Grants facilitated by Russell, the university had also provided or allowed over $400,000 worth of other, improper payments to Miami football players. The NCAA also found that the university had failed to wholly implement its drug testing program, and permitted three football student-athletes to compete without being subject to the required disciplinary measures specified in the policy. The NCAA found that this was evidence that school officials didn't have adequate control over the football program. Miami docked itself seven scholarships as part of a self-imposed sanction in 1995, and the

took away another 24 scholarships over the next two years. As a result of the scandal, ''

'''s Alexander Wolff wrote a famed and controversial cover story, arguing that Miami should at least temporarily shut down its football program. On June 21, 1996, Miami football players broke into the apartment of the captain of Miami's track team and struck him repeatedly. In response, Davis suspended three key players for the coming 1996 season, in which the Hurricanes finished 9–3. Davis also suspended two other players who were involved in separate violent incidents. The low point for Miami came in

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

when they posted a 5–6 record, the first losing season since Howard Schnellenberger's first year in 1979. The 1997 season saw the Hurricanes suffer one of the program's most humiliating losses, a 47–0 beating at the hands of in-state rival

. The Hurricanes began to reassert themselves in 1998, when they finished 9–3. In late September, Miami was forced to postpone their game with UCLA due to

Hurricane Georges Hurricane Georges () was a powerful and long-lived Cape Verde Category 4 hurricane which caused severe destruction as it traversed the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico in September 1998, making eight landfalls along its path. Georges was the seventh ...

. The game was rescheduled for December 5 and for the number 2-ranked Bruins, a trip to the National Championship game was at stake. The Hurricanes rebounded from a 66–13 "caning" at the hands of Syracuse quarterback

Donovan McNabb Donovan Jamal McNabb (born November 25, 1976) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for thirteen seasons, primarily with the Philadelphia Eagles. Before his NFL career, he played football and ...

to put up over 600 yards of total offense against UCLA en route to a stunning 49–45 victory for the Hurricanes. The following season carried high hopes and expectations for the Hurricanes. They opened the year with a 23–12 win over

in East Rutherford. Early success, however, was tempered by tough losses to Penn State and

during a three-game losing streak. The Hurricanes rebounded to win their last four games including a 28–13 win over Georgia Tech in the Gator Bowl. In 2000, Miami was shut out of the BCS National Championship Game. Despite beating

head-to-head and being ranked higher in both human polls, the Seminoles were chosen to challenge the

for the national championship. The Seminoles were also chosen over

, who also had one loss and who had handed Miami its only loss early in the season. Washington had been ranked third or fourth in the human polls, behind Miami. The Hurricanes went into the 2001 Nokia Sugar Bowl as the Big East champions and, after much pregame antics including a brawl between members of the two teams on Bourbon Street in

New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

, defeated

37–20. On January 29, 2001, Butch Davis left Miami to become head coach of the NFL's

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conferenc ...

Larry Coker era (2001–2006)

After being turned down by

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

head coach Barry Alvarez, athletics director

Paul Dee Paul T. Dee (January 6, 1947 – May 12, 2012) was general counsel and athletic director of the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida. He held the position of University of Miami athletic director from 1993 until 2008. Early life and educa ...

promoted offensive coordinator Larry Coker to head coach to replace Butch Davis.

2001 season and fifth national championship

Angered at being snubbed by the BCS, the Hurricanes stormed through the 2001 season. They opened the season with a 33–7, nationally televised rout over Penn State in Beaver Stadium. Miami followed up the victory with equally decisive Rutgers,

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

, and

Troy Troy ( el, Τροία and Latin: Troia, Hittite: 𒋫𒊒𒄿𒊭 ''Truwiša'') or Ilion ( el, Ίλιον and Latin: Ilium, Hittite: 𒃾𒇻𒊭 ''Wiluša'') was an ancient city located at Hisarlik in present-day Turkey, south-west of Ç ...

. After building up a 4–0 record, the Hurricanes defeated

in Doak Campbell Stadium, 49–27, ending the Seminoles' 54-game home unbeaten streak. The Hurricanes then defeated

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the ...

, 45–3, and

, 38–0, before heading to Chestnut Hill to take on

. In the final minute of the fourth quarter, with Miami clinging to a 12–7 lead, Boston College quarterback

Brian St. Pierre Brian Fuller St. Pierre (born November 28, 1979) is a former American football quarterback who is currently the head football coach of St. John's Preparatory School in Danvers, Massachusetts. He was originally drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers ...

led the Eagles from their own 30-yard line all the way down to the Hurricanes' 9. With BC on the verge of a momentous upset, St. Pierre attempted a pass to receiver Ryan Read at the Miami 2-yard line. However, the ball deflected off the leg of Miami cornerback

Mike Rumph Michael Jamaine Rumph (born November 8, 1979) is an American retired American football free safety and cornerback. He is currently the assistant director of recruiting for the University of Miami Hurricanes football team. High school Rumph attend ...

, landing in the hands of defensive end Matt Walters. Walters ran ten yards with the ball before teammate Ed Reed grabbed the ball out of his hands at around the Miami 20-yard line and raced the remaining 80-yards for a touchdown, resulting in an 18–7 Miami victory. After surviving this scare, Miami shutout No. 14 Syracuse, 59–0, and defeated No. 12

, 65–7 in the Orange Bowl. The combined 124–7 score set what the ''

Orlando Sentinel The ''Orlando Sentinel'' is the primary newspaper of Orlando, Florida, and the Central Florida region. It was founded in 1876 and is currently owned by Tribune Publishing Company. The ''Orlando Sentinel'' is owned by parent company, '' Tribune P ...

'' described as an NCAA-record for the largest margin of victory over consecutive ranked opponents. The final hurdle to the 2002 Rose Bowl BCS National Championship Game was at

. Miami jumped on Virginia Tech early, leading 20–3 at halftime, and 26–10 in the fourth quarter. But despite being outgained by the Hurricanes by 134 yards and being dominated in time-of-possession, the Hokies never quit. Virginia Tech added a couple of late touchdowns, attempting two-point conversions on each. The first conversion was successful, pulling them to 26–18, but receiver

Ernest Wilford Ernest Lee Wilford, Jr. (born January 14, 1979) is a former American football wide receiver. He was drafted by the Jacksonville Jaguars in the fourth round of the 2004 NFL Draft. He played college football at Virginia Tech. He is currently a s ...

dropped a pass from quarterback Grant Noel in the end zone for the second conversion. Still, the resilient Hokies had one more chance to win the game late, taking possession of the ball at midfield and needing only a field goal to take the lead. But a diving, game-saving interception by Ed Reed sealed the Miami victory, 26–24. Defeating Virginia Tech earned the top-ranked Hurricanes an invitation to the 2002 Rose Bowl to take on BCS No. 2

for the national championship. In the Rose Bowl, the Hurricanes took a 34–0 halftime lead and cruised to a 37–14 win over the Huskers to capture their fifth national championship and put the finishing touches on a perfect 12–0 season. The Miami defense shut down Heisman winner Eric Crouch and the vaunted Huskers offense, holding Nebraska 200 yards below its season average. Ken Dorsey and Andre Johnson were named Rose Bowl co-Most Valuable Players. Six Hurricane players earned 2001 All-American status and six players were finalists for national awards, including Maxwell Award winner, Ken Dorsey, and Outland Trophy winner, Bryant McKinnie. Dorsey was also a Heisman Trophy finalist, finishing third. The 2001 Miami Hurricanes are considered by some experts and historians as one of the greatest teams in college football history.

2002 through 2006 seasons

Miami started the 2002 season as the defending national champion and the No. 1 ranked team in the country. Behind a high-powered offense led by senior quarterback Ken Dorsey, new starting running back Willis McGahee, and a stout defense anchored by Jonathan Vilma, the Hurricanes completed their regular season schedule undefeated. The season was highlighted by a 41–16 win over rival

Ben Hill Griffin Stadium Ben Hill Griffin Stadium (in full Steve Spurrier-Florida Field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium),Florida State Florida State University (FSU) is a public research university in Tallahassee, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher education in the sta ...

at the

. Miami overcame a 13-point second half deficit to defeat the Seminoles, 28–27. The game was clinched when

kicker

Xavier Beitia Xavier Beitia (born November 23, 1982) is an American football placekicker who last played for the Georgia Force of the Arena Football League (AFL) in 2007. He played college football at Florida State and signed with the New York Jets in 2004 an ...

missed a 43-yard field goal, wide left, as time expired. Another signature win came four weeks later when Miami dominated the Tennessee Volunteers, 26–3, before a crowd of 107,745 at

Neyland Stadium Neyland Stadium ( ), is a sports stadium in Knoxville, Tennessee, United States. It serves primarily as the home of the Tennessee Volunteers football team, but is also used to host large conventions and has been a site for several National Fo ...

