Areas to be addressed by AD and HC (Long)

[JD08]

But the Dade-County off-campus sites could work. Too much has been made of Broward-Palm Beach fans, as if they are so amazing in their attendance that we are SELLING OUT every game currently...

I drive from Orlando, if I have to hear some Palm Beach "fan" complain about having to drive an extra 13 miles (differential between Hard Rock and two of the sites I mentioned along NW 7th Street), I am going to punch someone.

 

[TheOriginalCane]

Nonsense... the students have plenty of cheap ways to get to any stadium and those who care do. I made it to the OB and Knight center. Some of them won't even walk across the parking lot to the basketball arena ..... and you want to build a multi million dollar stadium near campus for them?? Insane waste of $$$.

Another dopey response. We (UM Student Government) handed out free Metro passes for the Orange Bowl, Miami Arena, and Knight Center. Where is the Metro stop for Hard Rock? And we wonder why student attendance has dropped...

 

[KANE]

This post is mostly specific to football - as many have said - it is the driving force behind the change in AD that we are undergoing. Not the only facet of the athletic department - but the key revenue that drives the rest of the department. I'm not in tune with much about basketball so I won't speak there beyond the need for a new guy leading the program. Baseball is another story because of where that program's money is coming from and who is the HC - is DiMare the right guy for the job? Don't think so but if he's out then where does the money come from? It probably only gets worse for that reason alone. Fix the rest of the athletic department and then when it's self-sustaining - there may be additional funds for baseball. He still recruits at a high-level.

This is why it's deeper than Wins and Losses at their current school for an AD - what is their vision for the program? Old school guys are going to get left behind. Give me a young guy who commands respect from the administration, who they trust and will work with, that has a vision to grow the dept and has a business-like mindset to make moves in the changing landscape. There's no room to let someone learn on the job at a private institution like Miami. The money will dry up so fast - you have to know people and where the money comes from right away. Then, how to use that to generate your own self-sustaining revenue for the rest of the dept. First and foremost - fix your money maker (football)

We've heard talks of the $20-30M that is going to be committed to the football budget. It is totally necessary - and based on what I know of our previous budget in comparison to the rest of CFB - should put us in the top 10 nationally - that's how far we are behind.

This is mostly in comparison to programs I am familiar with and trends I have noticed or seen first hand. I can speak in facts regarding a few SEC schools that I have seen the operation from an internal perspective - relative to Miami. We're very far away and it's amateur hour at UM - but contrary to most people's belief - a lot of this gap could be bridged in a month with the right hire at AD and HC - guys with the right vision for the program and athletic dept - and with the assistance of these boosters that have seemingly jumped on board recently.

Facilities - This is where all of the debate comes in from other fan bases that say we are behind - news flash: We're not that far behind and it's not hindering us. Our IPF is brand new and more expensive than the others in the state. Florida is getting their upgrade but ours is still state-of-the-art and connects to the Schwartz center and Hecht building with the remaining facilities. Most of which are within 5 years old. The locker room is set to undergo another facelift in the near future from what I have heard - maybe it's this off-season (Blake's plan but maybe it changes now idk) The training table and nutrition center are virtually brand new. Weight room got a facelift with the IPF. No we're not Oregon, Alabama, Tennessee, Texas, etc but I don't think being flashy is making guys commit and sign. It does the job.

Stadium - Another focal point of debate - Of course it's an issue but it has nothing to do with Hard Rock. Hard Rock is state of the art, brand new, incredible venue. Yes, it's far away. The key downside is the loss of revenue from parking, concessions, ticket revenue, and the $1M per year lease expense. Bigger ticket losses include naming-rights revenue, sponsorships, revenue from other events, potential lease revenue, etc. I think the talk resurging about a stadium is because we have big money businessmen involved and they're trying to solve the issues - they're obvious - the see the ancillary items available and it sticks out bad in a budget comparison from ours to a school with their own venue... but it has nothing to do with it being off-campus or a 45 minute drive or that Hard Rock is a bad stadium. This can be addressed long-term.

