Head Coach Frank Haith USA BASKETBALL Over the summer of 2009, Haith expanded his coaching duties by serving as an assistant coach on Bo Ryan’s staff for USA Basketball’s World University Games men’s basketball team. The team — comprised of some of the top collegiate basketball players in the country — practiced at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., in July before departing for the Games in Serbia where the team went 6-1 en route to a bronze medal.
ALL-ACADEMIC In addition to all of the success Haith’s teams have seen on the court at Miami, what could be considered his greatest asset to the program is his emphasis for achievement in the classroom. In his first six years, 20 of 21 players who exhausted eligibility have earned a degree from UM. Thomas — who enters his sixth season as a Hurricane — makes 21 Hurricanes under Haith to earn his degree, graduating in 2009. Before wrapping up his collegiate career, Jack McClinton was a two-time ACC All-Academic Team selection, recipient of the 2008-09 Skip Prosser Award given to the ACC’s top men’s basketball scholar-athlete, recipient of the Weaver-James-Corrigan Honorary Award from the ACC for outstanding performance in both athletics and academics and was tapped into Iron Arrow — the highest honor attainable at the University of Miami.
PLAY ON After a thrilling run to the second round of the 2008 NCAA Tournament, Haith’s Hurricanes opened the 200809 season ranked among the nation’s Top 25 in both preseason polls for just the second time in UM history. UM was No. 16 in the preseason USA Today/ESPN Top 25 Coaches’ Poll — tying the highest preseason ranking in program history — and No. 17 in the preseason Associated Press Poll — marking the team’s highest preseason ranking in that poll. Miami — who was also
picked to finish fourth in the ACC in a poll by media members — was among four ACC teams ranked in the preseason Top 25 and was the highest ranked team in Florida in both preseason polls. Playing the nation’s sixth-toughest conference schedule while competing in the top-ranked Atlantic Coast Conference, the Hurricanes went on to win 13 of their first 16 games en route to a 19-13 finish, advancing to the second round of the NIT while appearing on network television a school-record 13 times. With an overall strength of schedule ranked 35th in the country, Miami played seven games versus ranked opponents — with five games versus teams that were ranked No. 1 during the season, including four of the five teams that had been atop the polls in 2008-09 — UConn, North Carolina (twice), Wake Forest and Duke.
FAITH IN HAITH HAITH COACHED PLAYERS IN THE NBA LaMarcus Aldridge (Portland Trail Blazers) Josh Howard (Washington Wizards) T.J. Ford (Indiana Pacers) Daniel Gibson (Cleveland Cavaliers) Darius Songaila (Minnesota Timberwolves) Royal Ivey (Milwaukee Bucks)
STAFF
FRANK HAITH HAS COACHED/RECRUITED 15 PLAYERS IN THE LAST 13 YEARS THAT HAVE GONE ON TO PLAY IN THE NBA.
HAITH’S MCDONALD’S ALL-AMERICAN RECRUITS Rodney Rodgers (Wake Forest, 1990) Jerald Brown (Texas A&M, 1995) Brad Buckman (Texas, 2002) LaMarcus Aldridge (Texas, 2004) Daniel Gibson (Texas, 2004) Michael Williams (Texas, 2004)
The Hurricanes put together one of the biggest wins in program history on Feb. 4, knocking off the No. 6/7 Demon Deacons, 79-52, at home at the BankUnited Center. Miami’s 27-point margin of victory is its largest ever over a ranked opponent and is also UM’s largest margin of victory in ACC play. It marked the Hurricanes’ second win over a Top 10 team under Haith. Behind the sharpshooting prowess of McClinton — a two-time First Team All-ACC selection and NBA draft pick, Haith’s Hurricanes hit a school-record 251 threepointers in 2008-09 — including a school-record 101 from McClinton alone.
WE’RE GOING DANCING Despite predictions that the Hurricanes would finish in the basement of the top-ranked ACC in 2007-08 after an injury-laden 2006-07 season, Haith led the Miami men’s basketball program to one of its most successful campaigns in school history, culminating in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. With that NCAA Tournament appearance in 2008, Haith became the first coach in Miami history to take UM to the postseason in three of his first four seasons at the helm — and has since become the only coach in program history to take the Hurricanes to the postseason in four of his first five seasons. The team ran off 12-straight victories to open the season, including winning the inaugural Puerto Rico TipOff Classic and knocked off Mississippi State on the road. The Hurricanes went on to win eight of their last 12 games, highlighted by an upset of No. 4 Duke at a packed BankUnited Center and a victory over St. Mary’s (Calif.) in the NCAA Tournament, en route to Miami’s 10th 20-win season. The Hurricanes’ 23 wins tied for second-most in school history and were the most by a Miami squad since a school-record 24 wins in 2002, while their 14 home wins marked a program best. Haith and his Hurricanes orchestrated a 10-game turnaround — among the best in the nation, as Miami moved into the nation’s Top 25 for the first time since 2002, reaching as high as No. 19 during the season.
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HURRICANESPORTS.COM | UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI MEN’S BASKETBALL | 2010-11