MIAMI — “We got some Canes over here! Woosh! Woosh!”
Anybody who has attended a University of Miami sporting event is surely familiar with that chant.
The problem is, there aren’t enough Canes over here. Or over there. Not enough at Hard Rock Stadium. Not enough at the Watsco Center.
And that’s a crying shame.
The Hurricanes deserve better. Every UM athlete who sweats orange and green deserves better. Mario Cristobal deserves better. Jim Larranaga and Katie Meier deserve better.
It’s Homecoming Week. On Friday night, students will gather around Lake Osceola on campus and watch the boat-burning ceremony, a tradition that dates to 1956. (Legend has it that if the mast falls before the boat sinks, UM will win the football game the next day.) The Canes host the FSU Seminoles on Saturday night.
The men’s and women’s basketball seasons tip off at home on Monday.
If ever there was a time to show the Canes some love, this is it. How about filling the seats for a change? It’s high time for Canes fans to step up their game and stop taking these teams for granted.
Last season the Miami men’s basketball team, which ranked dead last in ACC attendance at 5,003 fans per game, became a national feel-good story with its thrilling run to the Elite Eight. Early in the season, attendance was hovering around 3,000 even though the team was 11-3 and riding a seven-game win streak.
One November game, there were two students in the student section. TWO. Granted, it was the start of Thanksgiving break, so out-of-town students had gone home, but what about the large number of South Florida commuter students? Where were they?
The women’s basketball team, which ranked third from last in ACC attendance last year with an average crowd of 1,004, wound up being the surprise ACC Championship Game runner-up. It will be interesting to see if the Cavinder twins Haley and Hanna, transfer guards with four million TikTok followers, spark more interest in a program that deserves it.
The football team, which rallied from a rough start to win five of its last six games last season, drew an average of 43,698 fans to the 65,326-seat Hard Rock Stadium. That means the stadium was just 67% full. Only four ACC schools had a lower percentage and none of those four have the rich football tradition the Hurricanes have.
This season, the hiring of Cristobal led to a boost in fundraising and season ticket sales, but the goal was to get the stadium to 90 to 100% capacity. That has not happened. Attendance for the game against Duke on Oct. 22 was announced at 57,421, but anybody who was there (I was) or watched on TV knows there weren’t that many fans in the stands. It looked more like 40,000, at best.
It is a testament to Cristobal, Larranaga and Meier (and our beautiful city and weather!) that they have been able to attract highly coveted basketball recruits to Coral Gables despite attendance woes.
Imagine how much more Cristobal could do if Hard Rock Stadium truly rocked — the way the Orange Bowl used to rock, the way Michigan’s Big House rocks, the way Wisconsin fans “Jump Around”, the way Gators fans rock at The Swamp, and FSU fans rock at Doak Campbell Stadium.
It’s easy to understand why UM quarterback Tyler Van Dyke said in September that he enjoys road games: “We don’t really have that much of a college atmosphere because we play at Hard Rock. We’re about 25 minutes away from campus so a lot of students don’t go up and watch the game, unless it’s a big game. But that’s why I like going into away stadiums and seeing that college atmosphere and playing there and making the crowd quiet.”
Imagine how much more Larranaga could do if the Watsco Center felt more like the Carrier Dome, Cameron Indoor Stadium, the Dean Dome, Rupp Arena or the Allen Fieldhouse. Meier would love to show recruits the kind of crowds they get at Louisville, South Carolina, Notre Dame and Oregon.
Attendance has always been a struggle for the University of Miami. In some ways, that makes sense.
There is a lot to do in South Florida and Miami is a city of transplants. Most people who live here moved here from other countries and other states, and their sports loyalties remain there. New Yorkers are still devoted to the Yankees and Mets.
College sports is an American phenomenon, so newcomers from Latin America, the Caribbean and Europe arrive with no ties or interest. Try telling an Argentine sports fan that the UM-FSU rivalry is as big a deal as Boca Juniors vs. River Plate.
Seven years working at the Detroit Free Press taught me that sports fans there have much deeper roots with the Lions, Pistons, Red Wings, Tigers, Michigan and Michigan State than fans here have with any of our teams.
Things got so bad for the UM men’s basketball team in 1971 that the program was disbanded. It was brought back in 1985, and the Canes played at the James L. Knight Center in downtown Miami. The team’s “home” court was then moved to Miami Arena, and coach Leonard Hamilton led his underdog team to the Sweet 16 in 2000.
“If only they had an on-campus arena,” people said back then. “The students would come. The place would be packed.” Well, they got a $48 million, 8,000-seat on-campus arena 18 years ago. Students can cross a parking lot from their dorms to the arena. Still waiting for the packed houses.
Many UM football fans, including megabooster John Ruiz, have been pushing for a football stadium closer to campus. Hard Rock Stadium is 22 miles from the UM campus, making the gameday commute among the longest in college football. Ruiz has proposed a stadium at Tropical Park, a few miles west of campus.
If the stadium was closer, the students would come and the place would be packed, he says. Don’t be so sure. Nothing is a slam dunk with UM fans. They need to prove their love for the Hurricanes before donors spend another penny on a stadium plan. This weekend would be a good time to start.
