Now the main issue may be the performance of Miami hockey since 2014-2015 season. Why would a top lever recruit pick Miami now over a program that regularly goes to the post season? Plus the team seems to be getting worse, not better.
It takes hard work and a re-evaluation of your recruiting footprint.
Since the move to the new board, we have seemingly lost a few posters including a few that know much more about our hockey program than most of us here…I think they have all posted but infrequently, perhaps because there is a thought that everyone around here is ganging up on the hockey program. Ironically, the only time I met Adyonka (which I kinda doubt he remembers ) was at the Varsity Club in Columbus right before a Miami hockey game against the Buckeyes. Another reminder of how fun it was to play and beat those guys!
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Interesting note: Miami has had 36 former players spend time in the NHL since 1987. My guess is that is far more than the number of former basketball and football players combined who have played in the NBA and NFL.
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We’ve had at least 50 guys in the NFL. My sense is basketball is probably about 10.
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10 in the NBA is probably a good guess…some others to professional leagues in Europe
Found a website that says 8 Miamians have played in the NBA. Not looking at the site, but most you would be familiar with…Wayne Embry, Fred Foster, Phil Lumpkin, Ira Newble , Ron Harper, Wally… Wally, Ron, And Wayne all averaged about 14 PPG over their careers. Of course, early in his career with Clippers Harper was averaging over 20 ppg…probably one of the best NBA players that didn’t get into an all-star game. Embry was an all Star numerous times and Wally once.
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I would have thought Randy Ayers did. I feel like he was drafted. Also, Bramos definitely played summer league for a pro team. I’m also wondering about Archie. A. I think my guess at ten is legit. Let me try to prove it!
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Bulls took Reggie Theus with their first pick that year (and second-round pick was a 6-5 forward, although he didn’t stick around). Shoe, of course was a 6th-round pick.
Randy played just about every position at Miami, including center since Bernie Newman dropped too many classes! If ball-handling was better, maybe he could have had a chance at a 2G in NBA.
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Still a great guy. A good friend. Very talented. Was with the Bulls the year the NBA cut roster sizes to eleven. Randy was last cut to get to eleven. A couple years later they expanded rosters back to twelve. Too bad. Could do a lot at 6’6". Had about 125 assists one season at Miami to lead the team. Cost him time in the league.
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Some great talent back then. Little known fact: we’ve only ever had one All-American in football, but we’ve had several in basketball. Believe it or not, Bramos was our last when he got honorable mention his senior year. Also, random truth: every time I walked by Archie A’s photo in Millett I used to think “holy heck, that guys arms are bigger than my legs!”
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You beat me to it…I graduated with Ayers and also remember he was the last cut.
I have mentioned this in other posts but a fun fact was that Ayers and Aldridge we’re back to back Ohio high school large school division (III in those days) players of the year! That’s the kind of players we had in those days!
I ran into Ayers and was introduced to him by a prominent OSU alum in the Varsity Club when he was at OSU and had a beer w him at the bar…great guy!
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But football probably goes back to the 50s to reach that 50.
Bob Babich in football.
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Long time lurker on the old test site and now here. I’ve been following this discussion and wanted to chime in. It seems like a lot of people are throwing phrases around like “perennial power.” In my opinion, that’s something of a gross over-exaggeration of our hockey history.
I was at Miami in the late 90’s, and the program was definitely a mixed bag. We made it to the tourney once but also had multiple losing seasons and never won the CCHA season or tournament. I did some research HERE and HERE.
What Miami’s program seems to have been before Rico’s breakout year in 03-04 is a middle of the road program with some high points (2 NCAA invites and 1 CCHA regular season title in its first 25 years) mixed in with a lot of losing seasons (including 8 in a row). Cady was 77-99-8 once he got to the CCHA. Before Rico’s breakout year, the program had 15 losing season against 11 winning seasons (and two of those were the first two indy seasons against who knows what level of competition) with a total overall record of 395-489-63.
So when people talk about us “getting back to where we were,” they’re talking about essentially Rico’s 12 year window when Miami was a nationally relevant, solid top 10 program that competed for national titles more often than not…not the quarter century that came before it. So, is the current state of affairs the program’s regressing to its historical norm after riding a hot young coach for a decade? I wouldn’t go that far, but I’d stop assuming that Miami is a Minnesota or Michigan type blueblood with all these historical advantages built in with which to build back. Instead, the questions that need to be asked are what was special about the program in the mid 00s that allowed it to break away from its past and become nationally relevant and what were the factors in its decline. The obvious answer to the latter is joining the NCHC, but I think it’s deeper than that as to why we couldn’t maintain and build on the success of those dozen years.
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The reasons for the decline to me are as follows:
- Lost key assistants, and never found quality replacements
- Recruiting took a step back due to #1 and perhaps other reasons
- Development of talent took a step back as well.
When I was there ('09 grad), it seemed like every year you had a goalie you could count on. Not so much any more. Same thing with defensemen. There was always a solid 2 pairs to throw out there, with the 3rd and 4th lines sometimes being suspect but usually hard hitting and scrappy.
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I think this is the primary reason Miami left the doldrums of collegiate hockey in the early 2000s and finally established a highly competitive program. Interesting to read the part about the principle donor/fund raiser, Tom Brown.
I wonder if basketball has a Tom Brown to spur redevelopment of Millett?
But actually, I am no longer convinced Miami would be an attractive basketball destination. Basketball seems to thrive now in more urban areas with substantial TV coverage and NIL opportunities, not so much on tranquil rural campuses.
To be elite you are probably right, but it really shouldn’t take all that much to win consistently in the MAC.
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Cool arena, eh?
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I noticed the Goggin facilities article was written pre-construction. Needs a bit of an update.