Rams head coach and Miami University graduate Sean McVay is being added to the college's famed "Cradle of Coaches." The 2008 Miami graduate is the 10th coach to be enshrined in bronze on the plaza outside Yager Stadium.
McVay's statue will be unveiled Saturday, May 6, at noon in a public ceremony.
Miami University earned the nickname "Cradle of Coaches" for turning out a bevy of legendary football coaches, including Paul Brown, Weeb Ewbank, Woody Hayes, Ara Parseghian, Bo Schembechler and others over the years.
"A lot of successful people have come through Miami and gone on to great things elsewhere," says David Sayler, director of athletics at Miami University.
"Miami was very early in the game at teaching coaching ... as part of a profession ... and so I think that's what drew some people here early on, and they just kind of learned from some great people, and that just started a tree, and that tree has continued to grow and grow and grow, and it's got amazing tentacles everywhere," says Sayler.
McVay, a wide receiver at Miami from 2004-2007, coached the Los Angles Rams to victory over the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl LVI in 2022. In doing so, he became — at age 36 — the youngest head coach in NFL history to win a Super Bowl championship.
"What I think is special about Sean and doing his ceremony, is that we have a lot of recruits that come through here and they don't know some of the names of the people that came before. They're not as familiar with Bo Schembechler, Carmen Cozza, (and) Paul Brown, but they know who Sean McVay is. They know who John Harbaugh is, and when those people can kind of help revive the talk and teach people, that's even more impactful."
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In 2009, the school turned the "Cradle of Coaches" nickname into a statuary plaza outside the stadium. It includes 10 statues of coaching legends, along with an 11th of Thomas van Voorhis, a Miami instructor and athletic administrator who taught many cradle coaches in the classroom.
The Cradle of Coaches Association was founded in 1971 "to acknowledge the role Miamians have played in establishing Miami University as the Cradle of Coaches." It began inducting honorees in 1992. Starting in 1999 and 2000, Miami began recognizing coaches from all sports.
McVay's father, John McVay, graduated from Miami University in 1952 and went on to spend 19 years with the San Francisco 49ers. During his time there, the 49ers won five Super Bowl championships. He was inducted into Cradle of Coaches Association in 1997 and the 49ers Hall of Fame in 2013. The senior McVay played at Miami under another Cradle of Coaches inductee, Ara Parseghian.
