a freshman team in 1926. Its first game was played on October 23, 1926, a 7–0 win over Rollins College before 304 fans. Under the guidance of head coach Howard "Cub" Buck, the freshman team posted a perfect 8–0 record in its inaugural season. Two of the wins were against the University of Havana, one on Thanksgiving Day in Miami and one at Havana on Christmas Day. Miami's last home game of the season featured a first: the first Hurricane football game played on New Year's Day against Howard at Miami's University Stadium. Around this time, the team adopted the official nickname "Hurricanes", though the exact timing and origin of the name is unclear; some reports suggest it was in reference to the devastating power of the 1926 hurricane that postponed the program's first game by a month, and others that it was suggested by a player in response to rumors that university officials wanted to name the team after local flora or fauna. Varsity competition began in 1927, with Miami beating Rollins, 39–3, in its first game and going on to a 3–6–1 record. The team improved to 4–4–1 in 1928, but it was not enough for Buck to keep his job, and he was replaced prior to the 1929 season with J. Burton Rix, previously head coach at Southern Methodist. Rix's arrival was funded by a group of local businessmen. That off-season, the program, which competed as an independent during its first two years of existence, joined the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association (SIAA). 1929 saw Miami play its first varsity road game (a 14–0 loss at Southwest Louisiana), and Rix led the team to its first winning season, going 3–2. His tenure, however, was short-lived; off-campus financing for the program dried up in the wake of the 1929 stock market crash, and he resigned after one season. 1930s Ernest Brett replaced Rix, and in 1930, Miami played Temple in its first game outside the South, losing 34–0 to the Owls in Atlantic City, New Jersey. On October 31, 1930, the Hurricanes played in one of the nation's first night games vs. Bowden College in Miami. Brett only lasted one year, and Tom McCann became the program's fourth head coach in 1931. Under McCann, the football program experienced its most successful seasons to that point. After a difficult first year, Miami put together a winning record in 1932 and