A Message From the Athletic Director - August 2019
Hurricane Fans,
College football season starts early this year – the sport’s 150thyear – and the Miami Hurricanes have the honor of kicking off this historic season on Saturday night.
The Hurricanes square off against the Florida Gators in the 2019 Camping World Kickoff in Orlando at 7 p.m. The game will be televised nationally on ESPN and College GameDay will be broadcasting from Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom that morning. We’re thrilled to be opening the season on the national stage, and I look forward to seeing many of you cheering on the Canes in Orlando!
Both UM and UF announced earlier this week that we have agreed to a home-and-home series in 2024-25. The two teams will meet in Gainesville on August 31, 2024, before returning to battle at Hard Rock Stadium on September 20, 2025. The Hurricanes and Gators have a long history as in-state gridiron rivals and we’re excited to add a new chapter to the series!
Yesterday was an historic day for our conference as the ACC Network officially launched. ACCN will provide us with a tremendous platform to help promote and showcase our teams, our student-athletes and our University to a wide audience. Two of our first three football games will be televised on ACCN — our conference opener at North Carolina on Saturday, September 7, as well as our home opener against Bethune-Cookmanon Saturday, September 14.
ACCN has also announced its broadcast schedule for fall Olympic sports, including UM’s soccer and volleyball programs. Our home soccer game against Pittsburgh on Sunday, September 29 will be on ACCN at 7 p.m. Two Canes volleyball games – Wednesday, October 30 at Florida State and Friday, November 15 at home against NC State – will be televised on ACCN. In addition, our men’s basketball home opener November 5 at Watsco Center against Louisville will be televised on ACCN.
Multiple providers have already agreed to carry ACCN, including DIRECTV, Spectrum, NCTC, Fios, Google Fiber, Hulu, Optimum, PlayStation Vue and YouTube TV. But there are still providers that haven’t yet decided to carry the network, including Comcast, Dish and AT&T U-Verse. I encourage Canes fans to visit getaccn.comto see if their provider is planning to carry the network. If not, you should call that provider and demand ACCN! We want everybody to be able to watch every Canes game for every sport this season.
Head coach Sarah Barnes and UM’s soccer team opened their season with a resounding 4-0 win over Texas-Rio Grande Valley Thursday night in Edinburgh, Texas. The Canes will remain in Edinburgh for a Sunday contest with Farleigh Dickinson before returning home to prepare for their first home game against FAU on August 29 at 7 p.m. We look forward to seeing all of you at Cobb Field this season!
Jose “Keno” Gandara’s volleyball squad, which started practice last week, returns eight players and features seven freshmen from a class that was ranked as the No. 25 recruiting class in the NCAA and the third-best in the ACC by PrepVolleyball.com. The Canes host an exhibition tonight against FIU at 7 p.m. in the newly renovated Knight Gym before opening the regular season against Missouri August 30 in the Puerto Rico Clasico. Good luck to the Canes!
Both of our basketball teams just returned from an amazing, 10-day tour of Italy. The women played three games in Rome, Florence and Venice, while the men competed in Rome, Florence and Como. In addition to gaining some valuable experience on the court, our student-athletes made memories for a lifetime, getting an opportunity to explore some of Italy’s most beautiful and historic cities. Thank you to all of the generous donors who made the trip possible!
Amy Deem’s track and field squad has a new distance coach in Cody Halsey, who joins us from Oklahoma State. Cody coached this past season’s NCAA 1500m champion Sinclaire Johnson, who posted the second-fastest time in collegiate history. Please join me in welcoming Cody to Coral Gables!
Baseball head coach Gino DiMare has added two people to his staff. Matt Cleveland, who has spent the past 17 years as a successful high school coach throughout the Sunshine State, joins the Canes as our new infield coach. Jonathan Anderson, who spend the past decade as an assistant coach at Dartmouth, is our new Director of Player Development. Welcome to both Matt and Jonathan!
The latest phase of construction for the Carol Soffer Indoor Practice Facility — our spectacular new football recruiting area — is nearly complete. I want to again extend my heartfelt thanks to Carol Soffer and her family for the lead gift for this magnificent facility. We have already raised $40 million but are not done yet — and we still need your support. One exciting way to give is the New Miami Fund, which gives you an exclusive opportunity to have your name etched into one of the player chairs in the refurbished Edgerrin James Team Meeting Room. Your donations will continue to ensure that this facility continues to be one of the best in the country. Visit uhurricaneclub.com to pledge your support.
For the latest information on each of our varsity teams, please be sure to visit HurricaneSports.com or follow us on Twitter @MiamiHurricanes. I hope you’re excited about the start to the season and I hope you enjoy this month’s magazine!
Go Canes!
Blake James