Here's where we're behind that I think leads to what we actually see on the field. These need to be addressed IMMEDIATELY and are relatively affordable. I think Mario or any high-profile coach requires these as part of the deal or addresses it when they come in:

Sports science/Strength and conditioning: Not talking directly about Strength and Conditioning or Feeley. We took a serious step forward with the inception of the 'Catapult' system which tracks heart rate and energy exertion, assists in monitoring the athletes, making decisions regarding recovery and training, etc. However, there's more to it that is being handled by Feeley himself - we need to add a specialized sports scientist. Alabama has Dr. Rhea - he spent years consulting professional/Olympic athletes in training and recovery. It takes what you're doing and ensures it is the most efficient. Utilizing kinesiology towards training, rest, recovery, and injury prevention. Prior to Alabama, he was with David Ballou (also at Alabama now) at Indiana. If Indiana can do it, so can we.
Side note: To address a common misconception on here - the way we look on the field has almost nothing to do with S&C. Feeley is better than Swazey and Felder - but it's 90% who you recruit and 10% who you've got running the weight room. Alabama looks like monsters, mostly because they recruit monsters. Recruiting a 200 pound linebacker and expecting him to look like Reuben Foster or Devin White isn't going to happen. This leads me to the next topic:

Talent evaluation/recruiting strategy: We've got to revamp our recruiting department with legitimate talent evaluation. I know Andy Vaughn personally, great guy and he does a decent job, but he's not a good talent evaluator and he's never lead a department to field a championship caliber roster. We're so far behind in this area. We require position coaches to perform the majority of the evaluations after a GA or Vaughn and his assistants identify someone - and we're giving Banda, Patke, and that crew too much authority to say yes/no and give the final stamp of approval and they're not more qualified than those they're telling.

-Other programs have guys that make the evaluations, get all of their testing numbers, gauge interest, cut-up film, talk to people, and then get it to a position coach and coordinator to make the call to offer or not. Highsmith has to have a connect to improve this and make it a more centralized effort and let position coaches focus on coaching and building relationships and less performing their own evaluations (even Zo's son is in an NFL scouting department and would be a solid choice)
-We can get ahead of the curve and appoint a separate person to identify and scout guys that are in the portal that can help our current roster. Have a HS/juco guy and have a guy that monitors transfers
-We're not recruiting the right types of guys, in general, at a lot of positions. Our LB evaluations have been obviously poor since Manny got here. We're not prioritizing production at the HS level, we're recruiting guys that are too small, and we're expecting S&C and nutrition to do far more than it's designed to do. On the OL - again we recruit too small and it shows on game day. We've got to set base lines for guys height and weight and even testing numbers and let position coaches/evaluators go to bat for someone if they're smaller or don't meet those standard set for baseline testing numbers. Let them put their reputation on the line if they want to risk it for someone that doesn't fit your formula. Someone like Seymore would fall into that category. Rare occasion. Same can be said at DE and DT but primarily we just need more numbers at those positions. At CB we're just hindered by Rumph's recruiting. Stop whiffing on guys 5 miles up the road and it will self-correct. I can't complain too much about the other positions. Fix LB recruiting, recruit bigger OL and less guys that require a 3-4 year weight room transformation. Take a project every now and then, not 2 every year. Just recruit and sign more CBs and DLinemen.

Staff: This goes back to some of the points I have made previously - we need an additional nutritionist to support Kyle Bellamy. We need a sports science specialist. It also comes down to analysts. We have Bob Shoop - that's a step in the right direction. To get to the next level we are going to need to bring in 2 guys on each side of the ball with a similar pedigree to Bob Shoop - guys looking to make a 1 year pit stop to collect their buyout money and then move on. We're currently at 1 total and have GA caliber guys holding down the other analyst slots. They don't command a lot of money - you just need a coach respectable enough that guys want to work for them and maybe learn something or reinvent themselves a little. It helps with scouting upcoming opponents, self-scouting your own tendencies and weaknesses (which I've heard we do very little of), and they make great candidates for fillers on future staff if you lose a position coach or coordinator - like you saw Muschamp slide in for Georgia when Scott Cochran stepped away for a bit. Same thing Saban has done with Sark and several other coordinators and position coaches he's had.
Side note: Our current on-field staff is the 2nd highest paid in the ACC from my understanding. Slightly above FSU and well below Clemson. Manny had the approval to hire a DC at $1M per year and he chose not to - that is $650K higher than he spent on the coach that filled the final slot. Of the $20-30M increase in budget - In my opinion, it should have to be spent on something along these lines:
Head coach: From $3M currently to $7M+ on the next HC (+$4M) - looks like this number could keep climbing with these salaries I have seen lately
Position coaches and coordinators: From $6M currently (could be $6.5M with a DC) to $7.5M (+$1.5M)
Additional Analysts: It would be ideal to have 2 on offense and 2 on defense at all times (+$500K-$1M)
Nutrition: Hire an additional nutritionist and possibly an assistant: (+$200K)
Sports science/additional S&C staff: (+$1M)
Recruiting department overhaul and recruiting budget: We currently spend just under $1M in recruiting - putting us on-par with Kentucky. We need to allocate another $1M per year to that (putting us at a Texas A&M or LSU level) - this goes towards bringing in more official visitors, flying to see OOS prospects, etc - plus improve our staffing (+$2M total)