, considered one of the most hostile road venues in college football. Miami would finish 12–0 and clinch a berth in the

BCS National Championship Game after a wild 56–45 victory over Virginia Tech in which McGahee rushed for 205 yards and a school-record six touchdowns. Both Dorsey and McGahee were named as finalists for the Heisman Trophy, finishing 4th and 5th, respectively. In the midst of a 34-game winning streak, Miami was a 13-point favorite going into the Fiesta Bowl match up against No. 2

. The Hurricanes took an early 7–0 lead on a 25-yard touchdown pass from Dorsey to

Roscoe Parrish Roscoe Parrish (born July 16, 1982) is a former American football wide receiver and kick returner. He was drafted by the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League in the second round (55th overall) of the 2005 NFL Draft. He played college fo ...

, but Ohio State seized control in the second quarter behind an aggressive pass rush, bolstered by constant blitzing, and a stifling rush defense. The Buckeyes held a 14–7 lead at the half, and a field goal by Mike Nugent extended Ohio State's advantage to 17–7 midway through the third quarter. A touchdown run by McGahee brought the Hurricanes within 3 points, but he suffered a knee injury early in the fourth quarter. Miami was able to fight back and force overtime on a 40-yard field goal by Todd Sievers on the final play of the fourth quarter, aided by several questionable calls. Miami scored a touchdown on its first possession in overtime on a 7-yard pass from Dorsey to

Kellen Winslow II Kellen Boswell Winslow II (born July 21, 1983) is an American former professional football player and a convicted sex offender. He was a tight end in the National Football League (NFL) and played college football at the University of Miami, wh ...

, and, on Ohio State's ensuing possession, the Hurricanes appeared to have won the game, 24–17, after Buckeyes quarterback Craig Krenzel's fourth-and-3 pass from the Miami 5 fell incomplete in the end zone. Miami players and coaches rushed the field and stadium fireworks were set off to commemorate the program's apparent sixth national championship. The celebration proved premature. At the conclusion of the play, Big 12 official Terry Porter threw a flag and made a controversial pass interference call against Miami cornerback Glenn Sharpe. The penalty took the air out of Miami's sails and gave Ohio State new life, first-and-goal at the 1. The Buckeyes scored a touchdown to tie it at 24–24 at the end of the first overtime, and Maurice Clarett's 5-yard touchdown run in the second overtime gave Ohio State a 31–24 lead. Miami's ensuing possession saw Dorsey briefly knocked out of the game after a hit from linebacker

Matt Wilhelm Matthew Wilhelm (born February 2, 1981) is a former American college and professional football player and a current radio/TV football analyst. He was a linebacker in the National Football League (NFL) for eight seasons during the early 2000s. ...

. After backup quarterback Derrick Crudup completed an 8-yard pass on third down, Dorsey re-entered and converted the crucial fourth-and-3 with a 7-yard completion to Winslow. Miami then drove to the Ohio State 2 yard-line, but was held to one yard on its next three plays, giving

the national championship. Miami suffered through some offensive struggles in 2003 behind new quarterback Brock Berlin. A blowout loss at

in early November ended Miami's 39-game regular season winning streak and a loss the following week to

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 36th-largest by ...

ended Miami's national championship aspirations. The Hurricanes rebounded to win the Big East Conference championship and finish the season 11–2 with an 2004 Orange Bowl victory over

. Miami joined the ACC in 2004. Despite three conference losses, the Hurricanes ended the season with a

Peach Bowl The Peach Bowl is an annual college football bowl game played in Atlanta, Georgia since December 1968. Since 1997, it has been sponsored by Chick-fil-A and is officially known as the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl. From 2006 to 2013, it was officially ...

victory over rival

. The 2005 season marked the debut of

Kyle Wright Kyle Wright (born October 18, 1984) is a former American football quarterback. He was signed by the Minnesota Vikings as an undrafted free agent in 2008 and was also a member of the San Francisco 49ers. He played college football at the Univers ...

as Miami's starting quarterback, although the much-ballyhooed Wright would struggle with consistency during the season with much of Miami's success that year fueled by its defense. After a loss to

after placekick holder Bryan Monroe bobbled the snap for what would have been a game-tying field goal attempt, Miami would win eight straight games, including a road win over No. 3

, only to stumble two weeks later against underdog Georgia Tech. Miami's second conference loss of the season cost it a place in the inaugural ACC Championship game and it competed instead in the

, where it lost to LSU, 40–3. 2005 also saw the program embroiled in more controversy when it was reported several Miami football players had recorded a rap song in 2004 that contained lewd sexual references. The song, recorded by an informal group that called itself "7th Floor Crew" and set to the beat of Aaliyah's "

If Your Girl Only Knew "If Your Girl Only Knew" is a song recorded by American singer Aaliyah for her second studio album, '' One in a Million'' (1996). The song was written by both Missy Elliott and Timbaland, with the latter producing the song. Musically, "If Your Gi ...

Bomani Jones Bomani Babatunde Jones (born August 26, 1980) is an American sports journalist who is currently employed by ESPN. He was the co-host of ''Highly Questionable'' with Dan Le Batard, before leaving the show in June 2017 to develop his own show, ' ...

wrote about the incident a couple of years after the recording. The Hurricanes went 7–6 during a 2006 season that included an on-field brawl against Florida International, the shooting death of Miami defensive tackle Bryan Pata, and a four-game late-season losing streak. Only a

Thanksgiving Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in the United States, Canada, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Philippines. It is also observed in the Netherlander town of Leiden ...

night victory over

, in Miami's last game of the regular season, saved the Hurricanes from a losing regular season record. The day following the Boston College victory, university president

Donna Shalala Donna Edna Shalala ( ; born February 14, 1941) is an American politician and academic who served in the Carter and Clinton administrations, as well as in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2019 to 2021. Shalala is a recipient of the Preside ...

fired Coker. Coker coached through the postseason, where he won his final game, a 21–20 victory over

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

on December 31, 2006, in the

MPC Computers Bowl The Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, previously the Humanitarian Bowl (1997–2003, 2007–2010) and the MPC Computers Bowl (2004–2006), is an NCAA-sanctioned post-season college football bowl game that has been played annually since 1997 at Alberts ...

Randy Shannon era (2007–2010)

OklahomaSooners MiamiHurricane 20070908 LineofScrimmage

Band of the Hour performing pregame at 2008 Emerald Bowl 4

After a search that lasted two weeks, Miami athletics director

named

defensive coordinator A defensive coordinator is a coach responsible for a gridiron football (American football) team's defense. Generally, the defensive coordinator, the offensive coordinator and the special teams coordinator represent the second level of a team's c ...

Randy Shannon, a starting linebacker on the 1987 national champions, as the Hurricanes' 22nd head coach on December 8, 2006. Shannon reportedly agreed to a four-year deal worth over $4 million. His hiring made him the first

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

head coach in Miami football history. One of Shannon's first acts as head coach was to impose a strict code of conduct for the team enacted in large part due to the misbehavior, arrests and shenanigans of Miami players during Larry Coker's tenure as head coach. Shannon's first year as University of Miami's head coach in 2007 was one of the worst in the Hurricanes' modern history, with the team registering a losing 5–7 record. Under Shannon, the team failed to reach a bowl game for the first time in a decade. Notably, it was the first time in 25 years that the Hurricanes had missed a bowl game with a full complement of scholarships. Media draft experts considered the freshmen on the 2008 team to be one of the top recruiting classes in the nation. The 2008 season resulted in a 7–6 record. The regular season was highlighted by losses to rivals

and

, as well as an upset victory over

. The 26–3 loss to Florida was Miami's first in that series since 1985, snapping a 6-game winning streak against the Gators. Afterwards, the tension between the two teams was heightened when Shannon accused Florida coach Urban Meyer of trying to run up the score with an unsuccessful deep pass into the end zone in the game's final minute. The visiting Hurricanes were 22 point underdogs in the nationally televised game but only trailed 9–3 heading into the fourth quarter, leading some to wonder whether Meyer was trying to compensate for his team's unimpressive performance before kicking a field goal with :25 remaining." Miami was knocked out of

ACC Championship The ACC Championship was a cancelled two-day cricket tournament run by the Asian Cricket Council that is contested between its members nations. The first tournament was scheduled to be held in December 2014. It was canceled due to the busy prep ...

contention with a late-season loss to Georgia Tech in which the Hurricanes surrendered the second-most rushing yards in school history (472). The Hurricanes finished the 2008 season with a 24–17 loss to

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

in the

Emerald Bowl The San Francisco Bowl was an annual postseason college football bowl game certified by the NCAA and played in the San Francisco Bay Area. Originally named the Diamond Walnut San Francisco Bowl during its first two editions from 2002 to 2003, it ...

