MDC president makes her mark on athletics in first 5 years
As a basketball player in the late 1980s, Madeline Pumariega was a “dynamo.”
That’s according to Ramona Edwards, who was her teammate at Miami Dade College.
“[Pumariega] was an average player in terms of her skill, but her passion for the game made her a force,” Edwards said.
“She was 5-10 and maybe 110 pounds, but she was strong. We would play some girls that were 6-5 and 240 pounds. They thought they could push [Pumariega] around in the post, but they were wrong. She was tough and tenacious.”
Pumariega is still those things.
In November, Pumariega will mark five years as the president of MDC, the same school where she once played basketball.
Even in that relatively short amount of time, Pumariega has already done a lot for sports at MDC.
For example:
▪ Last year, she brought back the men’s soccer program that had been dormant for 36 years. MDC’s first season back came on the 45th anniversary of their first national championship in men’s soccer (1979). MDC also won a men’s soccer national title in 1983.
▪ Also last year, MDC had its first season in women’s soccer.
▪ In a lengthy phone interview with the Herald, Pumariega said she is open to adding more sports at MDC, mentioning beach volleyball and flag football as candidates.
▪ In 2022, MDC opened 14 pickleball courts for students, coaches and the community.
▪ In 2023, MDC spent $2.5 million to refurbish the baseball field at MDC’s North Campus, which is now available to the community and getting plenty of use from high school teams. Prior to Pumariega, Demie Mainieri Field had been dormant for 28 years. Now there are new lights, grass, dugouts, scoreboard, irrigation system and batting cages.
▪ Also in 2023, Pumariega hired Mike Balado as athletic director. Balado, the former head basketball coach at Arkansas State and an assistant at Louisville, helped MDC secure a five-year, $2.2 million deal with adidas.
▪ Miami’s Freedom Tower, which is operated by MDC, will host a soccer (FIFA) exhibit that is set to open in October. This is the 100th-year anniversary of the Freedom Tower.
MDC men’s soccer coach Giuseppe DePalo, who led the Sharks to a 13-5-2 record and a berth in the Sweet 16 of last year’s national junior college playoffs, said he’s grateful to Pumariega.
“She has an incredible vision for MDC,” DePalo said. “Under her, our Kendall Campus has been transformed. There’s a new soccer stadium, a new practice facility, new locker rooms …
“The investment has been amazing. We’re fortunate to have her leading the way.”
Pumariega, who was raised in Hialeah by her Cuban-born parents, said adding soccer was a natural fit.
“Soccer in Miami is at a fever pitch right now with Inter and Lionel Messi,” Pumariega said. “It’s a sport we should naturally offer, but to bring it back at this time makes it even more special, and then launching women’s soccer has added to the excitement.”
Pumariega was thrilled that many players and coaches from the 1979 and 1983 soccer championship teams returned to MDC for last year’s opener.
“I loved celebrating them and bringing them back so they could feel that MDC pride again,” Pumariega said. “It’s great to see South Florida embracing soccer.”
As for the potential of adding more sports, Pumariega said she likes that beach volleyball and flag football are both spring sports. As it stands, MDC’s only spring sports are baseball and softball.
In addition, the NFL is offering financial incentives to colleges that add flag football, which could make adding that sport even more appealing.
Beach volleyball is appealing because the Sharks have a Hall of Fame indoor volleyball coach in Kiko Benoit, and that’s a good place to start.
For beach volleyball, MDC would need to build on-campus sand courts. But, after that initial investment, MDC could actually make money by renting out the facility to club and/or high school teams looking for a place to play/practice.
In addition, some of MDC’s indoor volleyball players would likely play beach, so there would be no need to bring in an entirely new roster.
Either way it goes — beach volleyball or flag football — it would be a positive in a variety of ways.
“Sports bring people together, including students from other campuses,” Pumariega said. “We have even started cookout prior to games.
“Adding sports also means new scholarships to bring in students who might otherwise never attend MDC.”
But as great as sports are for a college campus, Pumariega is not inclined to take MDC down the path of becoming an NCAA Division I program.
“We are a community college, and we’re exactly where we need to be,” Pumariega said. “I don’t see us ever going to Division I, where NIL without any parameters will probably be to the detriment of a lot of sports programs.
“I rather we remain in a space where we compete and make a difference. We provide students like I once was to come here and further our athletic careers but also focus on academics and become successful in life.”
This story was originally published August 31, 2025 at 9:49 AM.