These numbers are rough estimate but that would leave between $10-20M per year leftover to allocate to facilities/etc beyond necessary staffing to compete with CFB powers.

Summary: Staff salaries, additional recruiting staff, revamped recruiting department and strategy, additional analysts, revamped S&C philosophy and staffing, additional nutritionists.

Excellent post!!!

 

[caneworld]

It would depend on a lot. There are pretty much 2 main N/S arteries, I95 and the turnpike. Once you get into Miami, add the Palmetto Expressway to the mix and all three are congested much of the time. That's what people want to avoid.

My biggest issue is if we get convinced into sharing a stadium with InterMiami at Melreese, we could find ourselves still not enjoying any revenue, but we'd have a worse location and less seating.

Football in a 45K soccer stadium .... from turf conditions to seating ... why bother.

 

[TheOriginalCane]

I said I would punch "someone", not necessarily you. You can delegate someone...

 

[TheOriginalCane]

Football in a 45K soccer stadium .... from turf conditions to seating ... why bother.

TURF CONDITIONS?

Have you ever been in a dedicated soccer stadium in Florida? I guaran-*******-tee you that the Orlando City Soccer field, year-round, is far superior to any of the fields that UM had to play on when Hard Rock had a partial baseball infield on the football field.

 

[caneworld]

Another dopey response. We (UM Student Government) handed out free Metro passes for the Orange Bowl, Miami Arena, and Knight Center. Where is the Metro stop for Hard Rock? And we wonder why student attendance has dropped...

How many students do you think attended back then?? even with free shuttles to OB... less than 3K.

I was one of the ones that did... still didn't understand the student mentality back then. It is worse now. .. they won't walk across campus to watch basketball!

 

[TheOriginalCane]

How many students do you think attended back then?? even with free shuttles to OB... less than 3K.

I was one of the ones that did... still didn't understand the student mentality back then. It is worse now. .. they won't walk across campus to watch basketball!

Cane Card scans said otherwise, but I'm sure you counted everyone as they entered...

 

[CreamCityCane]

Id add someone to staff to manage NIL / business development as well. Id like to see organization to help pair athletes with businesses, work with compliance, support social media branding, etc. Build a podcast, media, streaming suite in the facilities to show off (and we can listen to decent audio quality as fans). Professional level computers with proper video editing software or graphic design software and someone who can teach them how to use it.

Id like to see UM on the cutting edge of supporting and developing player entrepreneurship. Maybe I'm insane, but I can see a future where a kid has a successful podcast and gets hired by Barstool or ESPN and is visibly representing Miami for years. That's got to be worth as much as producing some mid tier draft picks. Maybe a kid learns how to design t-shirts and runs a small online store during school but eventually graduates and makes it a legitimate local business.

Miami should be the best at putting legitimate money in its players pockets and teaching them how to keep it coming.

 

[caneworld]

TURF CONDITIONS?

Have you ever been in a dedicated soccer stadium in Florida? I guaran-*******-tee you that the Orlando City Soccer field, year-round, is far superior to any of the fields that UM had to play on when Hard Rock had a partial baseball infield on the football field.

We are not playing currently in a stadium with a baseball infield. So that is no comparison. Yep, try playing football on a field after a soccer match earlier in the week in a SFL downpour...

 

[caneworld]

Cane Card scans said otherwise, but I'm sure you counted everyone as they entered...

Sure... I believe you...
...we had an on campus student pop of <7K back then... even if half turned up that would be 3.5K ..which I know didn't.
Futile argument... I'm done

 

[TheOriginalCane]

We are not playing currently in a stadium with a baseball infield. So that is no comparison. Yep, try playing football on a field after a soccer match earlier in the week in a SFL downpour...