. After the 2008 season, Shannon fired offensive coordinator

Patrick Nix Patrick Nix is an American football coach and former player. He played college football as a quarterback at Auburn University from 1992 to 1995. Nix served as the head football coach at Henderson State University from 1999 to 2000, compiling a r ...

, citing philosophical differences. Also, starting quarterback Robert Marve left the team because he claimed not to be able to play for Coach Shannon. Shannon placed strict restrictions on Marve's potential transfer destinations and received much criticism in the media. However, the University of Miami claimed in a press release that the restrictions were set because of suspected tampering by Marve's family or others on behalf of the Marve family. Shannon's staff suffered more upheaval when defensive coordinator Bill Young left to assume the same position at

, his alma mater, in late January 2009.

North Carolina North Carolina () is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 28th largest and List of states and territories of the United ...

assistant John Lovett was hired to replace him. Shannon hired former

UMass The University of Massachusetts is the five-campus public university system and the only public research system in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The university system includes five campuses (Amherst, Boston, Dartmouth, Lowell, and a medical ...

head coach Mark Whipple as Miami's new offensive coordinator and associate head coach. Several Miami offensive players from the 2008 season returned, including quarterback

Jacory Harris Jacory Sherrod Harris (born May 12, 1990) is a former Canadian football quarterback for the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League (CFL), and a current firefighter in Miami for the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Department. Harris started ...

, both starting running backs, most of the offensive line and its top six receivers. Shannon has been able to recruit a number of Southern Florida's top high school football players by telling them that they would be able to play immediately. In fact, 21 true freshmen played during the 2008 season opener. The 2009 season began on a poor note after two back up quarterbacks, Taylor Cook and Cannon Smith, both transferred out during fall practice, leaving the young Hurricane team with only one serviceable backup in true freshman Alonzo Highsmith Jr.. Sophomore

directed the newly implemented offense. To make matters worse, starting defensive end

Adewale Ojomo Adewale Ojomo (born November 11, 1988) is a former American football defensive end. He signed with the New York Giants as an undrafted free agent. He played college football at the University of Miami. Early years Ojomo attended Hialeah High S ...

suffered a broken jaw in a locker room fight that led to a season-ending injury, causing the already young Hurricane team to go into their season short handed. Miami faced a difficult schedule to start the 2009 season with visits to No. 18

, a home game against No. 15 Georgia Tech, a visit to

Lane Stadium Lane Stadium is a college football stadium in the eastern United States, located on the campus of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) in Blacksburg, Virginia. The playing surface of the stadium is named Worsham F ...

and the No. 7 Virginia Tech Hokies and a home visit from the defending

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its ...

champions and BCS Champion runners-up in No. 3 Oklahoma. Some national media outlets and sites such as

predicted at best a 2–2 record for the Hurricanes with some even predicting an 0–4 start. Miami opened up their 2009 season against

on Labor Day night for a national broadcast for ESPN. Billed as a "Battle of Rebuilding Programs", Quarterback Jacory Harris led a heroic comeback in Tallahassee to beat the then ranked Seminoles 38–34, overcoming a late interception and apparent injury to Harris in the 4th quarter. The next week, Miami welcomed the triple option offense of the No. 14

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets is the name used for all of the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), located in Atlanta, Georgia. The teams have also been nicknamed the Ramblin' Wre ...

in yet another ESPN prime-time game. Georgia Tech came in hot off of a big ACC win against Clemson University the previous week and held a 4–0 record against the Hurricanes in the last four years, including the previous years pounding in Atlanta. The 2009 contest would be a different story all together, as the Hurricanes handily beat the Jackets 33–17 at home and allowed only 95 rushing yards in the process. The next week, with the Hurricanes in the national spotlight for the first time in 5 years, the No. 9 Miami team visited the No. 11 Virginia Tech Hokies. In pouring rain, Tech defeated the Hurricanes by a final score of 31–7. Beat up and embarrassed, Miami then played Oklahoma. Without

Heisman Award The Heisman Memorial Trophy (usually known colloquially as the Heisman Trophy or The Heisman) is awarded annually to the most outstanding player in college football. Winners epitomize great ability combined with diligence, perseverance, and har ...

winner Sam Bradford, Oklahoma took an early 10–0 lead after two early Jacory Harris interceptions. Going into halftime, the Hurricanes trailed the Sooners 10–7 in a highly contested football game. Miami came out for the second with a huge hit on the kick off team by

Cory Nelms Cory Nelms (born February 27, 1988) is a former American football cornerback who played in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at the University of Miami and attended Neptune High School in Neptune Township, New Jersey. ...

that forced the Sooners to start inside their own 20. The following play, sophomore corner

Brandon Harris Brandon Harris (born January 24, 1990) is an American football coach and former cornerback who is currently the cornerbacks coach at Florida Atlantic University. He was drafted by the Houston Texans in the second round of the 2011 NFL Draft. ...

hit Oklahoma Quarterback Landry Jones and forced a fumble that eventually led to a Hurricane touchdown. The momentum stayed with the Hurricanes as they rode to a 21–20 win over the No. 8 team in the country. Following the opening four weeks, Miami was 3–1 and was the talk of sports stations nationwide. Following the gauntlet first third of the season, the Hurricanes won against Florida A&M at home and on the road against in-state foe UCF, moving all the way up to No. 10 in the polls. The Canes then had to take on Clemson in

in what was a contest of speed and athleticism. Turnovers, missed opportunities and stand-out back C. J. Spiller led the Tigers to a 40–37 overtime win against the Hurricanes, knocking them out of BCS contention and putting the

ACC Championship Game The ACC Championship Game is an annual American college football game held in early December by the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) each year to determine its football champion. From its inception in 2005 to 2022, the game pit the champion of t ...

in serious jeopardy. A win against Wake Forest on Halloween kept the Hurricanes in the conference race, which they followed up on with a 52–17 defeat of

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are ...

in Miami. The following week

, led by former Miami head coach Butch Davis, topped Miami 33–24 with an unimpressive performance by Jacory Harris and the offense. Miami finished the 2009 regular season with back-to-back wins over

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are r ...

and in-state opponent South Florida. Miami's final record was 9–3, finishing in 3rd place for the ACC Coastal Division behind Georgia Tech and

. The announcement of the 2009 bowl selections stirred some controversy. Instead of choosing the 3rd best team in the ACC (Miami), Gator Bowl officials chose

to represent the ACC against

instead of the Hurricanes because of the retirement of legendary FSU coach Bobby Bowden, who served as West Virginia's head coach from 1970 to 1975. The Hurricanes were relegated to the

2009 Champs Sports Bowl The 2009 Champs Sports Bowl was a college football bowl game between the Miami Hurricanes of the Atlantic Coast Conference and the Wisconsin Badgers of the Big Ten Conference. Played at the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Florida, the game started at ...

Orlando, Florida Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures re ...

, to play against the 9–3 Wisconsin Badgers. Though the Hurricanes were heavy favorites coming into the contest, the Badgers beat up on the Hurricanes consistently throughout the game. The Hurricanes started off fast with a big return to open the game by

Sam Shields Samuel George Shields III (born December 8, 1987) is a former American football cornerback. He played college football at the University of Miami. Shields was signed by the Green Bay Packers as an undrafted free agent in 2010. He won Super B ...

