Miami Hurricanes dream team complete: Clemson’s Dan Radakovich is new athletic director
The University of Miami athletic department secured the second half of its dream team.
Two days after introducing Mario Cristobal as its new football coach, the school announced Thursday that it hired highly regarded Clemson athletic director Dan Radakovich, 63, to take over the Hurricanes athletic department.
His new title: vice president and director of athletics.
President Julio Frenk announced that Radakovich will report directly to Frenk and serve as a member of his senior leadership team.
“I am so grateful to President Frenk and the University’s Board of Trustees for this incredible opportunity,” said Radakovich in a UM release. “Their commitment to Miami Athletics’ comprehensive pursuit of excellence and championships is what brought me back to Miami. As a unified Hurricane family— students, alumni, donors, and fans — there is nothing that we cannot accomplish. We are going to set the bar high and jump over it.”
Said Frenk: “This is a significant moment for the future of athletics at the University of Miami, Dan is one of the most highly regarded athletics directors in the country. He knows Miami well, from his time at the U and at Clemson, an ACC peer. His proven success, and the success that Dan has helped enable for student-athletes in the classroom and in competition, is reflective of our values. He has the experience, the relationships, and the passion it takes to ignite and sustain excellence—the very core of our bold vision for the future of Hurricanes Athletics.”
Like Cristobal, Radakovich is a UM alum. He earned his MBA at Miami in 1982 and spent the first two years of his career as a business manager in the UM athletic department from 1983 to 1985 under then-AD Sam Jankovich.
Radakovich served as athletic director at Clemson since 2012. Under his leadership the Tigers program doubled their budget, spent $200 million on facilities and the football team played in four national title games, winning in 2016 and 2018.
He reportedly earned $1.3 million this year, and according to a source, Miami’s package is worth close to $2 million annually, including incentives, which would make Radakovich among the highest-paid athletic directors in the country.
Cristobal and Radakovich met on Zoom on Wednesday so they could get comfortable with each other, a source said.
Radakovich replaces Blake James, who was let go last month, two days after UM lost to rival FSU.
Radakovic checks all the boxes UM was looking for in a new athletic director.
“There is a unique opportunity at Miami, with the tremendous changes happening across our city and South Florida, to build something truly special,” said David Epstein, chair of the athletics committee of the Board of Trustees, in the release. “We sought out a proven leader who is aspirational, entrepreneurial, and visionary, and who will build a world-class athletics program at the U. Dan is that leader. His hire, and the extraordinary hire of Mario Cristobal as our next football head coach, puts Miami on a trajectory unmatched by any athletics program in the country.”
Frenk thanked deputy director of athletics Jennifer Strawley, who has led UM athletics as the interim director since the departure of James “for her unflinching leadership of our athletics department during this period of transition.’’
“Jenn is a valued member of our Hurricanes family, and I am grateful that she will continue to serve as a member of our athletics leadership team, working closely with Dan, as we build for the future,’’ Frenk said. “She shares our commitment to relentlessly pursuing championships, while developing our student-athletes into focused competitors and leaders.”
Said Strawley: “I am truly excited to welcome Dan to Miami. I have had the opportunity to work closely with Dan at the conference level and to see firsthand his visionary leadership, championship mentality, and commitment to the holistic development of student-athletes. This is a tremendous moment for our student-athletes, coaches, and staff, and I look forward to working with Dan as we build the next great era in Miami Athletics.”
Championships
Radakovich helps win championships. In addition to the two football national titles, the Tigers won six straight ACC titles and went to the College Football Playoffs six years in a row. The men’s soccer team won the 2020 ACC championship. The softball team won the ACC regular season in 2021, the women’s soccer team made eight consecutive NCAA tournament appearances and the men’s basketball team made two NCAA tournaments.
He knows the ACC. Before taking the Clemson job he was the athletic director at Georgia Tech from 2006 to 2012, so he has been working in the conference for the past 15 years.
He cares about academics. The Clemson athletic department set a school record for the highest score in the NCAA’s graduation success rate at 93 percent in 2020. Clemson has been at 91 percent or higher for seven straight years.
He is a tireless worker. Radakovich grew up in Monaca, Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh, and his father and most of his relatives were steel mill workers. He worked a few summers in the steel mills during his college years at University of Indiana at Pennsylvania, where he earned a finance degree and played football.
In short, Radakovich is an experienced leader with an impeccable reputation who will bring stability to the department.
‘Top-notch’
“He’s just a first-class, top-notch AD…he’s got a great big picture of what universities need in athletic departments because he’s been doing it so long,” said Clemson basketball coach Brad Brownell, whose team played against UM last week. “He doesn’t micromanage his coaches. He lets you do your job and asks how he can help.”
UM basketball coach Jim Larranaga, upon learning Radakovich was a candidate for the job, started doing research.
“Everybody I have spoken to that knows Dan raves about him,” Larranaga said.
“[UM Board of Trustees member] Paul DiMare raved about the job he did at Georgia Tech and then repeated at Clemson. I spoke to Craig Littlepage, who was the AD at Virginia, who knows Dan very well and he raved. I spoke to [WQAM radio announcer] Joe Zagacki, who has known Dan since 1982, and he raved. He is a heck of a businessman with tremendous experience.”
Added UM track and field head coach and 2012 Olympic women’s track and field coach Amy Deem: “Dan Radakovich has been a proven success everywhere he’s been. He is respected across the country and I look forward to his leadership and what he’ll do to enhance the lives of our student-athletes.’’
Since leaving UM in 1985, Radakovich worked at Long Beach State, South Carolina, LSU, American University and Georgia Tech.
In 2012 he was one of 10 directors named to the NCAA’s advisory commission and in 2014 he was named to the College Football Playoff committee.
Radakovich and his wife Marcie have two sons. Christian is a 2012 Georgia Tech graduate and Grant is a 2015 Mercer graduate who was a tight end on Clemson’s 2016 national championship football team.
This story was originally published December 9, 2021 at 11:06 AM.