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When the Mid-American Conference announced this week that Miami University had won both the 2024-25 Reese Trophy (honoring the top men's program in the conference) and the 2024-25 Jacoby Trophy (recognizing the MAC's top women's program), it officially capped what will be remembered as one of the greatest years in Miami Athletics history.
 
The Red and White claimed 10 titles over the past academic year, marking the most Miami has ever won in a single year. Field hockey, softball and baseball won the MAC regular-season and tournament titles, while tennis and football earned regular-season crowns. Men's swimming and diving captured the Missouri Valley championship, and the collegiate synchronized skating team brought home another national title.
 
"I think these trophies are symbolic of what President Crawford expects our athletic department to produce, which is championships and competitive programs across the board," said director of athletics David Sayler. "We're really committed to that here at Miami."
 
Miami had last won the Reese Trophy in 2021 and hadn't claimed the Jacoby since 2019, when the RedHawks also won both awards. That was part of an unprecedented run for Miami Athletics, which in 2021 became the first program in Mid-American Conference history to win the Dr. Carol A. Cartwright Award (for excellence in academics, athletics and citizenship) three straight times.
 
"We were really rolling in 2018-2019 and had the attention of the rest of the MAC…one of the best years Miami Athletics had ever had, and then we hit 2020 and COVID shut everything down," Sayler recalled.
 
"That really slowed our momentum. It just changed everything, in the sense that it became less about the winning and more about having student-athletes be safe. 'Can we get the games in? Can we even have a season?' I think that took away some of our focus."
 
Now, after a several-year climb (including finishing third for the Reese Trophy and fifth in the Jacoby scoring last year), Miami finds itself in 2024-25 not only back on top of both the conference's all-sport men's and women's standings, but making all-time history across a variety of sports.
 
The statistics are staggering:
 
Miami football has won 20 games over the past two seasons combined and been bowl-eligible in eight of the last nine seasons, including a MAC-best 49-18 mark since 2016. Head coach Chuck Martin, Sayler's first coaching hire at Miami, is now the winningest coach in program history with 65 victories at the helm.
 
Miami's men's and women's basketball teams combined to post 44 victories, the most ever between the programs, and the men set a new record with 25 wins in a season. Both teams advanced to the conference tournament in Cleveland together for the first time since 2018, and when Travis Steele led the men to the final game, it made Miami one of only three FBS schools to play in the conference championship games for both football and men's basketball this season (Boise State and Jacksonville State).
 
The RedHawk baseball and softball teams both won regular-season titles in the same year for the first time ever, doing so under some of the newest additions to the Miami coaching staff (MAC Coach of the Year Brian Smiley – second season, MAC Co-Coach of the Year Mandy Gardner-Colegate – first season). Miami baseball had its most conference wins ever (a noteworthy accomplishment for a proud program that owns 110 years of history), and softball joined field hockey in winning an NCAA Tournament game for the fourth year in a row. Golf won its first tournament under coach JD Fletcher, while soccer went undefeated at home for the first time this century. Tennis not only won the regular-season conference championship, but swept the inaugural MAC fall singles and doubles crowns as well.
 
In all, four Miami coaches were named conference Coach of the Year, including tennis coach Ricardo Rosas and first-year swimming and diving head coach Samantha Pitter. Pitter followed in her predecessor's footsteps to win Men's Coach of the Year as a female head coach while helping the RedHawk men win a fifth consecutive conference championship (a streak now spanning two conferences, the MAC and MVC).
 
In fact, the men's swim/dive program has won every conference championship possible for the past 1,910 days, a mind-blowing number. That is, unless you compare it to softball's streak, which is 2,211 days and going strong (that's four straight tournament crowns and six straight regular-season titles, if you're scoring at home).
 
But field hockey blows them both away, having won every MAC title available for a jaw-dropping 3,128 days in a row. Iñako Puzo's program has rattled off eight straight regular-season championships and seven conference tournament trophies in a row, setting a standard for success that few can equal across the country in any sport and thoroughly epitomizing Miami Athletics' mission of Graduating Champions.
 
"That saying is so simple, but it says everything that you need to know," Puzo said. "The expectations are very clear when you start working at Miami, and 'Graduating Champions' really emphasizes everything you have to be doing.
 
"You have to recruit good people and you have to be sure that they understand they come here to perform in the classroom and outside the classroom. That's a message you get from the top —from the Board of Trustees to President Crawford to David Sayler— and it goes down all the way to the players.
 
"To be aligned in the message is very important, and I think our department has done a good job of concentrating what we're looking for in two words. It's your job as a coach or student-athlete to understand the meaning of that and really push for it."
 
Sayler is proud of not only Miami's athletic success, but also the way the RedHawks have continued to perform in the classroom. This semester featured a 3.33 cumulative GPA for Miami student-athletes, marking the 41st semester in a row with a 3.0 or higher.
 
"I think 'Graduating Champions' works because it embodies exactly who we are," Sayler said. "We are graduating our student-athletes, we are preparing them for life and we're winning along the way.
 
"That's really what athletics is supposed to be at the intercollegiate level…I still believe in the mission of the student-athlete and what we produce here at Miami, and I think that comes through with our coaches and the culture they have created within our programs."
 