, but the Canes just could not maintain any offense throughout the game and had no answer for the power offense of Wisconsin. Going into halftime, the Hurricanes trailed 17–7 and Graig Cooper blew out his knee on the poor turf just before halftime on a kick off return. Though Miami scored a late touchdown and recovered the

onside kick In gridiron football, an onside kick is a kickoff deliberately kicked short in an attempt by the kicking team to regain possession of the ball. This is in contrast with a typical kickoff, in which the kicking team intends to give the ball to the ...

, they fell to Wisconsin 20–14 and finished the season at 9–4. After the 2009 season, Shannon signed the No. 13 recruiting class in the nation according to ESPN. Shannon addressed many depth issues including offensive line, line backers and running backs, however the media claimed that the staff missed out on several of the more highly touted recruits on signing day, including a couple of "5 star" players. Coaching changes were made before and after signing day, including the departure of defensive line coach/recruiting coordinator Clint Hurtt to the Louisville and the loss of running backs coach

Tommie Robinson Tommie Robinson (born April 4, 1963) is an American football coach who was most recently the running backs coach at Texas A&M University. Playing career Robinson was a three-year starter at strong safety for the Trojans. There he was a player on ...

to the Arizona Cardinals. Shannon replaced them with former Hurricane and

defensive line coach Rick Petri and running back coach Mike Cassano from

Florida International University Florida International University (FIU) is a public research university with its main campus in Miami-Dade County. Founded in 1965, the school opened its doors to students in 1972. FIU has grown to become the third-largest university in Florid ...

. Subsequently, Shannon named wide-receiver coach Aubrey Hill as the recruiting coordinator for the program. In May 2010, the university raised Shannon's pay and extended hiss contract as head coach through 2014. The Hurricanes finished the 2010 season with a 7–6 record, which included losses to rivals

and

ands their first ever loss to in-state opponent South Florida in the last game of the season. Shannon was fired by athletics director

Kirby Hocutt Kirby Hocutt is the athletic director at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas and the Big 12 representative to the College Football Playoff committee. Additionally, Hocutt is the chairman of the NCAA Division I Football Recruiting Subcommittee ...

after the loss to South Florida. Interim head coach Jeff Stoutland, who was offensive line coach under Shannon, led the team into its 2010 Sun Bowl matchup versus Notre Dame; the Hurricanes lost the

New Year's Eve In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Eve, also known as Old Year's Day or Saint Sylvester's Day in many countries, is the evening or the entire day of the last day of the year, on 31 December. The last day of the year is commonly referred to ...

game 33–17.

Al Golden era (2011–2015)

Ameer Abdullah about to receive a snap (9-20-2014)

On December 13, 2010, it was announced that athletics director

hired

head coach Al Golden as the program's 23rd head coach. Golden was regarded as an up-and-coming coach who had turned around an abysmal Temple football program. Shortly after announcing Golden's hiring, Miami signed Golden to a five-year contract. In 2011, Golden's first season, the Hurricanes posted a 6–6 record. It was only the third time, since 1979, that the program had failed to register a winning record. The Hurricanes kicked off the season with a 32–24 loss to

. After upsetting No. 17

, the Hurricanes lost to Kansas State by a margin of 28–24. Golden's team defeated in-state FCS foe Bethune-Cookman on October 1 by a score of 45–14. After a close 38–35 loss to

, Miami defeated

by a score of 30-24 and No. 20 Georgia Tech by a score of 24–7. The Hurricanes alternated between win and loss for the remainder of the season; losing to

28–21, defeating

49–14, losing to archrival

23-19 beating South Florida in a 6-3 defensive struggle and losing to

by a score of 24–17. On November 25, 2011, Miami signed Golden to a raise and four-year contract extension through the 2019 season. In 2012, the Hurricanes finished with a 7–5 mark. They started the season with a 41–32 victory over

on September 1. After a 52-13 blowout loss to Kansas State, Golden's team won their next three; defeating Bethune-Cookman 38–10, Georgia Tech 42-36 and NC State 44–37. Next, however, the Hurricanes lost their next three, dropping a 41-3 blowout to No. 9 Notre Dame, an 18-14 struggle to

, and a 33–20 loss to No. 12

. On November 1, Miami defeated

by a score of 30–12. After a heartbreaking 41–40 loss to

, the Hurricanes won their last two; dominating South Florida 40-9 and outlasting

by a score of 52–45. This resulted in a three-way tie, with

and Georgia Tech, for the best record in the ACC Coastal Division.

, which had defeated the Hurricanes earlier in the season, would have been declared the coastal division champion based on the ACC tie breaker formula. However, due to

sanctions, they were ineligible for postseason play. Miami finished in second place based on the formula. However, due to likely pending NCAA sanctions from the Nevin Shapiro scandal, the university's administration preemptively chose to forego post-season play for the second consecutive year. Had they played, it would have marked their only appearance in the ACC championship game, since joining the conference, in 2004. It would also have set up a rematch with

, who had defeated the Hurricanes earlier in the season. The Hurricanes compiled a 9–4 record in

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

. Golden's team came storming out of the gate, winning their first seven; a 34–6 win over in-state opponent

Florida Atlantic Florida Atlantic University (Florida Atlantic or FAU) is a public research university with its main campus in Boca Raton, Florida, and satellite campuses in Dania Beach, Davie, Fort Lauderdale, Jupiter, and Fort Pierce. FAU belongs to the 12-ca ...

, a 21–16 win over rival

, a 77-7 thrashing of FCS opponent Savannah State, a 49–21 victory over South Florida, a 45–30 win over Georgia Tech, a 27-23 close win over

and a 24-21 nail biter over Wake Forest. The Hurricanes suffered their first loss of the 2013 season on November 2, losing to No. 3

in a 41-14 thrashing. Miami dropped a second straight game by way of a 42–24 loss to

and a third consecutive loss to

in a 48-30 disappointment dropped the Hurricanes from a No. 7 national ranking to unranked in those three weeks. The Hurricanes were able to close out the regular season with two wins, defeating

45-26 and

41–31. Miami received a berth in the

2013 Russell Athletic Bowl The 2013 Russell Athletic Bowl was an American college football bowl game that was played on December 28, 2013 at the Florida Citrus Bowl Stadium in Orlando, Florida. It was one of the 2013–14 bowl games that concluded the 2013 FBS football ...

, a game they lost to No. 18 Louisville in a 36-9 blowout. In October 2013, after an investigation spanning two and a half years, the NCAA announced that "the committee acknowledged and accepted the extensive and significant self-imposed penalties by the university." Therefore, no further bowl ban would be enforced. As a result, Miami was eligible to compete in ACC championship and BCS bowls for the 2013–14 season. However, the NCAA stripped Miami of nine scholarships over three years. The Hurricanes went 6–7 in

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wa ...

. Miami kicked off the season with a 31–13 loss to No. 25 Louisville on September 1. Miami defeated Florida A&M 41-7 and

Arkansas State Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage la ...

41-20 over the next two weeks before losing to No. 24

by a score of 41–31. On September 27, the Hurricanes defeated

by a margin of 22–10. On October 4, Georgia Tech defeated Miami by a score of 28–17. Miami won their next three, winning 55–34 over

, 30–6 over

and 47–20 over

. Golden's squad struggled to finish the season, losing their last four; a 30-26 letdown to archrival

, a 30-13 disappointment to

, a 35–23 defeat at the hands of

in the regular season finale and a 24-21 close defeat in the

2014 Independence Bowl The 2014 Independence Bowl was a college football bowl game played on December 27, 2014, at Independence Stadium in Shreveport, Louisiana, in the United States. The 39th annual Independence Bowl, it pitted the Miami Hurricanes of the Atlantic Co ...

Shreveport, Louisiana Shreveport ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is the third most populous city in Louisiana after New Orleans and Baton Rouge, respectively. The Shreveport–Bossier City metropolitan area, with a population of 393,406 in 2020, is ...

, to

South Carolina )''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

. The Hurricanes finished 8–5 in 2015. By this time, many Miami fans had grown restless and irritated at the team's inconsistencies and began to call for Golden to be fired using different means, including flying airplanes over Hard Rock Stadium with various "Fire Al Golden" banners. The Hurricanes started the season with a 45–0 shutout of Bethune-Cookman on September 5. A 44–20 win over

and a 36–33 overtime victory over

followed before the Hurricanes lost 34–23 to

and 29–24 to No. 12

. Miami defeated

by a score of 30–20 on October 17 in what would be Al Golden's last win as Miami head coach. On October 25, 2015, the day after a 58–0 home loss to Clemson, the worst defeat in school history, the university's athletic director Blake James announced Golden's firing. Golden was 32–25 in his five seasons at Miami and led the program to bowl games in 2013 and 2014.

