Originally posted by Eddie Schorr
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Steve Cady arena is special. It has EVERY bell and whistle a player could want. It is a new and elite facility - with a great atmosphere when they're winning. Yost Ice Arena is special because it's Michigan's arena. Put it on most other campuses and it's simply a neat place to watch a game. Similar to what Hobey Baker rink is today - cool, but HARDLY a recruiting tool.
As far as academics go - Miami will never rate highly on those lists due to ranking criteria. Though, when I was in school and they tried to compete they were a top-15/20 public school in America. Since, they focus heavily on undergraduate education - which means few of the masters programs and research opportunities (as well as relatively smaller endowment) that feed those lists. Still, I would think undergraduate emphasis would be pretty important to undergraduate hockey players...
http://www.miamioh.edu/news/top-stories/2014/09/us-news.html
Additionally Miami is in and out of the top-10 (among college hockey schools) business schools (and top-50 overall) and as noted in the article above a top-30 undergrad engineering program.
https://www.collegechoice.net/rankings/top-undergraduate-business-schools/
A lot of Miami's undergrad programs are very highly regarded - but those two stand out in college hockey player terms and I don't have the time to look up every one. Outside of the Ivy schools there isn't much Miami (a Public Ivy) can't offer that any other school in college hockey can offer academically that Miami doesn't.
A lot of the 'better' schools are the giant schools where one could just as easily get lost as excel (especially as an athlete) or the small specialty/liberal arts schools in the Northeast. Miami academics easily compete with those schools regardless of what those schools tell you. Especially when considering academic benefit often comes down to the student themselves...
As for the athletic department itself - your description is not unfounded in general, but it is irrelevant when it comes to hockey. Yes, Miami currently has a bad football team, but it's hardly effected hockey. At the time Rico signed his new deal it made him the highest paid coach on campus. The team plays in a state of the art, new and beautiful arena. The staff is paid well. The team is outfitted and supported by a large budget. Miami hockey is not hindered by its football team. If anyone is it's the bball teams...
All of this misunderstanding of Miami and its hockey program only underscores the need for elite recruiters who aggressively make aware and sell top recruits. Miami may not be the best at anything - but it has EVERYTHING!
The recruiters simply aren't getting the job done. It may be one of the more difficult jobs in the NCHC due to its isolated location and it's under-reported strentgths - but if the work is done correctly it's easy one of the jobs with the biggest payoff.
I'd be hard pressed to understand how a kid would visit Miami and, afterward, even consider one of the other NCHC schools aside from Denver which is extremely similar (current hockey success aside). Anyone who would argue that probably hasn't been to visit Miami - which probably represents Miami's biggest hurdle getting kids to travel to Oxford for a visit. Bergeron and Blashill made that happen. Good recruiters can make that happen again and if they do Miami will be back. Whether that's with Rico still here or not...
It's not a coincidence that Miami began to lose ground to OSU when they lost their elite recruiters and OSU gained a recruiting head coach (and added Miller) or that BG rose to WCHA prominence when they hired one of Miami's old recruiters...
The recruiters at Miami have been the difference. Period. The school is the package. Selling it has been the problem. The last few years have been recruiting malpractice, quite frankly...
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Oh and not that a college hockey player should make their decision based on something like this, but (and there are 100s of articles just like this one on the web)...
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.thrillist.com/amphtml/travel/nation/colleges-with-the-most-attractive-girls
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