Hurricane’s history starts with rain, ends with reign

The Miami Hurricanes have not always been the dominant football powerhouse that college… The Miami Hurricanes have not always been the dominant football powerhouse that college football fans are accustomed to today.

Hurricane football dates back to 1926. Bowman Ashe proposed to have a 50,000-seat on-campus stadium before the Hurricanes played their first game on the freshman level.

Construction began on a temporary 8,000-seat stadium on Sept. 16, 1926, but disaster struck Sept. 17, as a hurricane swept through South Florida. The storm destroyed more than 10,000 homes and killed 130 people.

As a result, Miami did not begin its season until Oct. 23 against Rollins. The Hurricanes defeated Rollins 7-0 in front of a crowd of 304.

Competition on the varsity level began in 1927 and Miami finished with a record of 3-6-1. Howard Buck was the coach and when the Hurricanes finished with a record of 4-4-1 the next season, a group of local businessmen decided that it was time for a change.

The group of businessmen financially backed Miami in bringing in a well-known coach, J. Burton Rix. Rix’s previous coaching experience was with Texas and Southern Methodist University. In 1929, Rix became the head coach, but left after one season as the stock market crash caused the off-campus financing to disappear. Ernie Brett replaced Rix in 1930 and inherited a difficult schedule. During that season, the Hurricanes played in one of the nation’s first night games. The game was played on Halloween, but was a disaster when it began to rain.

By 1933, Miami reached a bowl game as it upset Manhattan in the Palm Festival Jan. 1. After going through another head coach, Jack Harding became both the head coach and athletics director. During his nine-year tenure, Harding took the Hurricanes from being small time into being a major college team.

In 1937, Miami moved into Roddy Burdine Municipal Stadium, which is presently known as the Orange Bowl. In the next season, the Hurricanes defeated Florida in the two teams’ first meeting and also won their first Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association Championship.

Harding resigned as head coach in 1948, but remained the athletics director. Andy Gustafson took over as head coach, but had to step down and become the athletics director after the death of Harding in 1963.

Miami hit a bump in the road beginning in the late 1960s and it lasted for an entire decade. Charlie Tate replaced Gustafson and the program had two seasons under .500. The Hurricanes went on to win the Liberty Bowl in 1966 and the Bluebonnet Bowl in 1967.

From there the program went down hill. It wasn’t until 1978 that Miami finished a season over .500 as it finished 6-5.

By 1983 things had turned around under Howard Schnellenberger. The Hurricanes finished the season 11-1 and upset Nebraska in the Orange Bowl behind quarterback Bernie Kosar.

The 1986 season was marked by what many consider one of the best college teams ever. The Hurricanes were led by current New York Jets quarterback Vinny Testaverde to an 11-0 record, but Miami was defeated 14-10 in the Fiesta Bowl.

In 1988, Miami redeemed itself as it defeated then-No. 1 Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl. It was possible for the Hurricanes to make the Orange Bowl as a result of a game played on Oct. 3, 1987, against Florida State. The Hurricanes overcame a 19-3 deficit behind three touchdown passes by Steve Walsh. Florida State attempted a last-minute comeback, but it fell short when Bubba McDowell batted down its two-point conversion attempt.

The 1991 season marked the second time in Miami’s history that it went undefeated. The Hurricanes went 12-0 and defeated Nebraska 22-0 in the Orange Bowl. Despite Miami’s win in the Orange Bowl, Washington, who also finished 12-0, was voted in as national champions by CNN/USA Today.

Miami turned in a 5-6 record in 1997, which marked the team’s first losing season since it was 5-6 in 1979. The Hurricanes rebuilt the program and went undefeated in 2001 for the third time in their history as it finished the season 12-0. Miami also won its fifth national championship in its history with a 37-14 victory over Nebraska in the Rose Bowl.