Tight end The tight end (TE) is a position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football, on the offense. The tight end is often a hybrid position with the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a wide receiver. Lik ...

s coach Larry Scott finished the season as interim head coach. In Scott's first game as interim head coach, the Hurricanes recorded a controversial win over

. The Hurricanes used eight laterals (reminiscent of the 1982 Cal-Stanford ending) on a kickoff return with no time remaining to score the game-winning touchdown and stun the Blue Devils by a score of 30–27. However, video evidence showed the play should have been blown dead and not counted as a touchdown, as Miami players who possessed the ball on that play's knee were shown to be on the ground more than once. Although the outcome of the game couldn't be changed, the

subsequently suspended the game and replay officials for failing to catch the errors and make the correct call. On November 7, Miami defeated

by a score of 27–21. The next week, the Hurricanes lost to No. 17

by a score of 59–21. Miami then defeated Georgia Tech 38-21 and

29–24. The Hurricanes received a berth in the

2015 Sun Bowl The 2015 Sun Bowl was a post-season American college football bowl game played on December 26, 2015 at the Sun Bowl Stadium in El Paso, Texas. Played under snowy conditions, it marked the first time the game was played in snowy weather since the ...

, a game they lost to

by a score of 20–14.

Mark Richt era (2016–2018)

On December 4, 2015, former Georgia head coach

Mark Richt Mark Allan Richt (born February 18, 1960) is a retired American football head coach, former player, and television analyst. He was the head football coach at the University of Georgia for 15 years and at the University of Miami, his alma mater, ...

was named Miami's 24th head football coach. The hiring generated much excitement and was well-received and praised all across the country. Although he had recently been fired as head coach of the Bulldogs, Richt achieved great successes during his 15 years as Georgia head coach. His teams represented the SEC in three BCS bowl appearances with a record of 2–1, and finished in the top ten of the final AP Poll seven times (2002–2005, 2007, 2012, 2014). His 2008 team also finished in the top ten of the coaches poll. His Georgia teams averaged about nine wins per season, won two

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities o ...

championship games and reached four more, reached bowl games each of his 15 seasons as head coach and sent many players to

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the majo ...

playing careers. Richt had prior ties to the Miami football program, having played

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Am ...

for the Hurricanes under Lou Saban and Howard Schnellenberger from 1978 to 1982 and, despite being behind the likes of Jim Kelly,

and Bernie Kosar on the depth chart, amassed nearly 1,500 passing yards during his college playing career. Richt also served as offensive coordinator at

from 1994 to 2000 under Bobby Bowden, overseeing an offense that was one of the most potent in the country, won two national championships, and produced two Heisman Trophy winners in Charlie Ward and Chris Weinke. Miami signed Richt to a five-year contract worth $4.1 million annually. The Hurricanes improved to 9–4 in 2016. They began the season on September 3 by blowing out in-state FCS opponent Florida A&M 70–3. The next week, the Hurricanes defeated

by a score of 38–10. After defeating

Appalachian State Appalachian State University (; Appalachian, App State, App, or ASU) is a public university in Boone, North Carolina. It was founded as a teachers college in 1899 by brothers B. B. and D. D. Dougherty and the latter's wife, Lillie Shull Doug ...

45–10, Miami defeated Georgia Tech by a score of 35–21 to record their first

win under Richt. Then, the Hurricanes embarked upon a four-game losing streak, dropping games to No. 23

by a score of 20–19,

by a margin of 20–13,

by a count of 37-16 and Notre Dame to the tune of 30–27. The Hurricanes rebounded to win their last five games of the season, a 51-28 trouncing of

, a 34–14 victory over

, a 27–13 win over NC State and a 40–21 win over

with quarterback

Brad Kaaya Bradley Mathias Kaaya Jr. (born September 3, 1995) is a former American football quarterback. He played college football at the University of Miami from 2014 to 2016, and was drafted by the Detroit Lions in sixth round of the 2017 NFL Draft. Ka ...

becoming Miami's all-time leading passer to close the regular season. On December 28, 2016, Richt led the Hurricanes to their first bowl win in 10 years, when they defeated No. 16

in the 2016 Russell Athletic Bowl by a score of 31–14. Miami finished 10–3 in 2017. The Hurricanes began the season on September 2, defeating in-state FCS opponent Bethune–Cookman by a margin of 41–13. The Hurricanes were supposed to play

on September 9, but the game was canceled due to Hurricane Irma battering the state of

that weekend. Although the game was to be played in

Jonesboro, Arkansas Jonesboro is a city located on Crowley's Ridge in the northeastern corner of the U.S. State of Arkansas. Jonesboro is one of two county seats of Craighead County. According to the 2020 Census, the city had a population of 78,576 and is the ...

, the University of Miami administration contended that it would be too difficult for the football team to safely travel in and out of Florida due to the intensity of the hurricane. When Miami refused to reschedule the game and pay the $650,000 they agreed to pay the Red Wolves, the Arkansas State University administration filed a lawsuit seeking the payment. As a result of the cancellation, Miami only played 11 regular season games in 2017 as opposed to the usual 12. Miami also rescheduled their game against

from September 16 to October 7 due to the aftermath of the hurricane. On September 23, Miami played its second game of the season, defeating Toledo by a score of 52–30. After a 31–6 victory over

, Richt's team defeated archrival

by a score of 24–20. After a 25-24 nail biting win over Georgia Tech, the Hurricanes defeated Syracuse by a margin of 27–19. On October 28, Miami defeated

by a score of 24–19. That was followed by a 28–10 victory over No. 13

. On November 11, Richt's squad obliterated Notre Dame by a score of 41–8. After a 44–28 win over

, Miami suffered its first loss of the season in the regular season finale, falling to

by a margin of 24–14. In the 2017 ACC Championship Game, Miami was obliterated by No. 1 Clemson by a score of 38–3. The Hurricanes accepted a berth in the

2017 Orange Bowl The 2017 Orange Bowl was a college football bowl game played on December 30, 2017 at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. The contest was televised on ESPN with a radio broadcast on ESPN Radio, kickoff was at 8:00 PM (EST). It was on ...

, a game they lost to No. 6

by a score of 34–24. On May 3, 2018, the University of Miami administration signed Richt to a five-year contract extension. Miami ended 2018 with another loss to Wisconsin, this time in the Pinstripe Bowl 35–3, finishing 7–6. On December 30, 2018, Richt abruptly announced his retirement from coaching.

Manny Diaz era (2019–2021)

2019_Walk-On%27s_Independence_Bowl_(6035575)

On the same day Richt announced his retirement, Miami hired Manny Diaz as their new head coach. A

native, Diaz had been the team's defensive coordinator the previous three seasons. Diaz had been hired as head coach by

17 days prior to Richt's retirement. On December 30, 2018, however, Diaz withdrew his commitment to Temple to accept the head coach opportunity at Miami. Diaz compiled a 21–15 record as head coach during the 2019, 2020, and 2021 seasons. On December 6, 2021, the University of Miami fired Diaz.

Mario Cristobal era (2021–present)

On December 7, 2021, the day following Manny Diaz's firing, the University of Miami announced the hiring of former

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

head coach and University of Miami alumnus Mario Cristobal as the new head coach.

Conference affiliations

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independe ...

(1927–1928) * Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association (1929–1941) *

(1942–1990) * Big East Conference (1991–2003) *

(2004–present)

Championships

National championships

Miami has been selected a winner of a national championship nine times from NCAA-designated major selectors, for which the school officially claims five of them. Miami has won five national championships (1983, 1987, 1989, 1991, and 2001), which saw them finish number one in the final AP Poll each time. Claimed national championship

Conference championships

Miami has won nine conference championships, six outright and three shared. † Co-champions

Division championships

Miami has one division championship in the ACC Coastal Division.

Bowl games

Miami has played in 43 bowl games with a record of 19 wins and 24 losses in these 43 bowl games. Miami's most common bowl destination has been the

, where they have appeared nine times, compiling a 6–3 overall Orange Bowl record. Miami's most common opponent in bowl play has been

. The schools have met six times in bowl play with the Hurricanes winning four times and losing twice against the Cornhuskers.

