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"The U" redirects here. For other uses, see The U (disambiguation).

The University of Miami Hurricanes football team is a collegiate football program that represents the University of Miami. The team is a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference, which is a Division I Bowl Subdivision conference governed by the NCAA. The program began in 1926 and is the winningest program of the last quarter century. The Hurricanes have won 5 national championships (1983, 1987, 1989, 1991, 2001) and two of its players have won the prestigious Heisman Trophy. In addition, the program holds the record for the longest home winning streak in NCAA history with 58 straight victories.

The team is currently coached by Randy Shannon and its home games are played at Dolphin Stadium in Miami Gardens, FL. At the time of his hiring, Randy Shannon was only the sixth African-American head coach in Division I-A college football.

Championships

National Championships

Conference Championships

Conference Affiliations

• 1927-1928: Independent
• 1929-1941: Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association
• 1942-1990: Independent
• 1991-2003: Big East Conference
• 2004-present: Atlantic Coast Conference

History

The Beginning (1926-1936)

Before competition even took place on a freshman level, plans for a 50,000-seat on-campus stadium were proposed in 1926 by the school's first president, Bowman Foster Ashe. Work began on a temporary, 8,000-seat structure on campus, but one day later, on September 17, 1926, a hurricane leveled much of South Florida, killing more than 130 people, damaging over 10,000 homes and shelving plans for the stadium. From 1926 to 1937 the University of Miami played in a stadium near Tamiami Park and also at Moore Park until Burdine Stadium (later named the Miami Orange Bowl) was built.

Due to the storm, classes started late and it wasn't until October 23 that Miami played its first game, a 7-0 win over Rollins in front of 304 spectators. The season included two wins over the University of Havana, with a Thanksgiving Day game in Miami and a Christmas Day meeting in Cuba.

The undefeated then know as (Miami Warriors) helped to spur the development of a renewed campaign for a football stadium in Coral Gables 1927. This campaign, "Its Our University," promoted season ticket subscriptions to support the building fund for a 60,000 seat stadium on the Coral Gables Campus.

The first varsity competition came in 1927 when coach Howard Buck guided the Miami Warriors to a 3-6-1 record with a 39-3 win over Rollins in the first game. But a 4-4-1 record the next year and lopsided losses prompted a group of local businessmen to offer financial backing to bring in a well-known coach.

J. Burton Rix, who had coached at Texas and SMU, arrived in time for the 1929 season and Miami's first varsity road games. The team traveled via the city's private car, The Spirit of Miami on the Eastern Seaboard Railroad. But the stock market crash doomed the off-campus financing and extended the financial woes of the area caused by the hurricane. Rix quit after one season and was replaced by Ernest Brett, who inherited an ambitious schedule in 1930.

Included in the season was a hectic road trip with three games in eight days, beginning with an indoor contest against Temple in Atlantic City, New Jersey. It was Miami's first intersectional game and UM players presented their opponents with coconuts prior to the contest; in return Temple handed Miami a 34-0 defeat. The following Tuesday, UM lost to Howard in Dothan, Alabama, then salvaged a 6-0 win over Southwestern Louisiana in Lafayette on Saturday.

Also that season, the Warriors played one of the nation's first night games. The October 31 game vs. Bowden College in Miami took place under high watt, unprotected bulbs that could be heard exploding when it rained, causing the field to grow darker as the game progressed.

Several seasons later UM entered the bowl business, upsetting Manhattan in the Palm Festival on January 1, 1933, at Moore Park in Miami. The next year UM went 5-0-2 but lost in the Palm Festival to a Duquesne team coached by Frank Layden (one of the four Horsemen of Notre Dame).

UM played Bucknell on New Year's Day following the 1934 season in the Wooden Bowl, which seated 4,000. The stadium was built by the American Legion in conjunction with the post-depression WPA and was purchased by Earnest Seiler recreation director for the city of Miami.

The following two years under Irl Tubbs (1935-36), UM posted winning records but bowed out as hosts of the New Year's Day games in Miami.

The Jack Harding Era (1937-1942, 1945-1947)

When Tubbs resigned to take the job at Iowa, Jack Harding came in to serve as both head coach and athletic director.

