Parseghian’s 1955 unbeaten season
A 9-0 year and Tangerine Bowl, the on-field flower of the coaching dynasty
Program prestige
Zeitgeist statureRegional Program IProgram outlook
Program outlook
Paul Brown went to college in Oxford, Ohio. So did Woody Hayes, Ara Parseghian, and Bo Schembechler. The Cradle of Coaches produced the men who built the sport — and the program they came from has now been to three straight MAC Championship Games and lost all three.
Since Oct 11: W 34-14 vs Akron; W 28-27 at Central Michigan; L 31-34 vs Buffalo. 5-4 this season.
Read the full essay — 4 more paragraphs
Miami University's contribution to football runs deeper than its conference record. Paul Brown went to Oxford and became the architect of modern pro football — the draft, the playbook, the practice structure. Woody Hayes went to Oxford and built Ohio State. Ara Parseghian went to Oxford and won Notre Dame national championships. Bo Schembechler went to Oxford and defined Michigan for two decades. No program of Miami's size has produced that concentration of coaching influence, and the program's identity — 'Love and Honor,' the Victory Bell, the Cradle of Coaches plaza — rests on a heritage that belongs to all of college football, not just the MAC.
The present-tense arc is Chuck Martin's run at the MAC title. Martin has the RedHawks in three straight championship games and has lost all three — including a 23-13 loss to Western Michigan in 2025, followed by an 18-3 bowl loss to Fresno State. The fanbase carries that ache with a specific mixture of pride and frustration: pride that the program is good enough to be there, frustration that the game that would hang hardware next to the Cradle of Coaches statues keeps ending just short. Martin returns for 2026. The roster returns largely intact. The MAC Championship Game will be there again.
The 2026 question is specific: what does Miami do differently on Championship Saturday? The program's roster quality is not the gap — three title game appearances in three years is not an accident. The question is whether the fourth trip produces the result the other three didn't, and whether the Cradle of Coaches name gets hardware added to its legacy in Martin's era.
Miami is 3-3 and 1-1 in the MAC. Its conference opener was a 24-20 home loss to Bowling Green on October 3 as 10.5-point favorites. It beat UMass 20-19 on October 10.
On the field
Disciplined, fundamentals-first MAC football — the kind of program you'd expect from the school that trained the sport's great teaching coaches. Miami runs physical, gap-sound football on defense and a balanced offensive attack that doesn't ask the scheme to carry the roster. Martin's teams are consistent at winning regular-season games through execution and lose fewer games than they should on talent alone. The gap has shown up on championship Saturdays.
Miami (OH) has won 54% of its games since 1904 — 64% at home, 47% on the road.
432-348-18 all-time · 96 seasons · 1904–2026
Home
211-109-11
Away
209-227-7
Neutral
12-12
2 g
1900s
3 g
1910s
3 g
1920s
5 g
1930s
29%
1940s
67%
1950s
67%
1960s
74%
1970s
46%
1980s
59%
1990s
48%
2000s
38%
2010s
59%
2020s
The CFP era
13 seasons inside the CFP era, no bids yet — the era the program is still trying to break into.
Trajectory · quality-score line · AP rank dotted · CFP bids marked · coach regimes ribboned
Program quality
AP rank (inverted)
CFP appearance
Swipe left for earlier seasons
Miami (OH)’s 2014–2026 record is 77-78.
Chuck Martin
Chuck Martin is in year 13, longer than most head coaches stay at one school.
Era Chuck Martin · 2014–presentPrev: Mike Bath (2013)OC: Gus RaglandPrev OC: Pat Welsh (2023–2025)DC: Bill BrechinPrev DC: John Hauser (co) / Spence Nowinsky (co) (2018–2021)
13
years · era
Miami (OH) and Cincinnati, meeting by meeting
Cincinnati leads the series 36-34-1 (since 1954); in the last 10 meetings, Miami (OH) is 1-9
2026: Cincinnati won 35-31. After this game, Cincinnati led 36-34-1.
Last 25 meetings: ▲ Miami (OH) won, ▼ Cincinnati won, by how much
Each step is one meeting: up when Miami (OH) wins, down when Cincinnati wins, flat for a tie. Counts every game in our records since 1954. Tap the line for any season.
Moments in Miami (OH) history
- Miami (OH) 31, Cincinnati 24Sep 16, 2023
- Miami (OH) 23, Toledo 14MAC Championship · Dec 2, 2023
- Bowling Green 37, Miami (OH) 29Oct 7, 2017
On this date, Nov 4, 2025: Ohio 24, Miami (OH) 20
What this program never forgets
Most weeks vanish. These didn’t.