Head coaches

Personnel

Coaching staff

Rivalries

Florida

Miami's rivalry with

dates back to 1938, making it the oldest rivalry among Florida's "Big Three" of Miami, Florida, and Florida State. The Hurricanes defeated the Gators, 19–7, in the first meeting between the geographic rivals. The Seminole War Canoe was carved in 1955 out of a cypress struck by lightning and was given to the winner of the annual football game. The canoe is meant to symbolize the fighting spirit of the Seminole people that is often on display during games between the Hurricanes and Gators. The canoe is now on permanent display at the University of Miami Sports Hall of Fame on the Coral Gables campus. Miami holds the edge in the all-time series with a 29–26 record against Florida. The two schools met every year from 1944 until 1987, but have not played regularly since then. Florida canceled the annual series after the 1987 season, when the requirement of the

for member schools to play eight conference games induced the University of Florida to fill out the non-conference portion of its schedule with teams that do not require a home-and-home arrangement, except for Florida State. From 1986 to 2003, Miami won all six of the games between the schools, including victories in the 2001

and the 2004

. Florida snapped its 23-year drought against Miami with a 26–3 win over the Hurricanes in 2008. In 2019, the series resumed with Florida winning 24–20 in the Camping World Kickoff in Orlando, Florida. The two teams are next scheduled to meet August 31, 2024 at Florida's home stadium,

Ben Hill Griffin Stadium Ben Hill Griffin Stadium (in full Steve Spurrier-Florida Field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium),Gainesville.

Florida State

Miami's traditional rivals are

and

. Since 2002, the Florida Cup has been awarded to the team that finishes with the best head-to-head record in years when Miami and Florida State face each other. To date, six Florida Cups have been awarded with Miami winning the first three. Miami's rivalry with

dates to 1951 when the Hurricanes defeated the Seminoles 35–13 in their inaugural meeting. The schools have played every year since 1966, with Miami holding the all-time advantage, 33–30. Upon the conclusion of their 2003 regular-season schedules, the teams represented their respective conferences in the 2004

FedEx Orange Bowl The Orange Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in the Miami metropolitan area. It has been played annually since January 1, 1935, making it, along with the Sugar Bowl and the Sun Bowl, the second-oldest bowl game i ...

(Miami being the champions of the Big East, and Florida State being the champions of the ACC). Miami won the bowl game 16–14; it was the only time the schools have met in post-season football play. The 63 meetings between the teams of FSU and Miami eclipsed the rivalry between the Hurricanes and the Gators (from the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

) following their 2010 game; the series of games between the University of Miami and Florida is Miami's second-longest at 55 games. During the 1980s and 1990s, the series emerged as one of the premier rivalries in college football. Between 1983 and 2002, the Hurricanes and Seminoles combined to win 7 national championships and play in 14 bowl games with a national championship at stake. The 1988 game starred 57 future NFL pros on the combined rosters. Since 2004, the year Miami left the Big East Conference to join the expanded 12-member

, the universities have been conference foes, though they are placed in separate divisions within the conference. This alignment creates the potential for the two teams to meet for a second time in the

, should each win their respective divisions in any particular season. Such a rematch has yet to happen after 14 years of ACC Championship Games, as of 2018. The series has consistently drawn very high television ratings with the 2006 Miami–Florida State game being the most-watched college football game—regular-season or postseason—in

history, and the 2009 and 1994 meetings being the second- and fifth-most watched regular season games, respectively. The Miami Hurricanes lead the all-time series 35–31 as of 2021. The most recent meeting was in 2018 on October 6 when the Miami Hurricanes won 28–27. Their next scheduled game is November 5, 2022 at Hard Rock Stadium.

Nebraska

The series with

is tied at 6–6 as of 2018.

Notre Dame

The Hurricanes and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish first met during the 1955 college football season. They met three times during the 1960s (1960, 1965 and 1967), and proceeded to play each other annually from 1971 to 1990 (except in 1986). Notre Dame consistently dominated the series in the 1970s. But in the 1980s, Miami began to dominate and the once docile rivalry intensified significantly. Both teams were national contenders in the later part of the decade, and both teams cost each other at least one national championship. Hostilities were fueled when the Hurricanes routed the Fighting Irish in the 1985 season finale 58–7, with Miami widely accused of running up the score in the second half. The rivalry gained national attention and both teams played their most famous games from 1988 to 1990. The infamous game known as Catholics vs. Convicts was won by the Fighting Irish 31–30. In 1989, Miami ended Notre Dame's record 23-game winning streak with a 27–10 victory. The rivalry ended after the Fighting Irish dashed #2 Miami's hopes for a repeat national championship with a 29–20 victory in South Bend. The two teams are scheduled to next meet on a still undetermined date during the 2024 season. They also will play each other in yet to be scheduled dates in the 2025, 2031, 2032, 2034, and 2037 seasons.

Virginia Tech

The Hurricanes and

Hokies The Virginia Tech Hokies are the athletic teams representing the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) in intercollegiate athletics. The Hokies participate in the NCAA's Division I Atlantic Coast Conference in 22 va ...

first met on November 13, 1953, in Miami. The two teams have played annually since 1992, and the rivalry developed when the Hokies became a member of the Big East Conference for football in 1991. When the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) expanded in 2004, both Miami and Virginia Tech became members of the ACC. Both teams continue to compete annually as part of the ACC's Coastal Division. Miami and Virginia Tech have twice met in bowl games, the

1966 Liberty Bowl The 1966 Liberty Bowl was a post-season American college football bowl game between the VPI Gobblers (now the Virginia Tech Hokies) and the Miami Hurricanes, both independent programs. The eighth edition of the Liberty Bowl, it was played on De ...

and 1981 Peach Bowl. As of 2022, Miami leads the series 24–15. The last game between the two teams was October 15, 2022 in Blacksburg, and Miami won 20–14. The two teams will next play during a yet to specified date in the 2025 season at Hard Rock Stadium.

Facilities

Hard Rock Stadium is the home field of the Hurricanes football team during their regular season. The stadium is located in Miami Gardens, Florida, located approximately north of the University of Miami's main Coral Gables campus. Hard Rock Stadium is also the home stadium of the

of the

. At its inception, the Miami Hurricanes played at Tamiami Park and, later, at Moore Park. In 1937, they moved to the Miami Orange Bowl and played at the Miami Orange Bowl for seventy consecutive years, until 2007 when the stadium was designated for demolition. The University of Miami then signed a 25-year contract for the team to play at Hard Rock Stadium through 2033. The Miami Hurricanes practice facilities are located on the

campus at Greentree Practice Fields, which was named the College Football Field of the Year by the SportsTurf Managers Association in 2007. The Hecht Athletic Center, also located on-campus, serves as the program's training facility and is home to the football offices. In November 2010, the university announced a gift of $5 million from the Ted and Todd Schwartz Family Foundation that was used to build the Schwartz Center for Athletic Excellence, which caters to over 400 student athletes and includes a sports medicine facility, training room, and academic center. The facility also has features specifically designed for the football team: * The Paul J. DiMare Gallery of Champions, which showcases individual and team titles, such as the University of Miami's five national championships in football, as well as awards like the Heisman Trophies won by former Hurricanes Gino Torretta and Vinny Testaverde. * A football locker room built following a gift from Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, who played at Miami before his successful wrestling and Hollywood acting careers. * An academic center with new computers, study rooms, and the 140-seat Robert & Lauren Mann Auditorium. * An expansion of the existing Isadore Hecht Athletic Center to include a state-of-the-art sports medicine and training area. In May 2017, the university broke ground on the new Carol Soffer Indoor Practice Facility. The $34 million facility was the product of a $14 million gift from Miami billionaire Jeffrey Soffer, owner of the Fountainebleau Hotel in Miami Beach. The building exceeds 100,000 square feet and includes two turf fields that combine for 81,000-square feet. The indoor facility, located on the current football practice area, also houses a football operations center with a mezzanine level for football coaches' offices and meeting rooms.

