To try something different, thought we could consider a thread where Miami basketball is getting some love and attention. We all know this is something the University has never experienced but hopefully this is the beginning of something sustainable. It is unbelievable the amount of press coverage. I was hesitating if I should post but I don’t believe President Crawford would mind. I was talking with a friend at a recent game when President Crawford walked up and shared with my friend he was recently in a large cuty attending an alumni event. He said ‘It was the first time in my 9 plus years at Miami that the only thing alumni wanted to talk about was Coach Steele and Miami basketball.’ I didn’t ask but from that statement and watching him last night that he gets the impact on student life and fund raising.
And yes I know this was posted in another thread and already outdated as it is down to Miami and Arizona as the unbeaten but it epitomizes Coach Steele and the group of men on this special team.
Thanks for doing this. Crowd-sourcing links here will create a good place for folks to follow along.
I’ll quibble a bit that this level of attention for Miami athletics is unprecedented, even in the MHT era (since 1997). We collected and shared a lot of national news stories about the ‘99 team, including a cover article in Sports Illustrated back when that still mattered. The ‘03 football team also got a lot of national attention. But you’re right that it has been a long time since we’ve seen this level of national spotlight on any Miami athletics team. The ‘09 hockey team was a big story for college hockey fans, but that’s a niche audience.
Paul is thoughtful, an excellent interviewer, and asks good questions. And Steele is great with the press. One more thing that makes this streak other-worldly fun.
Eh, Travis is 44, not in his 50s like his older brother or even Chuck on the football side. He’s relatively young, super competitive, and ambitious. I think it would be unrealistic to expect him to spend the next 20 years here. But as he says, they’re very very happy here at Miami so I think it has to be the right job.
Much like him, I’m going to try and enjoy this year (if the games don’t give me a heartattack first) and worry about next year hopefully with a MAC tourney trophy and Sweet 16 banner.
As much as I would hate losing Steele, we need to be prepared for a day where he leaves. You do that by building the budgets for NIL/staff (and get the arena going) to attract a great replacement, if the infrastructure is established our success becomes a lot more sustainable beyond a single person.
We definitely need to plan for that but a part of me thinks he will stay, it just seems like Steele wants to build something longer term. He doesn’t seem like someone who’s motivated by money. We’ll see how it plays out
