The hiring of Basketball Hall of Fame member and disgraced Knicks head coach Isiah Thomas to lead cross-town rival FIU has certainly grabbed headlines in the sports world. Plenty of jokes can be made about the situation, but it certainly is a roll of the dice that could turn out well for the school. But the high-profile hiring is a good time to take a look at how UM hires their coaches.

With all the Ibis Ride hub-bub last week, we didn’t get a chance to tip our hat to Jack McClinton, who was tapped by Iron Arrow Tuesday evening. While some people hate the jackets and drums, it still is the highest honor attained on campus, and there’s no person on campus who deserves the nod more than the senior guard from Baltimore.

On the days where hundreds of prospective students and their parents take a tour hand-in-hand around our glorious campus, the buildings, the lake and most importantly the students all become an attraction. It may be the sunshine, it may be Lake Osceola and the fountain or it may just be the way we act, but it really feels like a "Zooniversity."

The University of Miami is facing a severe problem. No, not economic turmoil. Or a lack of parking. Or even the end of spring football (whatever will we worry about now!). No, this is a threat to our very existence. The cause of such concern? HAWKS!

It’s easy to look around our campus and imagine it as a paradise of higher education. Between the wildlife and the vegetation, it sometimes more closely resembles a country club than a university. But there is a significant blight on the Coral Gables campus, and while it doesn’t directly impact each student, it is something we should all be aware of.

It’s hard not to sound cliché when trying to make a point like this but why fix something if it ain’t broke? Well in this case, why add a rusty hunk of metal when the grass is already beautiful? If you haven’t already noticed, someone decided to place a large rust-colored geometric metal sculpture smack-dab in the middle of The Green.

For some of us, the Grove is only blossoming in our hearts. But for others, particularly seniors, Coconut Grove is part of our home. The Grove is a two and for others (see: alcoholics) three time per week ordeal. When’s the last time you waited on a line to get into Barracudas? What about Boardwalk, for Pete’s sake? The grease-ball Gotti Brothers look-alikes from up north have overrun our neighborhood and bought out CVS and Walgreen’s for their entire supply of hair gel. We’re not going to stand for it.

The inconsistency of Miami's men's basketball team upsetting to fans. The worst part is there is no sense to be made from all of this. The team has the talent and (we thought) the motivation to be winners. After enduring four years of rough football, we finally thought the basketball team was on the rise.

Through its first eight seasons, this is the first major mention of 'American Idol' in The Miami Hurricane. With its ups and downs, successes and pitfalls, you might be asking yourself why season eight is worth mentioning. The University of Miami’s very own Alex Wagner-Trugman from Studio City, Calif., is competing to be one of the top 12 finalists. A big deal indeed, as even a minute of national TV airtime can turn a nobody into a somebody.

The Chronicle of Higher Education, an journal dedicated to the reporting of all things university, recently came out with data profiling the highest paid administrators and chief executives on private university campuses. Out of 900 schools, there are only two other provosts paid more than ours. Ok, cool, that’s fine. But can anyone explain why?