Records

Winning streaks

Miami has two of the longest winning streaks in NCAA Division I history. From 2000 to 2003, Miami won 34 consecutive games, tying for sixth all-time, although it is the longest since 1957. The streak started on September 23, 2000, with a 47–10 victory at

and ended on January 3, 2003, with a 31–24 double overtime loss to

in the 2003 Fiesta Bowl. Miami also won 29 straight games from October 27, 1990, to January 1, 1993, good for 13th on the all-time list. That streak was snapped when the top-ranked Hurricanes were upset by second-ranked

, 34–13 in the 1993 Sugar Bowl. Miami owns the record for the longest home winning streak in NCAA history, winning 58 straight games at the Orange Bowl. The record streak began with a 38–0 shutout victory over

on October 12, 1985, and ended with a 38–20 loss to

on September 24, 1994. The 58 game streak includes three Orange Bowl victories where Miami was the away team because of the Orange Bowl's tie to the Big Eight Conference. In addition to its own lengthy winning streaks, Miami has snapped four streaks of 20 games or more in its history. The only other school to snap four winning streaks of 20 or more games is

Princeton Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the nin ...

. In the 1984 Orange Bowl, Miami ended top-ranked

's 22-game winning streak and won its first national championship with a 31–30 victory. The Hurricanes halted top-ranked Oklahoma's 20-game streak and won their second national championship when they defeated the Sooners, 20–14, in the 1988 Orange Bowl. The Hurricanes ended top-ranked Notre Dame's 23-game winning streak with a 27–10 win on November 25, 1989. Miami also ended the 20-game winning streak of UCLA when Miami defeated the third-ranked Bruins 49–45 on December 5, 1998.

Wins versus AP Number 1

Miami has nine wins against AP Number 1 ranked teams, which is tied with

for the most all-time in college football. Overall, Miami is 9–10 against AP Number 1 teams, with the most recent win against

in 2000. Rankings below are all from the Associated Press (AP), and games listed are when Miami's opponent was the Number 1 team.

NFL Draft records

*Most first round selections (single draft): 6, 2004 *Most consecutive years with first round draftee: 14, 1995–

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

*Most consecutive years having the most first round selections: 4, 2001– 2004 *Most defensive linemen (49) to go on to play in the NFL. *Most (tied with

) wide receivers (40) to go on to play in the NFL.

Notable players and coaches

For a comprehensive list, see: List of University of Miami alumni#National Football League or List of Miami Hurricanes in the NFL draft

Individual award winners

Players

* Heisman Trophy :

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– 1992 * Maxwell Award :

–

– 1992 : Ken Dorsey – 2001 * Walter Camp Award :

–

– 1992 * Archie Griffin Award : Ken Dorsey – 2001, 2002 * Chic Harley Award :

– 1992 : Ken Dorsey – 2001, 2002 * Bednarik Award : Dan Morgan – 2000 * Bronko Nagurski Trophy :

–

: Dan Morgan – 2000 * Davey O'Brien Award :

–

– 1992 *

Sammy Baugh Trophy The Touchdown Club of Columbus was founded in Columbus, Ohio, in 1956 by Sam B. Nicola at the request of state auditor James A. Rhodes, who later became governor of the state. Nicola served as the club's president until his death in 1993. More t ...

–

: Steve Walsh – 1988 *

Dick Butkus Award The Butkus Award, instituted in 1985 by the Downtown Athletic Club of Orlando, is given annually to the top linebackers at the high school, collegiate and professional levels of football. The award, named in honor of College Football Hall of Fame ...

: Dan Morgan – 2000 * Jim Thorpe Award :

– 1987 * John Mackey Award :

– 2003 * Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award :

–

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicis ...

– 1992 * Lombardi Award :

–

* Outland Trophy : Russell Maryland –

: Bryant McKinnie – 2001 * Dave Rimington Trophy : Brett Romberg – 2002

Coaches

Walter Camp Coach of the Year Award The Walter Camp Coach of the Year Award is given annually to the collegiate American football head coach adjudged by a group of National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) head coaches and sports in ...

: Jimmy Johnson –

– 2017 * Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year : Howard Schnellenberger – 1983 *

Paul "Bear" Bryant Award The American Heart Association (AHA) Paul "Bear" Bryant Awards are an annual awards banquet that is hosted each year in January, in Houston, Texas, by the AHA.For a list of American Heart Association offices, by state, go to: There are two aw ...

: Larry Coker – 2001 * Broyles Award : Randy Shannon – 2001

Retired numbers

College Football Hall of Fame inductees

The following 11 Miami players and coaches have been inducted to the

Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees

Nine former players have been inducted into the

Professional Football Hall of Fame The Pro Football Hall of Fame is the hall of fame for professional American football, located in Canton, Ohio. Opened on September 7, , the Hall of Fame enshrines exceptional figures in the sport of professional football, including players, coach ...

Notable in other fields

Traditions

Touchdown Tommy

Touchdown Tommy is the cannon that is fired off when the team runs out of the tunnel, after every point that the Hurricanes score, and at the conclusion of all team wins. The cannon is kept by the University of Miami's Sigma Chi fraternity's Cannon Master and fired off during the games by senior brothers of Sigma Chi. Touchdown Tommy is the third oldest tradition at the University of Miami after the Iron Arrow Honor Society (founded 1926), the highest honor awarded by the university, and Sebastian the Ibis, mascot of the Miami Hurricanes since 1957.

The Smoke

One of the Hurricanes best-known traditions is the team's entrance scene. The team enters the field through a large cloud of white smoke billowing from its entrance tunnel, amid a tape of a hurricane blasting over the sound system. The smoke comes from fire extinguisher exhaust that billows from a series of pipes welded together by school transportation director Bob Nalette in the 1950s. In 2008, the pipes were moved from the Miami Orange Bowl, the former home field for the Hurricanes, to Hard Rock Stadium, where the team has played since 2008. Following the University Miami football program's rise to national prominence in the 1980s, many high school, college and NFL teams over the last 25 years have copied this practice, and in 2001 ABC made a parody of it for a Saturday college football commercial.

Ring of Honor

In 1997, the university established the 'Ring of Honor' as a way to honor outstanding players who have passed through the Hurricane football program. Members are selected by an anonymous advisory committee, the director of athletics and the head football coach. The names and jersey numbers of the inductees were displayed on the upper deck of the

(which has since been torn down). The inaugural class of included Jim Dooley, Ted Hendricks,

, and

. These four players are the only ones in the history of the program to have their numbers retired by the university as well. Vinny Testaverde's number was taken out of retirement for the 2015–2016 football season, at Testaverde's behest. His son wears No. 14. A second group of players consisting of Ottis Anderson, Don Bosseler, Bernie Kosar, and Burgess Owens was inducted in 1999. After a nine-year hiatus, five new players were added in 2008:

rs Jim Kelly and

, former Heisman Trophy-winner

, running back Edgerrin James, and defensive lineman

. In 2009,

defensive back

, running back and former Miami head coach Eddie Dunn, and quarterback Steve Walsh were inducted.

Turnover Chain

In 2017, the Miami Hurricanes began to award its "Turnover Chain," an honor that contains a 36-inch, 2.5-kilogram, 10-karat gold chain, with 900 orange and green sapphire stones arranged in a "U" that is 6.5 inches wide. It is presented during a game to any defensive player who forces a turnover. Through the 11 regular-season games Miami played in 2017, the Hurricanes' defense created 29 turnovers (17 passes intercepted, 12 fumbles recovered), the third most in FBS football. During the same period, Miami gave up 12 turnovers (throwing 9 interceptions, and losing 3 fumbles); the net gain of 17 turnovers resulted in a margin of +1.55 per game. That figure represents the greatest margin in the nation this year, an achievement shared with

Central Florida Central Florida is a region of the U.S. state of Florida. Different sources give different definitions for the region, but as its name implies it is usually said to comprise the central part of the state, including the Tampa Bay area and the ...