Sure. It doesn't rain in Central Florida. "After a soccer match"? Again, I've been a season ticket holder in Orlando for six years. The stadium has hosted BOTH the men's and women's teams, plus pre-season, plus friendlies, plus special matches (Gold Cup, etc.), and possible playoffs... You are talking about at least 40 matches from February to November. The pitch is immaculate.

You would actually have better field conditions with one football team and one soccer team...than you currently have for two football teams (Dolphins and Hurricanes).

 

[TheOriginalCane]

Sure... I believe you...
...we had an on campus student pop of <7K back then... even if half turned up that would be 3.5K ..which I know didn't.
Futile argument... I'm done

Yep. Ignoring commuters, grad students, law students, med students...

I paid the athletic fee, and attended all the football games, while I was a grad student and law student.

Again, I'm sure you counted everyone and all those Cane Card scans were fraudulent, right?

Student attendance was not identical for every game. Care to hazard a guess as to how many UM students attended the Notre Dame games or the F$U games?

You were "done" before you ever started.

 

[JD08]

I said I would punch "someone", not necessarily you. You can delegate someone...

Cool, I have a list.

 

[TheOriginalCane]

Cool, I have a list.

Me too!

Please don't give me a violation point for admitting that...

 

[Jassid82]

OP, Coach Macho would shed a tear at your take on how we are handing Feeley.. Toyota Corolla level guys and expecting him to turn them into Lamborghinis. I get so tired of hearing posters complain about how our guys look compared to other teams. I almost laughed when one of the complaints after the Bama game was how our guys just looked so much smaller compared to them. Smh. Bama recruits 5* kids and hands them to their S&C staff and all they have to do is make sure they dont F up and the kids turn into monsters within 2 years.

People knock Feeley but nobody seems to want to give him credit for turning Jaelon Phillips from a kid who looked like a gamer when he stepped foot on campus to a kid who looked like a 1st round physical specimen in ONE YEAR. Thats what 5* level kids can do for a S&C coach.

Gotta get our talent evaluation alot better. WAY too many projects we have taken that havent panned out and have killed us especially on the OL. (El Gammel, Chris Washington, Zach Dykstra, Hillary, etc)

GREAT post. Best one ive seen on here in awhile with all the garbage thats been posted lately about the AD/HC hires.

 

[Cajuncane]

This is one of the best threads we’ve had on here in a very loooooong time.

Very informative info from several guys ( JayCanes20,OCC ,Rellyrell,TimeBum to name a couple ).

As most of you guys know I’ve been with Canes through thick and thin ( sadly a lot more thin) for over 60 years and I’m at the point now where I just want to see this program back at the top of CFB as it was for those 20 years when we ran CFB before the good Lord calls me home.

To do that in todays game it’s all about money.Money for coaches,money for analysts ,video,recruiting ,money for facilities,money for EVERY ******* THING!! A major stream of that money ( other than having a sugar daddy like a Boone Pickens or Phil Knight) is having your own stadium where you reap ALL the benefits of ALL revenue instead of paying rent and giving up all the peripheral revenue like parking,concessions,events,concerts,and any number of other things a stadium that comes from owning your own place.

It’s always been “ there’s no place to put one”, “ makes too much traffic “,” city/county won’t allow it because of traffic among the myriad of excuses.But the OB in all her glory was a pain in the *** when it came to traffic and parking the same way most places are on game day.Any of you guys ever been to Tiger Stadium on a Saturday Night ? Baton Rouge traffic is like LA traffic cause it’s 2 lane roads in and out of the stadium but **** if there aren’t 70-80 K there every game.If you’re winning people will come if you make it a place where you can tailgate before and after the game.People get to Tiger Stadium on Fridays to start tailgating for LSU games and are allowed to stay till Sunday morning if they have campers etc.It’s an event and the traffic and inconvenience is embraced by the school and surrounding residential areas cause they love the program.

Well maybe just maybe the Mas brothers are ready to bring this program into the 21st century and get one built.It can be done.The drawing OCC was talking about that was done by an architectural student was actually fit into the campus if I remember.It can be done IF enough palms are greased just like anything else and if it isn’t shut down at the first “ NO” from some entity.What could the program do with an extra 20 - 25 million a year.( money they won’t have to pay someone to use their venue and the money they now get to keep)

TimeBum laid out an excellent narrative as to what our own stadium would bring now and 25 -35-50 years into the future.How paying for it would actually be less than continuing to pay Ross for HRS.

It’s time to get this done.It just takes someone with enough money,connections and initiative to not fold at the first roadblock cause there will be many.