In nine seasons as head coach (with a two-year break for service in World War II), Harding moved the Hurricanes from the ranks of the small time into major college status. In 1937 they moved into the Roddy Burdine Municipal Stadium (later known as the Orange Bowl). In 1938, they won the first meeting against Florida and that same year captured the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association championship for the first time.

Eddie Dunn, a fabulous running back out of Pittsburgh, starred for the Hurricanes in the late 1930s and took over as head coach for two years (1943-1944) during the war. When Harding returned just prior to the 1945 season, it appeared that UM would suffer through another miserable season after going 1-7-1 in 1944.

But enrollment began to swell as hundreds returned from the service, and although Harding didn't even know the names of all of his players prior to the first game, by mid-season many were household names in South Florida. The Hurricanes forged a 9-1-1 record that included one of the most memorable Orange Bowl games in history.

On January 1, 1946, UM and Holy Cross had battled to a 6-6 tie with just a few seconds remaining. Crusader quarterback Gene DeFilippo threw a desperation pass that went in and out of the arms of an open receiver and wound up in the hands of the Hurricanes' Al Hudson. A former Miami Edison High track star, Hudson juggled the ball and sprinted 89 yards for the winning score as time ran out.

Harding resigned as coach in 1948 and brought in his running mate from Pittsburgh, Andy Gustafson, who led the Hurricanes into the first glory years of UM football.

The Andy Gustafson Era (1948-1963)

In 16 seasons, Gustafson's teams went to four bowls and appeared on national television nine times. He developed the "Miami Drive Series," a form of the belly option generally considered the forerunner of the wishbone, and coached Al Carapella as Miami's first major college All-American (1950). His 1950 squad went 9-1-1, defeated Purdue one week after the Boilermakers had broken Notre Dame's unbeaten streak at 39 games, and earned an Orange Bowl bid against Clemson. Also in 1950, Miami broke a Southern tradition by playing against African-American players in a 14-6 defeat of Iowa in the Orange Bowl. In the late 1950s, Miami won a battle with the City of Miami to open seating to African-Americans in the entire Orange Bowl, and on January 31, 1961, Miami trustees voted unanimously to open the door to all students.

While NCAA probation kept Miami out of possible bowls for three years (1954-56), it did not diminish interest in the program. A No. 9 ranking by both UP and INS in 1954 marked Miami's first Top 10 ranking at the end of the season. In 1956, on the strength of an 8-1-1 mark, the Hurricanes finished sixth in all three wire service polls. Standouts like All-American fullback Don Bosseler, and future Hurricanes Head Coach and All-American quarterback Fran Curci, helped usher Miami out of the 1950s and into the new decade. But the major concerns facing the University and the community heading into the 1960s were the expected arrival of a professional football team and the integration of college football in the South.

The early 1960s at Miami became known as the so-called "Age of MIRAcles" as Key West native George Mira led Miami to a pair of bowl games, the 1961 Liberty Bowl vs. Syracuse, and the now-defunct Gotham Bowl in 1962 against the Nebraska, while twice earning All-America status. Along with Mira, the Hurricanes of this era included two-time All-American offensive end Bill Miller, versatile running backs Jim Vollenweider, Nick Ryder and Nick Spinelli, as well as Ben Rizzo, a "tough as a truck" terror at defensive end and former "walk-on" voted team Captain in 1962, and All-American tackle and future Oakland Raiders star Dan Conners.

Mira, nicknamed "The Matador", set nearly every passing record in the school's history, finished fifth in the Heisman Trophy voting as a junior, and tenth as a senior while tying a national completion record (368) despite Miami's 3-7 record during a disappointing senior season, Gustafson's last as the Hurricanes' head coach.

The Charlie Tate Era (1964-1970)

The death of Jack Harding in March of 1963 prompted Gustafson to step down as football coach and take over athletic director duties after the 1963 season. After a national search, Miami appointed Georgia Tech assistant and former Miami prep coach Charlie Tate as head man in early 1964. While Tate had outstanding players such as future Oakland Raider Pete Banszak, and All-Americans Ed Weisacosky and Tom Beier, the first two years of the Tate era rendered only a .500 record. However, under Tate, another star emerged to lead UM to back-to-back bowl games. The most pivitol recrui

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