From the Desk of Dan Radakovich

Dear Canes Community,

This week marks one month on the job for me as your Vice President and Director of Athletics. As you may already know, UM has always held a special place in my heart and it is a true honor to return to Miami to help lead us to a resurgence of excellence.

I have been spending time getting to know our staff, working with our campus leaders, touring our facilities and—to the extent possible—helping our new football staff settle in. I had an opportunity to meet with several of our student-athletes for a broad-ranging discussion on their experience at UM and came away so impressed! I also have had the opportunity to attend several of our men’s and women’s basketball games and the atmosphere at Watsco Center has been tremendous.

We should all take pride in our recent successes:

• Jim Larrañaga’s squad has won 12 of its last 14 games—including last week’s incredible, buzzer-beating win at Virginia Tech—and sits in first place in the ACC.
• Katie Meier’s squad has won three of its last four road games, including our first win at Florida State since 2014.
• Our track and field squad has already set eight school records through its first two meets of the indoor season.
• Our men’s tennis team has jumped out to a 5-1 start and our women’s tennis team is ranked 23rd in the nation.
• Our baseball team, whose rankings range from 18th to 25th in the preseason polls, started practice last week.
• The ACC announced our 2022 football schedule last night, which includes seven home games. We can’t wait to see a packed house at Hard Rock Stadium this fall!
• Nine of our fall sports student-athletes—four in football, three in volleyball and two in soccer—were recently selected to the All-ACC Academic Team.
• UM alums Jeff and Mimi Kinkead announced a bequest of $1 million in support of scholarships and career development for student-athletes, an incredibly generous gift that will give our student-athletes the tools and resources needed to reach their full potential.

Passion is what makes this job so special—the Canes are woven into the fabric of South Florida. And I take great pride that our athletic department proudly serves as one of three pillars of our University, along with higher education and the UHealth system. That is a responsibility that we do not take lightly, and we will strive every day to represent the University of Miami with distinction. We will create the best possible student-athlete experience, we will provide our sports programs with the resources they need to compete and win, we will elevate the fan experience and we will work diligently to make Miami Athletics a shining example of integrity, innovation and pride.

We are committed to building a championship culture and we couldn’t do it without your generosity. You are the backbone of what we do, so thank you. When our Canes Community comes together, there is nothing that we can’t accomplish.

Thank you again for your continued support and Go Canes!

Dan Radakovich