Roethlisberger’s 2003 MAC title
A 13-1 season behind the program's signature QB
The 2025 MAC title game loss
A third straight Championship Game ends 23-13 short against Western Michigan
Heartbreak
Moment of the year · 2026
Won 45-7 vs Holy Cross
Week 2 of 2026. A statement margin. Recruiting boards re-rendered overnight.
2022–2026
Miami (OH) has sent 2 players to the NFL Draft since 2022 — none in the first round.
Thin. Roster development still maturing.
2
picks · 0 in round 1
#174
Dominique Robinson
Outside Linebacker · 2022 · 
Chicago Bears · #293/370 final season
Chicago Bears · #293/370 final season
#227
Jackson Kuwatch
Linebacker · 2026 · 
Carolina Panthers · #58/583 final season
Carolina Panthers · #58/583 final season
#102 all-time · 2 first-round picksthe talent factory →
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Ladder finish
Season standing · 2026 · 5-4
Season standing · 2026 · 5-4Miami (OH) is 5-4 — competitive, unranked, not yet bowl-eligible.
Competitive in FBS but not bowl-eligible — the close-loss tier.
FBS competitive
Sub-FBSBuildingBowlRankedContenderPlayoff
Conference
Mid-American standing · 2026
6th in the Mid-American
Miami (OH) sits 6th of 13 in the Mid-American at 3-2. Mid-conference — moves up or down depend on rivalry results and the late-season closing run.
| # | Program | Record |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ohio | 5-0 |
| 2 | Buffalo | 4-1 |
| 3 | Western Michigan | 4-1 |
| 4 | Toledo | 3-1 |
| 5 | Eastern Michigan | 3-2 |
| 6 | Miami (OH) | 3-2 |
| 7 | Ball State | 2-2 |
| 8 | Bowling Green | 2-3 |
| 9 | Kent State | 2-3 |
| 10 | Central Michigan | 1-3 |
| 11 | Massachusetts | 1-3 |
| 12 | Sacramento State | 1-5 |
| 13 | Akron | 0-5 |
Coaching history
Coaching history
- Hired Chuck Martin
- Hired Mike Bath
- Don Treadwell departs
- Mike Bath departs
- Hired Don Treadwell
- Hired Lance Guidry
- Michael Haywood departs
- Lance Guidry departs
Coordinator lineage
Miami (OH)’s offense and defense, by coordinator
FBS-relative efficiency percentile per season (2014–2026), same population as the Coordinator Mirror board. Dashed vertical lines mark a coordinator change.
Offense2014–2026
2014–2020 · Eric Koehler (co) / George Barnett (co)2021–2022 · Eric Koehler2023–2025 · Pat Welsh2026 · Gus Ragland
Defense2014–2026
2014–2015 · Matt Pawlowski (co)2016–2017 · John Hauser (co) / Matt Pawlowski (co)2018–2021 · John Hauser (co) / Spence Nowinsky (co)2022–2026 · Bill Brechin
Elite (≥70th pct)AveragePoor (≤30th pct)
Gameday customs
Rituals
Three gameday rituals — the ones outsiders never quite catch.
Cradle of Coaches Lineage
since 1928
more
Miami (OH)'s 'Cradle of Coaches' identity — the coaching lineage that produced Paul Brown (Browns + Bengals), Woody Hayes (Ohio State + Big Ten), Ara Parseghian (Notre Dame + 2 national titles), Bo Schembechler (Michigan + 13 Big Ten titles), Carmen Cozza (Yale), John Pont (Yale + Northwestern), Sid Gillman (Chargers + Hall of Fame), and others — is one of CFB's most-storied historical anchors. Most coaching-tree lineage in CFB history.
Victory Bell (vs Cincinnati)
since 1888 · trophy game
more
Miami (OH)-Cincinnati plays for the Victory Bell — the oldest non-Ivy League rivalry in CFB at 130+ meetings since 1888. The bell trophy's annual home depends on the outcome. The In-State Ohio Battle of Southwest Ohio is the structural conference fixture across MAC era + Cincinnati's Big 12 entry.
Love and Honor (Alma Mater)
since 1908
more
'Love and Honor' — Miami's alma mater (composed 1908) — is sung after every game by both fans and players, win or lose. The tradition of singing alma mater post-game is universal in CFB, but the Love and Honor lyrics + the post-game ritual are uniquely Miami (OH). The tradition + the Cradle of Coaches legacy anchor program identity.
Cultural identity
2025 L
2023 L
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