The Frost Band of the Hour was an integral part of the Miami Hurricanes football team’s exhilarating run in last season’s epic College Football Playoffs, firing up energy and enthusiasm for Canes fans at home and across the country.
Now the energy and confidence generated during that historic season has lofted the beloved marching band to new heights. As it starts a new season, the FBOTH has grown by 60% from last year, going from 103 to 160 members. Retention has been extremely high, with 88 new members joining 72 members who returned from last year. They are debuting a new logo and new uniforms.
All of this has the group fired up as it prepares to hit the West Coast this weekend for the Hurricanes game against the Stanford University Cardinals, as well as two exhibition performances.
The growth is enormously gratifying to Frost School faculty and FBOTH leaders 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 both joined in the fall of 2024.
“Traveling together to perform for so many different audiences at so many venues brought the band together in a way the regular season can’t,” said McKenzie. “On top of that was the visibility. We were on TV in front of millions of people. It made people across the country sit up and take notice.”
“That has done so much for the kids in the band and given us so much to be excited about. It’s done a lot to invigorate the band, and of course it helped with recruitment and retention. It’s leading to a lot of success right now.”
McKenzie and McLean, both of whom have doctorates in conducting from the Frost School, have been planning and working towards that success since they started.
“We knew it would take a while to make this happen, and we said the third year is when people were going to notice,” said McKenzie, who wrote his doctoral thesis on the band’s history. “We noticed the difference in culture and feeling within the band right away. Other people started to notice around the National Championship. Now you can’t miss it.”
The new FBOTH logo and uniforms have been in the works for over a year. The logo features a prominent graphic of the team mascot, Sebastian the Ibis. The new uniforms have removable long and short sleeves that can be changed on the same jacket, and pants in two different colors, allowing different looks and color combinations depending on the temperature and the opposing team.
“We’re excited,” said McKenzie. “It should very much look like our vibe but freshen up our look.”
McKenzie and McLean continue to expand the band’s playlist and their vision for the Frost Band of the Hour to play music that speaks powerfully to Miami’s distinctive, wide-ranging blend of cultures, and to everyone from current students to their alumni grandparents.
This season they’ll add songs by Latin stars Bad Bunny, Marc Anthony, Gloria Estefan and Pitbull, as well as Celia Cruz’s “La Vida es un Carnaval,” a universal Latin music anthem.
“We’re intent on being the sound of Miami, on playing music that resonates with our audience and sounds like it comes from our neighborhoods,” McKenzie said.
They’ll also do a funk show with music by Michael Jackson and Kool & the Gang, as well as a set of patriotic songs.
“We’re paying homage to all influences and to the music of other generations, so it’s not just music for college kids,” McKenzie said. “If you come hear us this season, you’re gonna hear a song you love.”
The increased numbers let the band create larger, more complex drills. A curving on-field formation that mimics the Weather Channel hurricane symbol will now be able to rotate, swirling like a real storm.
The feeling of momentum and success creates enthusiasm and camaraderie for students who devote hours a week to the band, with weekend game days that can last from morning to late at night. If the Hurricanes make it to the national championships again, the FBOTH will travel and perform through finals and Winter Break.
After the Stanford game, the FBOTH will perform with the San Jose State University marching band, which McKenzie led before coming to Miami, and open for San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park Band, where he was music director, in the city’s famous park.
The enthusiasm is also inspiring McKenzie, McLean, and Charles Damon, assistant director of programs for the Frost School’s band department. “The coolest part of working with Dr. McLean and Charles Damon is we complement each other so well,” McKenzie said. “Each of us brings varied experiences, different passions, and complementary skills that have created something special. There’s no way this would have happened with one person.”
