- June 11th, 2010, 12:05 pm
#309865
University of Miami athletic director Kirby Hocutt joined "The Jorge Sedano Show" on 790 The Ticket (WAXY) in Miami Friday morning to discuss conference expansion and a few other college football topics. I transcribed a few snippets of the interview for you (you're welcome), and Hocutt was quite candid in his responses to Sedano. The most important thing he said? Miami has no intention of leaving the ACC.
Asked if he would entertain an offer to join another conference
"No. No. The Atlantic Coast Conference is our home, Jorge, it makes all the sense in the world for us. We focus each and every day on hoisting that ACC championship and positioning us to compete for national championships. The ACC is our home and that's where we're going to be. We're excited about the future growth."
On the conference as a whole
"What we in the ACC are missing is that team, at the top, competing for the national championship. Once we in the ACC get that back, then you can look at the rest of the Top 25 and see that the other four or five teams there and say this is a very, very strong football conference. We just need the University of Miami to get back up there in BCS contention and trust me, we -- all of us -- but especially the 100 young men on our team and [coach] Randy Shannon are working hard on that every day."
On expansion
"All I would say is that -- in our commissioner, John Swofford, we have one of the most respected men in all of intercollegiate athletics and he definitely has his pulse on what's going on throughout the country. Of course we've discussed it -- we'd be remiss if we had not. We feel we have 12 great institutions associated with the Atlantic Coast Conference. We at the University of Miami strongly believe we're in the right home in the ACC. It fits our values and it's the right competitive conference for us. We'd be remiss if our head was in the sand and not having conversations and anticipating and talking about what options and where this all may lead us, but at this point in time, I don't think anybody truly knows what dominoes are going to continue to fall next."
On the idea of Miami and FSU in the SEC
"There are certain schools in the SEC that won't play us now, Jorge, so I don't know why they would be in a position to have to play us on a regular basis. They know the direction our program is on. We're going to return to that pinnacle of the intercollegiate athletic world. We're well on our way. I think the ACC provides a great platform for us."
Jorge followed up by chiding Hocutt about which schools in the SEC don't want to play Miami. Hocutt laughed.
"We may happen to be there playing them in baseball tonight," he said. "As for Florida football, we've expressed our desire. I think the Miami-Florida matchup in football is great. I had an opportunity my first year at Miami to go to Gainesville for a game and they're scheduled to come back here in 2013. We've expressed our interest to continue that series and rivalry, but unfortunately at this time, there's no interest on their end."
“If you're not a liberal at twenty you have no heart,
if you're not a conservative at forty you have no brain.”
Sir Winston Churchill
Speak little, do much!
Ben Franklin
Lynchburg Baptist College class of 1975
- By ECC29
- By flameshaw