Miami Hurricanes football (1926 to 1978)

The University of Miami football program began with a freshman team in 1926.^[3] The program's first game was a 7–0 victory over Rollins College on October 23, 1926 before 304 fans.^[4] Under head coach Howard "Cub" Buck, a former NFL player, the freshman team posted a perfect 8–0 record in its inaugural season.^[5] Two of the wins were against the University of Havana,^[6] one on Thanksgiving Day in Miami and one in Havana, Cuba, on Christmas Day. Miami's last home game of the season featured the first Hurricane football game played on New Year's Day against Howard at the University of Miami's University Stadium.^[7]

The following year, in 1927, the team adopted the official nickname "Miami Hurricanes", though the exact timing and origin of the name is unclear; some reports suggest it was in reference to the devastating power of the 1926 hurricane that postponed the program's first game by a month, and others that it was suggested by a player in response to rumors that university officials wanted to name the team after local flora or fauna.^[8]

Varsity competition began in 1927, with the Hurricanes beating Rollins, 39–3, in its first game and going on to a 3–6–1 record.^[9]

The team improved to 4–4–1 in 1928,^[10] but it was not enough for Buck to keep his job. Buck was replaced prior to the 1929 season with J. Burton Rix, who was previously the head coach at Southern Methodist.^[6] Rix's arrival was funded by a group of local businessmen.^[11] That off-season, the program, which competed as an independent during its first two years of existence, joined the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association (SIAA).

In the 1929 season, the Hurricanes played its first varsity road game, a 14–0 loss at Southwest Louisiana in Lafayette, Louisiana,^[12] and Rix led the team to its first winning season, going 3–2.^[6] His tenure, however, was short-lived; off-campus financing for the program dried up in the wake of the 1929 stock market crash, and he resigned after one season.^[4]

Ernest Brett replaced Rix, and in 1930, Miami played Temple in its first game outside the South, losing 34–0 to in a game played in Atlantic City, New Jersey.^[6] On October 31, 1930, the Hurricanes played one of the nation's first night games against Bowdon College in Miami.^[13]

Brett lasted only one year, and Tom McCann became the program's fourth head coach in 1931.^[14]

Under McCann, the football program experienced its most successful seasons to that point. After a difficult first year, the Hurricanes put together a winning record in the 1932 season and served as host to the inaugural Palm Festival, later known as the Orange Bowl, defeating Manhattan College 7–0 at Moore Park in Miami.^[6] A 5–1–2 campaign and another Palm Festival berth followed in 1933, and in 1934, the program played in its first official bowl game, losing to Bucknell in the first Orange Bowl, 26–0.^[6]

In 1935, a group of University of Miami football supporters sought to hire Red Grange as coach.^[15] However, the move was vetoed by President Bowman Foster Ashe, in part because the $7,500 salary that Grange sought was deemed as excessive.^[16] Instead, Irl Tubbs took over as head coach in 1935, and though Miami compiled an 11–5–2 record in his two seasons,^[17] it did not play in a bowl in either year.^[18]

After Irl Tubbs resigned following the 1936 season to become head coach at Iowa,^[19] Jack Harding was hired to serve as both head football coach and athletic director at the University of Miami.^[4]

In 1937, the Hurricanes moved into the brand new Burdine Municipal Stadium, renamed the Orange Bowl in 1959, located west of Downtown Miami in Little Havana.^[4]

The following year, the Hurricanes played archrival Florida for the first time, defeating the Gators 19–7 at Florida Field, and won the program's first Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association title with an 8–2 record.^[20]

The Hurricanes left the SIAA just three years later, and became independent once again.^[21][22]

Harding led the Hurricanes to eight wins in 1941 and seven wins in 1942 prior to being called away for military service during World War II.^[4] Eddie Dunn, a former running back for the Hurricanes under Harding, stepped into the void and served as head coach during Harding's two-year war service.^[23] Though the Hurricanes won five games in 1943,^[24] they faltered in 1944, winning just one game against seven losses and a tie.^[25]

Fortunes changed with Harding's return in 1945, as the Hurricanes went 9–1–1 and returned to the Orange Bowl for the first time since 1934, defeating Holy Cross 13–6 in a memorable game.^[26] With the score tied 6–6 and only seconds remaining, Holy Cross quarterback Gene DeFilippo was intercepted by Miami's Al Hudson at the 11-yard line. Hudson dashed 89 yards the other way for the game-winning touchdown as time expired.^[4][26]

Harding's Hurricanes won eight games in 1946, but after the team slipped to 2–7–1 in 1947,^[27] he resigned as head coach, but continued as athletic director.

Harding hired Andy Gustafson as the new head coach, closing out a nine-year tenure in which the Hurricanes registered a 54–29–3 record and won at least eight games in four different seasons.^[28][4]

One of Andy Gustafson's major innovations at the University of Miami was the "drive series" offense, an option-oriented attack from the Split-T formation that relied on zone blocking and featured either a fullback fake or carry on every play.^[29][30] Under Gustafson's tutelage, Miami produced its first All-American, Al Carapella, in 1950 and went 9–1–1 in 1951, including a 35–13 win in its first-ever game against rival Florida State and a 15–14 loss to Clemson in the Orange Bowl.^[4][31]

The following season, the Hurricanes won eight games and went to a bowl game in consecutive years for the first time in school history, shutting out Clemson 14–0 in a rematch at the Gator Bowl.

In the middle of the 1954 season, the NCAA imposed two one-year penalties against the Hurricanes for providing transportation and tryouts to prospective players.^[29][32] As a result, Gustafson's 1954 squad was ineligible to play in a bowl game, and the 8–1 Hurricanes,^[33] whose lone loss came 14–13 at No. 14 Auburn, finished the season ranked ninth in the Coaches' Poll, the first top ten poll finish in school history.^[4][29]

Two years later, in 1956, an 8–1–1 Miami Hurricanes team,^[34] led by team captain and All-American Don Bosseler,^[35] was under consideration to play in the Sugar Bowl, but the program's bowl-ban was not due to expire until ten days after the game, rendering it ineligible to participate.^[32] The team finished the season ranked sixth in both the AP and Coaches' Polls.^[4]

In the later years of Gustafson's tenure, two-time All-America quarterback George Mira guided the Hurricanes to berths in the 1961 Liberty Bowl and the 1962 Gotham Bowl, where they lost both games.^[36][37]

In 1963, the team struggled to a 3–7 record.^[38] Mira set many of the school's passing records during his four years at the University of Miami, appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated, and finished fifth in the Heisman Trophy voting as a senior.^[4][39][40]

Following the season, Gustafson decided to step down as head coach and Charlie Tate, an assistant at Georgia Tech, was hired to replace him.^[41] Gustafson has the Hurricane record for most years as head coach (16) and most wins (93).^[42][43][44] Charlie Tate's first seasons at Miami were uneventful, with the team posting a 4–5–1 record in 1964^[45] and a reverse 5–4–1 record in 1965.^[46] 1966 brought the arrival of defensive end Ted Hendricks, the only three-time All-American in school history,^[47] and the Hurricanes won eight games, earning a trip to the Liberty Bowl, where they defeated No. 9 Virginia Tech, 14–7.^[4]

In December 1966, the program was integrated when African American wide receiver Ray Bellamy signed a letter of intent to play football at the university.^[48] The Hurricanes returned to bowl play in 1967, dropping the Bluebonnet Bowl to Colorado, 31–21.^[49] The Hurricanes had a 5–5–0 season in 1968^[50] and 4–6–0 in 1969.^[51]