2011 Miami Redhawks Football Preview

It was a turnaround for the ages in one of college football’s most history-laden cradles. Miami University is known for turning out great coaches, some of the best men to ever stroll along a sideline. Red Blaik coached at Miami. Paul Brown did, too. So did Woody and Bo, Bill Arnsparger and Weeb Ewbank, Sid Gillman and Ara Parseghian. Jim Tressel spent some time at this Mid-American Conference program. So did John Harbaugh and a Super Bowl-winning coach named Sean Payton. This is a place where quality coaches emerge, and so it was that in 2010 – before a profoundly dark and disturbing off-field incident – Michael Haywood joined the pantheon of pigskin elites in Oxford, Ohio.

After posting a 1-11 record just a year prior, the Miami Redhawks won an astounding 10 games in 2010, including a heart-lifting victory in the GoDaddy.Com Bowl, mere days after Haywood left for another head coaching vacancy in Pittsburgh. (Less than three weeks later, Haywood had to step down from his post in the Steel City because of a domestic assault charge. That cast a black cloud over Haywood’s life, but it did nothing to diminish what his former team had just accomplished in such a short period of time.)

It was a season to remember at Miami University. Moreover, it wasn’t as if the Redhawks didn’t have their fair share of tribulation. Zach Dysert started the first 10 games at quarterback last season, before a lacerated spleen ended his season prematurely. In his absence, back-up Austin Boucher finished the season a perfect 4-0, including a victory over Northern Illinois in the MAC Championship Game and the aforementioned win in the postseason, which came against Middle Tennessee. The MAC title game was the centerpiece of the team’s season, though. Miami was a double-digit underdog against a powerful Northern Illinois squad, but the Redhawks’ defense was lights-out, bottling up the Huskies’ receivers while also filling running lanes to prevent big plays on the ground. An improbable pair of late-game pass receptions enabled Miami to score a touchdown in the final minute and stun Northern Illinois for a conference crown that will linger for a long time in the public memory.

Now, though, the euphoria has worn off, and new head coach Don Treadwell – a former assistant at Michigan State under Mark Dantonio – will need to find which quarterback gives his team the best chance to win.

The Redhawks certainly weren’t dominating their opponents in 2010; six of their 10 wins were by a touchdown or less. However, Haywood regularly coaxed just enough out of his team to make it stand up. This year, Miami returns a plethora of starters, 17 in total, and may very well be ready to maintain its elevated place as a program within the confines of the MAC. The Redhawks open with back-to-back road contests against BCS foes as they face Missouri and Minnesota to begin the season. Cincinnati comes to town in week four; Army the next week. The Redhawks will travel to Temple and Ohio during November.

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