What those fans need to realize is this team could be a cupcake laced with Exlax. Our team is a total unknown and might end up being way better than before. Too many new players to judge on past results.
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Not to thread jack (!) but I attended many practices during my time at Miami. Coach Hedrick put on a clinic on how to conduct practice. He was funny too: when the plays would break down or the team not live up to what he expected, he would blow the whistle and yell “What is this, Joe’s Bar and Grill?“ Years later the Mrs. and I made a special trip back to Miami just to see Ron Harper play. I walked down to the floor and greeted Coach Hedric, who then walked me around the court and talked to me for a few minutes. I told him why I had come, and he said about Harper “he’s the best player we’ve ever had at Miami.”
Harper then lived up to his billing. He had 38 points, 19 rebounds, 12 assists, and eight steals. He also went Coast to coast four times. I was impressed to say the least.
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I believe it was Harp’s junior year when Sports Illustrated’s college basketball writer spent the entire season traveling and watching as many games as he could. Went to dozens/more than a hundred games at different levels. In his final article, in which he reviewed his experiences, he stated that the best player he saw all season was Harp.
I attended two of Ron’s greatest games. A game vs Toledo and the MAC tourney game vs Ball State and Dan Palumbizio in MAC tourney game at NIU. He played as if he was from another world…Huge numbers. And don’t forget, he was also the Defensive POY in the MAC. Will we ever get a player as good as him again? Don’t know, but I may have said we would never get a Ron Harper.
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I wonder how he ended up at Miami. Would love to know that story from coach H. Anyone here in the know, please help!
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I was at the game in Toledo. The SI photographer and a local guy got in a shoving match for position behind the baseline. Game cost me a couple hundred in a strange way. I made 5/5 free throws at half time to win $50 from a local jewlers. My wife used it to buy a tennis bracelet that cost four times that much. BTW, I wore a Miami shirt and was booed severely with each shot I made.
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When my son was about 8 or 9, we went to BG for our game. He, of course, was decked out in Miami gear. The program we bought was one which whoever had it would shoot 3’s for the chance to advance to the finals and some prize. When he went out to shoot, there were boos. But he had played bball for a few years and he and I worked on it almost daily, even in the snow. So, he went out and hit the 3. Lots of applause. He wanted to go back for the finals but my daughter had a regional HS gymnastics meet she qualified for so we went there.
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This is epically cool! Thank you for posting.
I am certainly not in the know but I had always heard that Harper was not heavily recruited because most people did not think he would qualify academically. Most thought he would end up at JUCO at best.
Harper also had a pretty severe stuttering issue in high school.
My understanding is that Coach Hedric stayed on Harp throughout and never gave up when almost everyone else did. It paid off in the end.
Coach also got Harper the resources he needed at Miami to help him with the stutter issue which was life changing.
I can attest that I followed the recruiting gossip at the time which got about 1% of the attention then as it does now. Ron Hunter was a much more high profile commit when we got him. I heard almost nothing about Harper until he enrolled.
I saw almost every game Harper played in Millett. You knew he was talented his freshman year but I have never seen a player improve so much between his freshman and sophomore season. He became dominant.
In our opener at Indiana his sophomore year he was clearly the best player on the floor. We won 63-57.
The rest is history.
If my history is incorrect in any way I would like to hear the real story.
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Very helpful, makes you realize what real coaches were like when coach H was on the scene. Seems his generation equally cared about player development as men. Clearly not all, but many. As I read stories like this from time to time and wonder if they still happen today. I say that because so many of them today are about the winning at all costs part. Ron’s story would make a great movie.
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I always heard that other coaches were afraid to offer him a scholarship because he had a stuttering problem and they were also afraid of his ability in the classroom.
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Your explanation is completely in line with the account I heard from Miami Alumni officials after Harp finished at Miami. Coach Hedric’s offer to pair him with a Miami speech therapist was - I understand - was the deal maker.
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I talk with Jerry Peirson probably 3 times a month. The story above is how he recalls it.
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As someone who had a moderate speech impediment into elementary school and needed pretty frequent therapy to address it, I can only imagine what it’s like to have a severe stutter well into adulthood. Good on the program to look after Harp like that, it clearly paid off for both sides.
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I realize how old I am when I realize how many of you didn’t know this story.
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Grumpy, you’re not old, you’re in the know. That’s rare these days.
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I went to an all-star game at Centerville High School when Harper was a HS Sr. He dominated - my buddy asked where he was going and I told him Miami. Thought it was Coral Gables - was shocked when I told him no. Harper was so far above the rest of those Dayton-area all stars that it’s hard to put into words.
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Another nice surprise for us was when Devin Davis came to Miami from Miami. Puncho (Pancho?) didn’t turn out as well though (for us).
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I don’t recall Paunco, but…quaaludes
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Puncho Farquaharson, was at Miami one year and transferred to Tampa.
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Because Dayton blew it was the word.
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