The Miami Hurricanes are back atop the college football rankings for the first time since 2002, but university president Joe Echevarria is already thinking about where the program belongs in the years ahead.
Miami is 6-0 under Mario Cristobal and ranked No. 1 in the AP Top 25. Its position in the ACC, however, is drawing questions even as the Hurricanes compete for a national championship.
And Echevarria isn’t hiding his concerns over the conference’s financial standing compared with the SEC and Big Ten.
Miami President Addresses Hurricanes’ Future in the ACC
In an Oct. 22 interview with Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger, Echevarria spoke openly about the possibility of Miami eventually moving on from the ACC as the gap between conferences continues to grow.
The Miami president said the university values its ACC membership but believes its television revenue and influence in shaping college football’s future don’t match what the Hurricanes bring to the table.
Echevarria pointed to the financial advantage enjoyed by SEC and Big Ten programs, arguing that Miami made as much money under the ACC’s revenue-sharing arrangement last season as schools with different levels of football investment and performance.
Miami joined the ACC in 2004, when the money and power surrounding college football looked considerably different.
The two conferences currently distribute an average of $25 million more per school than the ACC, according to Dellenger. That gap could widen further when their next television deals are negotiated around 2030. The ACC’s ESPN agreement runs through 2036.
Echevarria also questioned why the SEC and Big Ten have greater control over College Football Playoff decisions despite Miami’s recent success.
“You cannot lock us into a conference,” Echevarria told Dellenger.
Echevarria is closely involved with the football program’s spending, too. Dellenger reported that he and executive vice president Rudy Fernandez discuss roster costs and operations with athletics officials daily.
Miami Hurricanes Exploring Options Beyond ACC Membership
Dellenger reported that Miami has explored the possibility of football independence, potentially involving media partners such as Amazon. Echevarria did not confirm those discussions, though he expressed confidence that Miami’s national brand could support an independent football program.
Such a move would present scheduling challenges for the university’s other sports, making it far from a straightforward solution.
Part of the urgency involves the proposed Protect College Sports Act. A provision would limit power conferences to 20 members and require schools switching between them to spend three years as independents.
Miami joined Florida State, Clemson and North Carolina in asking congressional leaders to raise that cap to 22 and eliminate the waiting period. The Senate has passed the legislation, but the House has not yet approved it.
Echevarria also discussed the potential appeal of both major conferences. Miami’s status as an Association of American Universities research institution would fit the Big Ten’s academic makeup, while its location makes the SEC a more natural geographic destination.
“As an AAU research institution, we line up with the Big Ten’s profile,” he says. “We have an exceptionally strong profile that compares favorably with leading research institutions across the country. On the geography idea, we line up better with the SEC.”
Neither conference has announced plans to add Miami, and Echevarria stopped short of saying the Hurricanes will leave the ACC.
But he made clear that the university wants to keep competing at college football’s highest level. With the ACC’s television deal running through 2036 and the financial gap widening, Echevarria closed his conversation with Dellenger with a pointed statement about the school’s ambitions.
“If you’re not going to be great at something,” he said, “you shouldn’t be in it.”
Miami Hurricanes Send Strong Message About Leaving ACC For Big Ten, SEC