The Miami Hurricanes’ historic College Football Playoff run has electrified the team, the University of Miami community, and generations of alums and Canes fans in Miami and across the country.
At the heart of this phenomenal journey has been the Frost Band of the Hour, the marching band that has provided the soundtrack and fired up spirits at every game, pep rally, and countless moments along the way. For band members and the group's Frost School of Music leaders, the playoff has been a thrilling and empowering ride for a beloved institution with its own long, storied history with the Frost School and the University.
“My dad was a rookie in the Band of the Hour back in 1987 when the Hurricanes took their second national title,” said drum major Noah Booz, a Frost School music education major who joined the band in 2022, and hopes to become a band director himself. “To travel the road to the ‘Natty’ with the band gives me the experience of walking in his shoes. I’m overwhelmed when I think about the legacy I’ve been gifted.”
Abigail Venable, a Frost Band of the Hour trumpet player and first-year student in the Frost School’s music engineering program, is thrilled to join that legacy. “It’s been such a crazy ride,” said Venable, who, like other band members, puts in long hours on top of a demanding class schedule. “It’s very fulfilling to do something you’ve prepared for for weeks and weeks. Postseason, it’s been put your all into every game, because it might be the last one.”
The experience has been particularly exhilarating for Craig McKenzie, associate director of bands and director of athletic bands, and Sheldon McLean, assistant director of bands and associate director of athletic bands, who are having the most dazzling season of their careers in just their second year leading the Frost Band of the Hour. Both men are lifelong marching band musicians and leaders who earned doctorates in conducting at the Frost School.
“There’s an excitement and energy and enthusiasm around this historic run to a national championship, being able to travel all over the country with the entire band and support this team through some of the most exciting football games I’ve been to in my entire life,” said McKenzie, who wrote his doctoral thesis on the history of the Frost Band of the Hour.
The two men, who have become a close, dynamic team, spoke in the band office overlooking Lake Osceola on Monday. They had just returned after crisscrossing the country for weeks, juggling countless logistical details of game day performances, practices, pep rallies, repertoire, instruments, and travel for the just over 100 band members. Many cut their winter break short to fly in from around the country to prepare for the Hurricanes’ New Year’s Eve game against the Ohio State Buckeyes.
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McKenzie, who is married with two young sons, has only had Christmas Eve and Christmas Day off in months. McLean flew back from an overseas anniversary trip with his wife to prepare for the Fiesta Bowl in Arizona.
“I wouldn’t trade this for anything,” said McLean. “But some sleep will be nice.”
The two men have brought new musical verve and Miami swagger to the band. They’ve expanded the repertoire from traditional fight songs and longtime favorites such as “Rock Me Like a Hurricane” (now performed in a formation that mimics The Weather Channel’s curvy hurricane graphic) with the likes of Bruno Mars, Drake, and Lady Gaga—creating a soundtrack that resonates for everyone from 18-year-old first-year students to their alumni grandparents.
As the Frost Band of the Hour has faced marching bands two and three times their size from huge public institutions like Ohio State University and Indiana University, they’ve made up in spirit and energy what they lack in numbers—mirroring the way the Hurricanes have beaten the odds against more favored teams. The band plays relentlessly, not just in pregame and halftime performances, but during every timeout, down, and available instant.
“We might be small, but we’re mighty,” said McLean. “We’re scrappy—we throw down with the big dogs. We’re punching above our weight.”
“No one is walking in the way we’re walking in. It’s a Canes thing.”
As much as the band is associated with the University and Hurricanes football, the two bandleaders emphasize that the Frost School is integral to the group’s identity and quality. (“Frost” was added to the Band of the Hour name after Frost School naming donors Phillip and Patricia Frost made a major donation to the band program in 2001.)
“We are a part of the Frost School of Music,” said McKenzie. “The core of this band and the core of our leadership is the Frost School. They set the tone. When another student comes in, they immediately see what the expectation is from our fantastic musicians who are Frost students, and that elevates the level of our band and of our music.”
The playoff has brought the Frost School name, quality, and spirit not only to tens of thousands of people in stadiums across the country but also to millions watching on TV.
“What an opportunity this has been to showcase this version of the Frost Band of the Hour to the entire world,” said McLean. “We’ve been getting messages from all over the country saying, ‘We hear the band on TV; you guys are jamming.’ Our goal is to roll that right into our recruitment and get more students to join us next year.”
But for now, there’s that final championship game on Monday, the climax of this historic playoff journey. For band president and saxophone player Stella Bilder, a graduate student at the Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science in her final season with the Frost Band of the Hour, it is a uniquely powerful moment.
“I’ve had to perform each pregame and halftime show knowing it may be my last,” Bilder said. “Returning to Hard Rock for this last game to perform on our home turf means so much to the seniors and I, along with the entire band. We can’t wait to bring the energy to Hard Rock Stadium one last time! Go Canes!”
CFP National Championship events with Frost Band of the Hour:
Friday, Jan. 16, noon to 3 p.m.
Campus Canes Pep Rally
Lakeside Patio, Coral Gables Campus
Free food, activations, photo opportunities; Frost Band of the Hour and speakers at 1:30 p.m.
Sunday, Jan. 18, 9 a.m.
Frost Band of the Hour Rehearsal
San Amaro Intramural Field, Coral Gables Campus
Sunday, Jan. 18, 2 p.m.
Frost Band of the Hour performance
Playoff Fan Central
Miami Beach Convention Center
Part of daylong interactive event with games, autograph signings, special guests, exhibits and more. Free, no ticket required.
