From the Desk of Dan Radakovich

From the Desk of Dan Radakovich

Dear Canes Community,

March Madness is officially upon us as both our men’s and women’s basketball teams tip off the month with important games.

Our men’s basketball team (23-6 overall, 14-5 ACC) has won seven of its past eight games and currently sits in second place in the ACC. We host first-place Pittsburgh in our regular season finale Saturday at Watsco Center. Tipoff is 6 p.m. on ACC Network. Our home crowds have been terrific all season long and we are expecting another electric atmosphere Saturday night with a sellout and a regular season conference title on the line. See you there!

Our women’s basketball team (18-11 overall, 11-7 ACC) wrapped up its regular season with a win over Virginia, clinching the sixth seed in this week’s ACC Tournament in Greensboro, N.C. We open play Thursday night against the winner of the Boston College-Georgia Tech game. Tipoff is 8 p.m. on ACCN. Good luck to the Canes!

Our No. 22 baseball team (7-2) fell to FAU in Boca Raton last night, ending a seven-game winning streak. The Canes travel to Gainesville this weekend for a three-game series against sixth-ranked Florida, starting Friday at 6:30 p.m. on SECN+.

During opening weekend we dedicated baseball’s new Ruiz Family Strength & Conditioning Center, a beautiful 2,800-square-foot facility that will be a game-changer for our baseball student-athletes and staff. Thank you to the Ruiz family for their generous support of Miami Athletics!

Our track and field team competed at the ACC Indoor Track & Field Championships this past weekend in Louisville, Ky., with the women’s team finishing fifth and the men’s team placing seventh. Décio Andrade (men’s weight throw) and Hannah-Sophia Hall (women’s shot put) won individual gold, while the women’s 4x400m relay team took first place and set a conference meet record.

Our diving teams head to NCAA Zones next week as defending national 1-meter champion Mia Vallée, current 1-meter, 3-meter and platform ACC champion Max Flory and others will look to qualify for the NCAA Championships later this month. Swimmers Tara Vovk and Zorry Mason have punched their tickets to NCAAs in the 100-yard breaststroke.

Our men’s and women’s tennis teams, as well as our golf and rowing squads are also in action this week. You can keep up with all our teams by signing up to receive our weekly Miami Athletics Report. Click here to sign up!

Mario Cristobal has hired new coordinators on both sides of the ball as Shannon Dawson and Lance Guidry are joining the Miami family. Shannon spent the last three seasons as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Houston, where the Cougars ranked eighth in passing offense last season. Lance comes to UM after two seasons as the defensive coordinator and safeties coach at Marshall, where the Thundering Herd ranked in the top five nationally in seven categories a season ago. In addition, we have hired Derek Nicholson, who spent the past three seasons at Louisville, as our new inside linebackers coach. We are excited to welcome Shannon, Lance and Derek to Coral Gables!

Spring football starts this Saturday as the Canes hit Greentree for the first of 15 spring practice sessions. Our spring game will be held at DRV PNK Stadium in Ft. Lauderdale on Friday, April 14 and we will be announcing ticket information soon!

The deadline for football season ticket renewals has passed, but for a limited time you can still click here to renew your season tickets. If you would like to purchase season tickets please click here. We can’t wait to see you cheering on the Canes at Hard Rock all season long!

Daevenia Achong (women’s tennis), Destiny Harden (women’s basketball) and Lou Hedley (football) have earned 2023 ACC Postgraduate Scholarships. The conference’s Weaver-James-Corrigan-Swofford postgraduate scholarships are awarded to selected student-athletes who intend to pursue a graduate degree following completion of their undergraduate requirements. The designees have performed with distinction in both the classroom and their respective sport, while demonstrating exemplary conduct in the community. Congratulations to our three recipients!

Our Canes Community remains stronger than ever thanks to your continued support. We hope to see you cheering us on throughout the month of March. Go Canes!

Dan Radakovich