Remember My Name: Frank Haith

I have been using the "Remember My Name" headline to shine a light on players who rarely see television time and don't usually get noticed until March, if even then. This week, I didn't have a player in mind who really fit that bill, but I found myself becoming increasingly more curious about a coach who has done the seemingly impossible - lifting the moribund Miami Hurricanes basketball program to national prominence.

So who is Frank Haith? He's kind of a rolling stone, in some ways. A 42-year-old native of Queens, NY, Haith took a circuitous route to the sunshine state. Despite his northern birthplace, Haith grew up in North Carolina. He never played at the DI level, but served as a student assistant coach during his undergrad years at Elon College, back when they were called the Fightin' Christians instead of the current, more neutral Phoenix.

Graduating in 1988, he served one more year on the Elon staff before accepting another coaching job at nearby Wake Forest. That lasted one year before Haith moved to the beach, spending two seasons on the bench at UNC-Wilmington. The remainder of the 90's were spent primarily at Texas A&M, with an odd, one-year detour to Penn State in the '95-'96 season that apparently drove him back to the Aggies.

In '97, it was back to Wake Forest again. In 2001, a big break took Haith back to Texas, this time with the Longhorns, as Associate Head Coach under Rick Barnes. His recruiting and coaching successes in burnt orange finally led to his hiring as the Head Coach at Miami (FL), just in time to drag the putrid 'Cane program into the high-quality ACC.

Predictably, the Miami administration tried to pump up the disinterested fan base when introducing Haith, calling the hire "an important event in the evolution and history of Hurricane basketball." Odds are, most green-and-orange fans smiled, nodded, and went back to buying SUVs for the football team. But in this case, the hype turned out to be accurate. Picked to finish last in the re-formed ACC, Haith led his charges to a 7-9 record in the new conference, and an NIT berth. The next season, after upsetting Maryland and winning in the Dean Dome, the Hurricanes managed to advance to the NIT Quarterfinals, beating Oklahoma State and Creighton on the road.

2006 was a 12-20 step backward, but Haith kept a steady hand on the tiller, putting together the current team that ran the table at the Puerto Rico tip-off Classic, garnered a top-25 ranking, and has already won more games - thirteen - than they did all of last season. Heading into conference play, only a surprising home loss to Winthrop stains their record.

The true test of Miami's resurgence will come in conference play, where the 'Canes must improve to .500 or better if they expect to make the NCAA tournament. Haith's crew will face ranked Duke and Clemson squads twice this season, but otherwise only face one other currently-ranked opponent - #1 UNC at home on January 23rd.

And if the Miami basketball team must forsake the golden shores of their home state for a chilly March vacation in, say, Washington DC? Nobody will be happier than the coaching vagabond who has finally found a home.