Miami Hurricanes Football and Florida State Basketball: The Latest Examples of College Sports’ Systemic Issues

The world of college sports is a vibrant and powerful ecosystem, filled with the dreams of student-athletes, passionate fans, and huge financial interests. However, recent events involving top-tier programs like the Miami Hurricanes football team and the Florida State Seminoles basketball team have exposed a growing issue: the increasing imbalance between the commercialized success of college sports and the actual experiences of the student-athletes who are at the heart of the system. These examples illustrate some of the larger problems that plague college athletics today, where profit motives, inconsistent leadership, and exploitation of players have overshadowed the supposed “amateurism” that the NCAA once claimed to uphold.

Miami Hurricanes Football: A Shocking Fall From Grace

The Miami Hurricanes football program is often considered one of the premier college football programs of all time. Their dominance in the 1980s and 2000s — including five national championships and a reputation for producing NFL-caliber players — solidified their place in college football history. Yet, in recent years, the program has fallen into disarray, and the cause is not just poor on-field performance, but a deeper issue rooted in the university’s approach to the modern college football landscape.

Financial Chaos and Mismanagement

One of the major issues plaguing Miami football has been the program’s financial instability. Despite being located in one of the most marketable and lucrative cities in the United States, the Hurricanes have struggled to maintain the level of funding that their success would demand. According to recent reports, the Miami football program has been plagued by poor investments, underwhelming sponsorship deals, and inefficient management of its facilities. Unlike many of its SEC and Big Ten counterparts, Miami has failed to invest significantly in the infrastructure that supports its team. The school has not updated its facilities in the same way that other top programs have, leaving players and coaches with outdated amenities that do little to attract top recruits.

Additionally, the Hurricanes have struggled with recruiting, which can be directly linked to their financial troubles. Miami’s inability to offer high-quality facilities or NIL opportunities at the same scale as other programs has resulted in the team being outbid for top prospects. This financial strain has created a downward spiral, where underperformance on the field leads to fewer sponsorships, fewer game-day revenues, and ultimately a weaker product that fails to generate the kind of return it once did. The result is a football program that seems more like an afterthought for the school and its administration.

The Pressure on Coaches and Players

The Hurricanes’ football team has been caught in a similar bind to many other programs that are facing pressure to perform in the age of NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness) and conference realignment. The financial realities of the new college football world are significantly different from the pre-NIL days when schools like Miami could rely on tradition and talent to attract recruits.

Miami’s coaching carousel has further exacerbated the problem. The program’s inability to maintain a stable, long-term coaching strategy has created an environment where consistency is lacking, and player development suffers. High turnover in the head coach position, paired with constant changes in staff, has left the program in a constant state of flux. Coaches are often hired for short-term goals, and as a result, their long-term vision is rarely implemented.

In addition, there’s been a concerning trend of recruiting top-tier athletes who are enticed by NIL deals and promises of financial gain but end up in a system that doesn’t support their growth as athletes or people. In many cases, players are left to navigate a broken system where their academic careers are often an afterthought, and their on-field performance is the only thing that matters.

The NIL Dilemma

The recent explosion of NIL deals has further complicated matters for programs like Miami. While NIL has opened new financial opportunities for student-athletes, it has also created a new layer of complexity. Miami, with its location in a large metropolitan city, should theoretically be in a prime position to attract big-money deals for its players. However, it’s been outbid by bigger schools with more lucrative sponsorship opportunities and more aggressive NIL programs. Schools like Alabama, Texas, and USC have been able to offer players significantly more money in NIL deals, further eroding Miami’s competitive edge.

This issue isn’t unique to Miami, but it underscores the broader problem that the NCAA has failed to address: how to balance the power of NIL with the interests of the programs and athletes that are the heart of the college sports ecosystem. As long as programs are allowed to operate in a system where NIL deals are not regulated or distributed equitably, teams like Miami will continue to be left behind.

Florida State Basketball: A System in Crisis

If Miami’s football woes illustrate the financial instability and systemic issues within college sports, Florida State’s struggles with its basketball program represent a more pressing issue: the lack of competitive fairness in college basketball and the decline of programs that once were powerhouses.

Declining Program Success and NCAA Tournament Exclusion

Florida State basketball, once a consistent contender in the NCAA tournament under head coach Leonard Hamilton, has faced a number of challenges that have brought the program to its knees. The Seminoles’ decline over the past few seasons, culminating in their exclusion from the NCAA Tournament, points to several larger issues within college basketball.

Like Miami, Florida State’s struggles can be traced back to issues with funding and infrastructure. Despite being part of the ACC, one of the most competitive conferences in college basketball, Florida State has fallen behind its peers when it comes to investing in its basketball facilities, recruiting resources, and NIL opportunities. Compounding this is the fact that the Seminoles have struggled to retain top talent in an environment that is increasingly influenced by external factors, such as transfers and the lure of NIL money.

While Florida State had a period of success during the mid-2010s, where they made deep tournament runs and were considered one of the top teams in the ACC, the cracks began to show when the NCAA’s decision to allow players to transfer freely began to erode Florida State’s recruiting base. Once a team known for developing players into NBA prospects, FSU now struggles to compete with the likes of Duke, North Carolina, and Virginia, all of which have access to more robust recruiting pipelines and better financial backing.

The NCAA Tournament: A System of Inconsistency

One of the most glaring issues in college basketball is the inconsistent nature of the NCAA Tournament selection process. Florida State’s exclusion from the tournament despite being a historically strong program raises questions about how teams are evaluated and why certain programs are consistently left out while others are given more chances based on historical reputation alone.

The NCAA’s selection process has been criticized for its lack of transparency and consistency. Many argue that the tournament committee’s decisions often favor “blue blood” programs, regardless of their actual performance that season. This means that teams like Florida State, which may have had a less-than-perfect regular season, could still be shut out of the tournament simply because their reputation or historical success was not enough to sway the committee.

The College Sports System: Broken and Unfair

The examples of Miami Hurricanes football and Florida State basketball are merely the latest in a growing list of schools that illustrate how the current college sports system is failing its athletes, coaches, and fans. Whether it’s the financial disparity between programs, the destabilizing effect of the transfer portal and NIL, or the inconsistent treatment of teams within established conferences, it’s clear that something has to change.

The NCAA has long stood at the center of these issues, with its failure to adapt to the realities of modern college sports becoming more apparent with each passing year. The power of big-money programs continues to grow, while schools like Miami and Florida State are left to scramble for resources. Meanwhile, student-athletes are caught in a system that continues to exploit their talent without providing the necessary support to ensure their long-term success.

Miami’s football struggles and Florida State’s basketball misfortunes highlight the broader issues plaguing college sports today. From financial instability to the unregulated explosion of NIL deals, these programs are just the latest victims of a broken system. As the NCAA grapples with how to fix these issues, it’s clear that change is necessary. College sports need to be restructured in a way that provides a level playing field for all programs and ensures that the athletes who are at the heart of the system are treated fairly. Until this happens, the future of college athletics will remain uncertain, with programs like Miami and Florida State continuing to fall through the cracks.