Head Coach: Chuck Martin is entering his 12th season as the head coach of the RedHawks with a 65-67 record. It’s been a steady and progressive build, took a few years to get going and then in 2019 they rallied from a 2-4 start to capture his first MAC championship. Finally, 2023 was the year they had liftoff they won the MAC again and won 11 games overall. Now he has the RedHawks as one of the most consistent threats atop the MAC.
Program Outlook: Miami’s culture is very different from the rest of the MAC, this is the “rich kid” school of the conference. It’s actually helpful in this new era because there’s money available to help fund a roster. This is of course a program known for historical success too, it’s known for the “Cradle of Coaches” because of how many top coaches have come through here. From 1973-1975 they had 3 straight top 15 finishes and in 2003 they finished 10th. This is a program that is very much positioned to be one of the best in the MAC for years to come.
How does the 2025 Roster look?: Miami ranks 131st in the country returning 32% of their production per Punt and Rally’s returning production rankings. They had a large group of seniors last season and a few portal hits left them losing a lot. So how did they address it? The big move was getting DeQuan Finn out of the portal, he was a star for Toledo but went to Baylor last year only to get hurt immediately and he never got a chance after that. He will bring a lot to this offense throwing and running. I expect him to be protected by a good Oline, there were some portal hits but they got a couple experienced options from the portal and generally do a good job developing there. The receiver position is fascinating, they completely overhauled the position in the portal but it’s short on production. The defense will be led by a strong secondary, Silas Walters and Eli Blakey might be the best safety combo in the MAC. Corner Luke Evans has the potential to become dominant on his side. It’s next man up in a lot of areas LBs Corban Hondru, Oscar McWood and Malcolm McCain have all been involved but they’re set to be the main guys now. It’s a similar story on the defensive line where Nasir Washington will be the main man in the middle and Adam Trick, who made some plays in the rotation, is now the main edge rusher.
Screenshot from FBSchedules.com
2025 Schedule Thoughts: The scheduling is challenging but not impossible. The non-conference tests at Wisconsin, Rutgers and at home against UNLV are tough games or nice opportunities depending on how you want to look at them. Lindenwood went 5-7 at the FCS level last year, they are still new to the scene, Miami is their 2nd FBS foe ever. The MAC schedule is pretty tough, they face all 3 of their biggest challengers for the conference crown, and it is in 3 consecutive weeks in November. They miss a lot of the rebuilding teams within the conference too.
Final Thoughts: 2025 might be a more unpredictable season than most for the RedHawks. There’s a wide range of possibilities here but there’s also a plan. Their goal is always to run a slower pace on offense, control the ball and force teams into a boxing match. It wasn’t executed to a good degree last year, they had too many ineffective possessions during the first 5 games, cleaned it up and had liftoff until it came crashing back down in the MAC championship. Finishing drives will be critical in 2025.
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