"David has helped create a culture of winning, and it starts with doing a great job of hiring really good head coaches," Steele said. "Getting high-functioning human beings that understand how to build culture, understand how to lead, engage and develop young people, and understand and embrace Miami University leads to great success.
 
"Now, when you look across the board, every sport is thriving or building, heading in the right direction. David has done an extraordinary job of getting coaches that know how to win."
 
Sayler said his model and template for hiring new coaches has involved studying the veterans on the department coaching staff who have proven the ability to win consistently (such as Martin and Puzo), and trying to match the traits that have made them successful.
 
"It's about wanting to hire really smart people who are driven, can solve problems, and have a relentless attitude that they're going to find a way and figure out how to be successful," Sayler said. "So we really set out to find coaches that are hungry, smart, honest…someone who's an authentic leader…
 
"I've learned so much from Chuck and Iñako, as I've watched them navigate the world they operate within. The landscape has changed, but with how smart and focused they are, they're going to get to where they need to be. I've watched them maneuver and make it work…they've had success here at Miami, and I've taken a lot of how they operate and how they function and tried to find other people that are going to be their authentic selves and deliver the same results…
 
"I think the softball program is emblematic of that. We've had three coaches and won six straight championships! That's more than just the coach coming in; that's a culture within the program that's been established.
 
"Our coaches have been able to do that here at Miami with our teams, and you can feel things starting to click. I've sensed it the last year or two, and that's where this year really manifested itself into a special season for us."
 
"There's no reason for Miami not to be successful when you're surrounded with such great people that are going to support you and so many amazing resources," said Puzo. "We have everything that we need and more."
 
He specifically credited the tone of a conversation with Sayler and sport administrator Jennie Gilbert after his team suffered an early conference loss this season for instilling the confidence the RedHawks needed going forward.
 
"Our backs were against the wall and from that moment on, we knew we could not fail," Puzo recalled. "I remember telling [Sayler and Gilbert] how disappointed we were and that it was going to be difficult [to rebound and win the conference].
 
"They just looked at me very relaxed and said, 'Don't worry, Iñako. You're going to make it happen again, like you do every year.' That statement is all you need, because you believe there's trust behind you and trust in your program. That helps you come back the next day and say, 'You know what? I'll take the challenge. We're not going to lose one more game.'…and I can tell you we would not have come away with two trophies this year without that."
 
Steele also highlighted the importance of the spirit of collaboration that permeates the entire athletic department staff regardless of sport —specifically among the coaches— and how that can't help but impact Miami's collective winning percentage. "I coach basketball, Iñako coaches field hockey: But it's the same thing. It may be a different sport, but he's building culture. He understands how to lead, how to recruit, and how to develop, so being able to pick somebody's brain of how they do something is a great opportunity for us all to learn from each other.
 
"We all lean on each other very heavily in that regard."
 
Sayler agreed. "I know it's really clicked when we have coaches' meetings and I watch the coaches interact with each other," he said. "They're staying after to talk to each other, they're visiting each other's practices and they're going to games to support each other.
 
"That's when I feel like things have really taken hold, where we all create the culture, but the coaches are really reinforcing it with each other. That's when you know you've got something special…
 
"I'm just so appreciative of all our coaches: Not just our head coaches, but our coaching staffs…I feel like with the coaches that we've had for a while, plus the group of new coaches, we've rebooted things a little bit to a place where we have some great potential to be good for years to come."
 
Puzo has a unique perspective on Miami Athletics' historic success in 2024-25 as both a member of the current coaching staff and also one of the newest inductees to Miami's renowned Cradle of Coaches Association.
 
"That's such an honor, but it creates a high level of responsibility: Not just in terms of winning the next trophy, which we're trying to do, but the responsibility to really be a good ambassador of what Miami University and Miami University Athletics is about," Puzo said. "This university and this department has a capacity to transform lives for good. They gave me the opportunity to belong to a place where I can succeed, and I want to pay that back…It's a combination of pride and a commitment to keep doing the right thing.
 
"For me to pay it back is not just to win one or two titles and say, 'My job here is done.' I'm going to keep working. Everyone around me knows I came here 14 years ago with the idea to stay. And today, I'm here with the idea to stay and keep bringing championships…
 
"Winning is difficult. It's not easy. It's important to highlight these moments; it's important for the department and the university to recognize and celebrate the Jacoby and Reese trophies. These moments are the result of a lot of work and commitment from a lot of people, and we shouldn't take them for granted. Every single team and every single result this year at Miami had an impact in that; every RedHawk program has a piece of that trophy."
 
"It's an honor to be here," Steele added. "You talk about the Cradle of Coaches, and you think of all the great coaches, players and teams Miami's had. David Sayler and President Crawford have done a great job with their leadership of being forward-thinking and continuing to put ourselves in a great position to have sustainable success.
 
"Today's landscape is not an easy to one to navigate at all, but quite honestly, I think we're positioned very well moving forward. I still think you can do it, especially here at Miami. We have a college experience here that you're not getting anywhere else, and then you get an elite education on top of that. And you get a chance to compete for championships.
 
"It doesn't get much better than that."
 
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