The Rams’ last-minute victory over the Cincinnati Bengals in the Super Bowl assures former Miami Redhawk football player McVay an opportunity to say “yes” should school officials, as expected, offer to erect a statue in his honor.
“Congratulations to Coach Sean McVay,” David Sayler, athletic director for Miami told the Journal-News this week after the Super Bowl win.
Sayler said McVay, a wide receiver who graduated in 2008, now joins Baltimore Ravens’ Coach John Harbaugh — class of 1984 and former New York Jets’ Coach Weeb Ewbank — class of 1928 as alumni to win the Super Bowl as the head coach.
McVay’s championship win also catapults Miami into a lofty and unshared national stratosphere of fame among all other American universities, he said.
“His (win) makes Miami University the only school to count three Super Bowl winning head coaches among their alumni. Some universities have two, but only Miami now has three — a powerful testament to our mission of graduating champions here at Miami athletics.”
Earlier this month Sayler told the Journal-News “we built an empty podium in preparation for the next statue,” noting the bronzed coaching figures aligned under a giant “Cradle of Coaches” banner outside the Oxford-campus stadium.
“And that would certainly belong to Sean McVay if he were to win a Super Bowl, that would qualify him,” Sayler said.
The empty podium wasn’t done specifically in anticipation of McVay’s further success, he said at the time and added the final decision on any statue belongs to a Miami committee.
Among the coaches to play or coach at Miami and now enshrined there are: Cleveland Browns and Cincinnati Bengals’ founder and coach Paul Brown, Ohio State University’s Woody Hayes, Notre Dame University’s Ara Parseghian along with Harbaugh and Ewbank and others.
McVay was the youngest coach — hired at 30 — in NFL history and the youngest to coach in a Super Bowl, when his Rams lost to the New England Patriots in 2019.
The continued addition to the mostly 20th Century honorees of the cradle memorial helps remind everyone in the 21st Century of the nationwide relevance of Miami’s storied football program, Sayler said.
“Our tradition of excellence is strong at Miami and our RedHawk student-athletes exemplify that. The leadership success that Coach Harbaugh and Coach McVay have exhibited in recent years is important in that it provides a present window that links to our amazing history for all current and future RedHawks to learn about.”
Sayler provided no timetable as to when McVay will hear from school officials or when — if he accepts the honor — a statue would be installed with a commemoration ceremony and McVay as the guest of honor.
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