Miami Hurricanes football
The Miami Hurricanes football team represents the University of Miami in college football. The Hurricanes compete in the NCAA's Football Bowl Subdivision. The team is a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference, one of the four power conferences in college football. The program began in 1926 and joined the ACC in 2004, competing in the conference's Coastal Division from 2005 until the ACC eliminated divisions in 2023.
The Miami Hurricanes are among the most storied and decorated football programs in NCAA history. Miami has won five AP national championships in 1983, 1987, 1989, 1991, and 2001. Miami is ranked fifth on the list of all-time Associated Press National Poll Championships, tied with USC and behind Alabama, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, and Ohio State. Two Hurricanes, Vinny Testaverde in 1986 and Gino Toretta in 1992, have won the Heisman Trophy. As of 2023, eight University of Miami players and four coaches have been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. Among players, Bennie Blades, Don Bosseler, Ted Hendricks, Russell Maryland, Ed Reed, Vinny Testaverde, Gino Torretta, and Arnold Tucker have been inducted. Coaches inducted include Dennis Erickson, Andy Gustafson, Jack Harding, and Jimmy Johnson.
As of the end of the 2025 season, the Miami Hurricanes have a compiled record of 688–394–19 since the program's 1926 founding. In addition to its five national championships, the University of Miami has won nine conference championships and appeared in 46 major bowl games.
As of 2024, eleven Miami Hurricanes have been inducted into the NFL's Pro Football Hall of Fame: Jim Otto in 1980, Ted Hendricks in 1990, Jim Kelly in 2002, Michael Irvin in 2007, Cortez Kennedy in 2012, Warren Sapp in 2013, Ray Lewis in 2018, Ed Reed in 2019, Edgerrin James in 2020, and Devin Hester and Andre Johnson in 2024.
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 in the Little Havana section of Miami, which was demolished in 2008 after 71 years of use by the NFL's Miami Dolphins, the Hurricanes, and for other athletic and entertainment purposes.
In December 2021, the University of Miami announced the appointment of Mario Cristobal as the team's new coach. Cristobal signed a 10-year, $80 million contract with the Hurricanes.
History
Early history (1926–1978)
1920s
The University of Miami football program began with a freshman team in 1926. The program's first game was a 7–0 victory over Rollins College on October 23, 1926 before 304 fans. Under the guidance of head coach Howard "Cub" Buck, a former NFL player, the freshman team posted an undefeated 8–0 record in its inaugural season. Two of Miami's wins in 1926 came against the University of Havana, one on Thanksgiving Day in Miami and one in Havana, Cuba, on Christmas Day. The Hurricanes won both games against the University of Havana by an identical shutout score of 23–0.The Hurricanes won their last home game of its inaugural 1926 season against Howard College, now Samford University, 9–7, at the University of Miami's University Stadium. Its win over Howard College was also the first Hurricane football game played on New Year's Day.
The following year, in 1927, the team adopted the "Miami Hurricanes" as the name for its athletic teams. The origins of the name are not exactly clear; some reports suggest the name was a 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 or fauna.
Varsity competition began in 1927, with the Hurricanes 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, but the program fired Buck, who 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.
1930s
Rix was replaced the following season, in 1930, by Ernest Brett. The Hurricanes played Temple in its first game outside the South, losing 34–0 in a game played in Atlantic City, New Jersey. On October 31, 1930, the Hurricanes played in one of the nation's first night games, facing 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 date.
Following a difficult first year, the Hurricanes recorded a winning record in the 1932 season and served as host to the inaugural Palm Festival, later renamed the Orange Bowl, where it defeated Manhattan College 7–0 at Moore Park in Miami. A 5–1–2 campaign and another Palm Festival berth followed in 1933, and in 1934, the program played in its first official bowl game, losing to Bucknell in the first Orange Bowl, 26–0. In 1935, a group of Hurricanes' football supporters sought to hire Red Grange as coach, but the move was vetoed by President Bowman Foster Ashe in part because of what was perceived as the excessive $7,500 salary that Grange sought. Irl Tubbs took over as head coach in 1935. The Hurricanes compiled an 11–5–2 record in his two seasons, but the team failed to reach a bowl game in either year.
After Irl Tubbs resigned following the 1936 season to become head coach at Iowa, Jack Harding was hired to serve as both head football coach and athletic director at the University of Miami. In 1937, the Hurricanes moved into the brand new Burdine Municipal Stadium, renamed the Orange Bowl in 1959, located in Little Havana just west of Downtown Miami. The following year, Miami played archrival Florida for the first time, defeating the Gators 19–7 at Florida Field, and won the program's first Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association title with an 8–2 record.
1940s
Harding led the Hurricanes to an eight-win season in 1941 and a seven-win campaign in 1942 prior to being called away for service in World War II. Eddie Dunn, a former star running back for the Hurricanes under Harding, stepped into the void and served as head coach during Harding's two-year absence during World War II. In 1943, the Hurricanes won five games, but they faltered the following year, in 1944, winning just once and losing seven and tying one game.Harding returned in 1945, and the Hurricanes improved to 9–1–1, and returned to the Orange Bowl for the first time since 1934, where they defeated Holy Cross 13–6.
1950s
Harding was succeeded by Andy Gustafson, who introduced a "drive series" offense, which featured an option-oriented attack from the Split-T formation that relied on zone blocking and either a fullback fake or carry on every play. Under Gustafson, the Hurricanes went 9–1–1 in 1951, including a 35–13 win in its first-ever game against rival Florida State. The same season, the Hurricanes produced their first All-American, Al Carapella, and returned to the Orange Bowl, losing to Clemson 15–14. The following season, the Hurricanes 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.1960s
In the later years of Gustafson's tenure, two-time All-America quarterback George Mira guided the Hurricanes to berths in the 1961 Liberty Bowl 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 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, an assistant at Georgia Tech, was hired to replace him. Gustafson has the Hurricane record for most years as head coach and most wins. Charlie Tate'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. 1966 brought the arrival of defensive end Ted Hendricks, the only three-time All-American in school history, and the Hurricanes won eight games, earning a trip to the Liberty Bowl, where they defeated No. 9 Virginia Tech, 14–7.
In December 1966, the program was integrated when African-American wide receiver Ray Bellamy signed a letter of intent to play football at the university. The Hurricanes returned to bowl play in 1967, appearing in the Bluebonnet Bowl, where they lost to Colorado 31–21. The Hurricanes had a 5–5–0 season in 1968 and 4–6–0 in 1969.
1970s
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, a former All-American quarterback for the Hurricanes under Andy Gustafson, was named as the program's new head coach. Curci's 1971 team improved by a game, but rival Florida Gators defeated the Hurricanes 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 the Hurricanes' defense with little time left in the fourth quarter. Reaves needed just 15 more passing yards to break the NCAA record for career passing yards.
Lou Saban, formerly head coach of the NFL's Buffalo Bills, Denver Broncos, and Boston Patriots, was hired on December 27, 1976, as the team's new head coach. The Hurricanes won only three games in 1977, but Saban was able to put together a well-regarded recruiting class that included future Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Jim Kelly of East Brady, Pennsylvania. Kelly had been recruited by Penn State as a linebacker 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 University of 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 the Hurricanes' career rushing leader until 2014, when he was overtaken by Duke Johnson. After just two seasons, Saban left after the 1978 season to take the head coaching position at Army.