Times change, and so do the playbooks. For decades, the University of Miami athletic director was the master strategist, the one with the five-coach contingency list in a desk drawer, always ready for the next move. Sam Jankovich had that list. Paul Dee had the vision for rising stars who’d win big before moving on—all while staying within Miami’s budget.

But that’s the old world. Today’s Miami is rewriting the job description entirely.

The Hurricanes were early adopters of the Name-Image-Likeness era, seizing the new rules to rocket their football program back into the national spotlight. Now, they’re reimagining the athletic director’s role to match their bold, new-way thinking. Dan Radakovich, a man of steadfast integrity, is stepping away after five years at the helm. But don’t think the position is fading—it’s evolving.

Enter school president Joe Echevarria, the architect of this transformation. He didn’t just tweak the sports department; he expanded its budget and its ambition. “Spending as much as any school out there on sports,” a Miami source confirms. That’s a far cry from five years ago, when then-president Julio Frenk—a classic academic leader with little sports involvement—commissioned Echevarria and his chief of staff, Rudy Fernandez, to rethink everything.

Back then, Miami’s programs were underfunded for decades. Randy Shannon was the second-lowest paid football coach in the ACC. Al Golden famously lamented having the worst facilities in the conference. Echevarria changed all that, pumping in new money to level the playing field. Alongside Fernandez and a tight circle of insiders, he began making the big calls—the kind the classic athletic director once owned.

That inner circle includes the influential Mas brothers, Jorge and Jose, as well as Manny Kadre, Miami’s auto magnate and chair of the board of trustees. Together, they orchestrated one of the biggest moves in recent Hurricanes history: luring Mario Cristobal away from Oregon more than four years ago. Cristobal’s flight back to Miami? On Jose Mas’ private plane.

This isn’t just a changing of the guard. It’s a new playbook for how Miami does business—and for fans and athletes alike, the game is just getting started.