Miami Hurricanes News: OC officially hired, WBB wins, baseball begins season

The Miami Hurricanes football program officially named Shannon Dawson their offensive coordinator on Thursday after the news of his hiring broke earlier this week. Dawson joins the Miami football program from Houston where he was the Cougars’ OC since 2020 and on the staff since 2019.

The Miami Hurricanes women’s basketball team improved to 17-9 overall and 10-5 in the ACC with a 59-53 win over Clemson on Thursday night. Miami has won 10 of its last 13 games. Miami is in a fourth-place tie in the ACC with Florida State and Louisville. The top four teams in the ACC receive a double bye in the tournament.

The Miami baseball team will begin its 2023 season hosting a three-game weekend series versus Penn State. Miami was 40-19 in 2022 but had a disappointing postseason. The Hurricanes were swept out of the ACC Tournament and lost two of three as the sixth national seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Closer Andrew Walters and first basemen C.J. Kayfus have both been named by various publications as preseason All-Americans. A strong postseason will be critical for the Miami Hurricanes baseball team. Miami has not advanced to the NCAA Tournament Superregionals since 2016 when they made the College World Series.

The announcement of Dawson as the offensive coordinator came after Lance Guidry as the defensive coordinator earlier this week. Miami still has openings at running backs and wide receivers coach for Mario Cristobal to fill before Miami begins Spring Practice on March 4.

David Lake of Inside the U examined the Dawson offense at Houston in 2022 and stated that Miami averaging 30 points per game in 2023 is a realistic goal. The hiring of Dawson will allow Cristobal to have input from his offensive coordinator on the running backs and wide receiver coaching hires.

David Cobb of CBS Sports wrote that Cristobal has hit the reset button with the coordinator hires entering in his words a significant second season. Cobb noted that no Miami head coach has failed to win at least seven games in his second season and that Cristobal greatly improved Oregon in year two.

Cobb examined the pass-run splits for Houston under Dawson and Miami last season. Guidry is projected to have more autonomy according to Cobb. Cobb also wonders how well Dawson and Guidry will recruit as Power Five coordinators. Oregon improved to 10-2 from 9-4 in the second season under Cristobal.