Miami Hurricanes in the NFL

Many Miami players go on to play in the

. The school holds multiple NFL draft related records: most first-round draft picks in a two-year period (11, 2003–2004); most first-round draft picks in a three-year period (15, 2002–2004); and most first-round picks in a four-year period (19, 2001–2004). From 1995 through 2008, Miami set an

record by having at least one player selected in the first round of 14 consecutive drafts. The Hurricanes once had a streak of 149 consecutive regular season weeks where a former Hurricane scored a touchdown in an NFL game; the streak started in Week 15 of the 2002 NFL regular season and ended in Week 11 of the 2011 season. During the streak, 33 different former Hurricanes scored touchdowns and a total of 661 touchdowns were scored. Setting a new record for most players from one school, eleven former Hurricanes were selected to the 2010 Pro Bowl, which happened to take place at Miami's Sun Life Stadium. As of 2022, at least one University of Miami player has been selected in the

in 48 consecutive NFL drafts, dating back to 1975. Among all colleges and universities, as of 2022, Miami holds the all-time record for the most defensive linemen (49) and is tied with USC for the most wide receivers (40) to go on to play in the NFL. Of the program's last six head coaches, three have gone directly on to head coaching positions in the NFL: * Jimmy Johnson –

(NFL) * Dennis Erickson –

(NFL) * Butch Davis –

(NFL) Howard Schnellenberger, who coached the team from 1979 to 1983, went on to become part owner and coach of Miami's first USFL franchise, which was to be named "The Spirit of Miami." It did not materialize, and he took the head coaching position at the

University of Louisville The University of Louisville (UofL) is a public research university in Louisville, Kentucky. It is part of the Kentucky state university system. When founded in 1798, it was the first city-owned public university in the United States and one ...

. Schnellenberger would eventually end his coaching career at another South Florida school,

Florida Atlantic University Florida Atlantic University (Florida Atlantic or FAU) is a public research university with its main campus in Boca Raton, Florida, and satellite campuses in Dania Beach, Davie, Fort Lauderdale, Jupiter, and Fort Pierce. FAU belongs to the 12-c ...

Controversies and scandals

The

football program has been at the center of several controversies, scandals and incidents, some of which have led to

sanctions, suspensions, and negative publicity. In 1978, three University of Miami players threw a man into a lake, leading to the resignation of coach Lou Saban,. In the 1991 Cotton Bowl Classic, the team's unsportsmanlike conduct during the game gave rise to the so-called "Miami Rule". In 1995, the program was involved in a Pell Grant scandal. In 2005, several Miami players recorded a lewd rap song, "7th Floor Crew," which drew criticism that

wrote about a couple of years following the event. Other controversies and scandals involving the Miami Hurricanes football program include:

1980s: Luther Campbell's "pay for play"

In the 1980s, 2 Live Crew member Luther Campbell was alleged to have been behind a "pay-for-play" system, which involved cash rewards to

players for scoring touchdowns, big hits, and other game accomplishments, though Campbell has never donated directly to the University of Miami or its athletic department.

1989: University of Miami mascot detained by police

On October 28, 1989, University of Miami mascot Sebastian the Ibis was tackled by a group of police officers for attempting to put out Chief Osceola's flaming spear prior to Miami's game against long-standing rival

, who started the game in place of injured

, told

, "Even if we weren't bad boys, it added to the mystique that, 'Man, look, even their mascot's getting arrested.'"

2006: FIU brawl

On October 14, 2006, in the first meeting of cross-town programs, Miami and the Florida International Golden Panthers brawled after a PAT. FIU cornerback Chris Smith wrestled Miami holder Matt Perelli to the ground after the kick and appeared to punch him in the chin. Another FIU cornerback, Marshall McDuffie, Jr., kicked Perelli in the head. Miami's Anthony Reddick swung his helmet at FIU players and Miami's Brandon Meriweather kicked an FIU player. FIU's A'Mod Ned, who was injured, came onto the field and swung at Miami players with his crutches. The fight lasted just over one minute before the coaches of both teams were able to separate the players. Florida Highway Patrol state troopers and City of Miami police arrived on the field as the fight was going on and remained a visual presence on the sidelines and in the stands to prevent further fighting. The game was delayed approximately 15 to 20 minutes as the officials attempted to sort out which players were ejected and what, if any, penalty yards needed to be enforced. The next day, 31 players from both schools were punished, including 18 from FIU and 13 from Miami. The Miami players were handed one-game suspensions while the FIU players were suspended for the remainder of the season. Three Miami players were suspended indefinitely and the rest were also assigned community service work.

2002–2010: Shapiro scandal

A Ponzi schemer, convicted felon and former Miami booster,

Nevin Shapiro Nevin Karey Shapiro (born April 13, 1969) is a convicted felon who currently is imprisoned for orchestrating a $930 million Ponzi scheme. According to interviews, he engaged in rampant violations of NCAA rules over eight years as a booster for U ...

, claimed he used investor funds to finance donations to the University of Miami's athletic program and gave an estimated $2 million in illegal benefits to at least 72 current or former football and basketball players and coaches from 2002 to 2010. A Yahoo! Sports report alleged that Shapiro, through his donations, violated at least four major NCAA bylaws. During the investigation of the allegations, the university self-imposed a ban on bowl participation. In October 2013, the NCAA announced that the university would lose three football scholarships in each of the next three seasons, but there would be no further bowl ban. The university became eligible again for bowl participation as of the 2013–14 season.

Documentaries

''The U''

The Miami Hurricanes football program has been the subject of two widely viewed documentaries. In 2009, '' The U'', developed by

-based studio

Rakontur rakontur is a Miami-based media studio founded by Billy Corben and Alfred Spellman in 2000. History Rakontur's feature documentary debut, ''Raw Deal: A Question of Consent'', premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2001, making Corben the yo ...

was released and aired as part of

's ''30 for 30'' film series. According to the filmmaker, the University of Miami chose not to be involved in the project, and denied the film crew access to former coach Randy Shannon, former athletic director

, or former university president Tad Foote. The film features the rise of the University of Miami football program beginning in the 1980s and through the early 1990s during which the University of Miami won three national championships (1983, 1987, and 1991) followed by the program's subsequent fall from various national scandals related to the program and team, including player crimes and drug usage and privileges provided players through Luther Campbell's "pay for play" scheme in which the rap star reportedly paid University of Miami players for major hits and plays. The film addresses the controversial and pioneering nature of the University of Miami football program rise and fall during this era. The film was pre-screened on the University of Miami campus on December 10, 2009, with only two student athletes attending. Two days later, however, it aired globally on

following the Heisman Trophy award ceremony, drawing 2.3 million viewers and setting a record for the largest audience ever for an ESPN ''30 to 30'' episode.

The U Part 2

Following on the success of ''The U'', ''The U Part 2'' was developed and released, depicting a similar rise and fall of the University of Miami football program, this time from its 2002 national championship team, which is widely considered to be one of the best college football teams in the history of the sport, to yet another downfall featuring national scandals that cost the University of Miami football program scholarships and damaged its competitiveness for much of the early 2000s.

Future non-conference opponents

On February 10, 2022, the ACC announced Miami's non-conference opponents through 2034. Subject to change, they include: *(P5) Is to denote if a school is a Power 5 Conference/Notre Dame opponent. Beginning in 2017, the ACC requires all ACC teams to play a P5 team. *(FCS) is for football championship subdivision teams.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Miami Hurricanes Football American football teams established in 1926 1926 establishments in Florida

History

Early history (1926–1978)

1920s

1930s

1940s

1950s

1960s

1970 to 1978

Howard Schnellenberger era (1979–1983)

1983 season and first national championship

Jimmy Johnson era (1984–1988)

1987 season and second national championship

1988 season

Dennis Erickson era (1989–1994)

1989 season and third national championship

1991 season and fourth national championship

1992 through 1994 seasons

Butch Davis era (1995–2000)

Larry Coker era (2001–2006)

2001 season and fifth national championship

2002 through 2006 seasons

Randy Shannon era (2007–2010)

Al Golden era (2011–2015)

Mark Richt era (2016–2018)

Manny Diaz era (2019–2021)

Mario Cristobal era (2021–present)

Conference affiliations

Championships

National championships

Conference championships

Division championships

Bowl games

Head coaches

Personnel

Coaching staff

Rivalries

Florida

Florida State

Nebraska

Notre Dame

Virginia Tech

Facilities

Records

Winning streaks

Wins versus AP Number 1

NFL Draft records

Notable players and coaches

Individual award winners

Players

Coaches

Retired numbers

College Football Hall of Fame inductees

Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees

Notable in other fields

Traditions

Touchdown Tommy

The Smoke

Ring of Honor

Turnover Chain

Miami Hurricanes in the NFL

Controversies and scandals

1980s: Luther Campbell's "pay for play"

1989: University of Miami mascot detained by police

2006: FIU brawl

2002–2010: Shapiro scandal

Documentaries

''The U''

The U Part 2

Future non-conference opponents

See also

References

External links