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Is Miami Truly a 'D-I' school?

Ross Simon, Columnist

I went to high school in Boca Raton, Fla. A lot of my friends from high school went to the University of Florida, Florida State University or the University of Miami (although consistently, I remind myself that I go to the REAL Miami University).

Over the past summer, arguments about college football and basketball would consistently emerge amongst our group of friends. "Tebow is the BEST College Football player of all time." "Al Golden came into a garbage situation, but he's still going to bring it back to the tradition of ‘The U.'" "I'd take Bobby Bowden over Steve Spurrier any day of the week in a Nat'l Championship game." All I could chime in was "We have the Cradle of Coaches!" (to which they'd respond "so all of your coaches learn the game at your school and win elsewhere?")

Then arguments would erupt about which school has the best rivalry. "UF v University of Georgia is the BEST college football game of the year." "FSU v. UM has always been one of the most important games of the college football season." Of which I'd bring in the "Battle of the Brickyard" (Miami v. Ohio University) to which my friends would ask "is OU a regional campus of Ohio State?"

It got me thinking: is Miami a division one school? Can we compete with the big guys and consider ourselves a "true sports school?" Well, we're not in a "BCS" Conference. We don't pack our basketball arenas with rowdy fans every night (like Duke or North Carolina Universities). And we have never won a National Championship in any NCAA sport (including hockey, our pride and joy).

Well what do we have? We play in the "best Mid-Major" conference (the Mid-American Conference). Miami is the only college football team in history to go from double-digit losses to double-digit wins in back to back seasons (the past two years). We were one of the first schools to forego an offensive Native American mascot and switch to a more politically correct team name. We have a Super Bowl winning quarterback, an NBA Finals winning Point Guard and quite a few Stanley Cup winning NHL players. Our athletic facilities are truly superior to many other schools in our "class" and simply we compete with other "powerhouse" teams (in case anyone forgot, we were beating the No. 4 ranked Florida Gators last year through the first quarter, and we certainly competed through the final quarter). We won the CCHA Tournament (the best college hockey conference) last year. And we lost by only two to the John Wall (who hit a game ending buzzer beater) led University of Kentucky basketball team just a couple of years ago.

How do we cement our place in Division I athletics? We need to pack Yager Stadium this year, especially on our "ESPN" games. We need to fill Millett Hall to the brim. We need Goggin Ice Arena to be as rowdy as ever. But most importantly: we need to want to win. The difference between Miami and a "major" school is that anything short of winning it all is unacceptable at the "majors" whereas at Miami, losing seems to be part of the culture. The University of Michigan is on its third football coach in five years because losing is unacceptable. Can you imagine if Duke didn't make the NCAA Tournament for a few straight years? Coach K, considered to have the most job security of any NCAA coach, would most certainly be on the hot seat.

Is Miami a Division I school? Yes. Are we here to stay? Only if we want to.


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