I’m old and don’t have many seasons left.All I want before I go is just one more NC and to see the Canes mentioned when the conversation gets around to football powers as it was for those 20 magical years as it was back then.To have every other school and their fans hate us like the old days so I could just tell ‘em to SUCK IT on my way out.

PLEASE GET IT DONE AND MAKE AN OLD MAN ( and I’m sure a lot of young ones ) HAPPY!!!!

 

[Fluffhead]

All ACC 1st team quality post

I just want to make an observation about the stadium situation. There are lots of posters here who either can't or refuse to see the bigger picture. UMs lease with Hard Rock runs through 2032. The current lease costs UM about 4 million per year (I believe that is an all inclusive figure that basically amounts to lost revenue to UM since it all goes to Ross)

Stephen Ross Rakes in 'More Than $4 Million Annually' for Canes Football at Sun Life

miami.cbslocal.com

Mas is going to build a privately funded soccer stadium. He has come out of nowhere to be a guy kicking in doors at UM and trying to get rid of the old guard. This isn't a coincidence.

Assuming the construction isnt delayed by lawsuits (pretty much 100% there will be lawsuits by environmental groups) the expected groundbreaking is late 2022. If they start on time, the stadium will be likely be done in 2025 or 2026. Now this this would only be 6 years before the end of the lease with Hard Rock. Any forward thinking AD would already be looking at the plan for the next 20 years after the lease runs out. Right now UM has only one option- renew the lease at Hard Rock which will almost certainly cost more than the 4 mil a year it is currently paying.

Option two is partner with Mas to expand Freedom Park from 25,000 seats. Back in 2014 when it was in talks with Beckham,, UM said it wanted at least 40,000 seats. Current price tag for the 25k seat stadium is $1 billion. Adding another 15k seats would probably cost somewhere in the $60-80 million range. When Louisville added 10k seats to their stadium a couple years ago, it cost 55 mil (Btw this was negotiated by Tom Jurich in case you needed more proof he should be the AD). Ideally UM would aim for around 50,000 seats, which would make it just smaller than Autzen Stadium.

If the cost of another 20 yr lease at Hard Rock was to go up to 6 million per year, that means the cost to LEASE the stadium for 20 years would be more than double the cost to expand Freedom Park, of which UM would be a part owner. It's a smaller venue with fewer seats, but on the flip side UM gets to make up a lot of it with naming rights, concessions, parking fees, luxury boxes etc.

One more thing to keep in mind, as delighted as we all were with the $400 million renovations in 2017, by 2032, these renovations will be almost 15 years old and it will likely need another massive face-lift, or we again become a national joke for playing in an outdated stadium. Since we don't own the stadium, we'd have to hope Ross is willing to pony up 100s of millions of his own money again.
Now the economics of the new stadium should be a little clearer. UM isn't breaking a lease to move into a new stadium tomorrow. This is about making a long term decision for the future as UM nears the end of the Hard Rock lease.

One layer further - Odds are Ross will either be dead or at a minimum not involved in 2032. He is 81. So you are hoping that a very unknown, mystery person in the future will want to spend to renovate.

 

[calinative umstudent]

Cane Card scans said otherwise, but I'm sure you counted everyone as they entered...

The incredibly simple answer is if we turn this program around and win the students will support it - even more so if the stadium is on campus. Idk why anyone would think student support wouldn't be higher with an on campus stadoum.

 

[TheOriginalCane]

The incredibly simple answer is if we turn this program around and win the students will support it - even more so if the stadium is on campus. Idk why anyone would think student support wouldn't be higher with an on campus stadoum.

Yes, and even if Miami students do not set shocking attendance records, the fact remains, UM students have been treated as an afterthought for quite some time.

Here's a thought (since I was actually in attendance at the UM-UCF game a few years ago)...does anyone want to do a quick mathematical calculation...

Seats reserved for UCF students / Size of the UCF student body

Even if only a small percentage of UCF students can get into each football game, they still treat their students well enough to insure that UCF alums are fans for life. I tailgated at the UM-UCF game at the lake that was to the southwest of the stadium. As we walked to the game, I was STUNNED at the number of UCF students walking AWAY FROM the stadium. But regardless of ticket availability, UCF has turned the campus into a fun environment for all the students.

If Miami's AD just makes a better effort to prioritize the UM students, then we will have boosters/season ticket holders/fans forever, even dopes like me who will drive 8 hours (round-trip) to attend the games.