New Miami Athletic Director Floats Idea of Forming Softball Program

Miami officially introduced new athletic director Dan Radakovich at a press conference on Tuesday, and it didn’t take long for the subject of softball to come up.

The Hurricanes are one of just two remaining ACC athletic departments that don’t sponsor a softball team. At his introductory presser, Radakovich addressed the topic directly.

Miami AD Dan Radakovich, on the possibility of adding softball, a huge sport here in South Florida, to the list of sports played at Miami: “It’s something we have to look at…”

— Christy Chirinos (@ChristyChirinos) December 14, 2021

While adding a softball program at Miami has been much-discussed in some athletic circles for some time, Radakovich is uniquely positioned to answer such a question. For the last near-decade, he served as athletic director at Clemson and shepherded the start of the Tigers’ softball program from day one. That project included hiring a coach, building a stadium, and marketing the program in its infancy, all of which Radakovich and Clemson accomplished to high acclaim.

Outside of softball, Radakovich has shown a penchant for giving attention to women’s athletics. Earlier this year, prior to his departure, Clemson announced the addition of both women’s lacrosse and gymnastics, bringing the total to four new women’s sports added to the Tigers’ varsity slate in recent years under his guidance.

Currently, Miami sponsors seven men’s sports – including football – and nine women’s sports. According to reports, the private university has seen a profit of more than $400 million over the last year thanks to the UM healthcare system.

South Florida is a hotbed for softball, but there are just three Division I softball programs south of Tampa, including Florida Gulf Coast in Fort Myers; Florida Atlantic in Boca Raton; and FIU in Miami.

The Sunshine State as a whole has seen tremendous success on the softball diamond. The two current in-state, Power Five programs – Florida and Florida State – have both experienced tremendous success in the sport. Florida was the first SEC softball program to win multiple national titles, accomplishing the feat in 2014 and ’15, while Florida State made history for the ACC with their first-ever national championship in 2018.

Hurricane softball isn’t happening yet, but the right guy is now at the helm to bring it to fruition.