It was a packed house for new baseball coach Gino DiMare’s introductory press conference Tuesday.

Approximately 150 boosters joined athletic director Blake James, football coach Mark Richt, former football players Gino Torretta, Alonzo Highsmith and Greg Mark (who also coached at UM), announcer Jay Rokeach, several current Cane baseball players (most of the team is away playing summer ball) and other notables at the event that included a luncheon and was hosted by Joe Zagacki.

Over 20 former players were on hand including Charles Johnson, Kevin Brown, EJ Encinosa, Danny Smith, Javy Rodriguez, David Gil, Alex Fernandez and Chris Clute. Two of former Cane coach Ron Fraser’s daughters also attended.

DiMare personally greeted each attendee as they walked into the banquet room inside the Newman Alumni Center located across from the baseball field.

As he began speaking at the event, DiMare initially held up his uniform No. 6.

“Coach Fraser gave me an opportunity to play here,” DiMare said. “Of course we know what he turned the program into, this was a national powerhouse for the 30 years he was here. Coach Morris, he gave me an opportunity to coach here in 1997. He carried the torch from coach Fraser, carried it at a very proud level. I’ll be indebted to him for the rest of my career for giving me this opportunity.

“I grew up here, was born right down the street at South Miami Hospital. So I was indoctrinated to the University of Miami at a very early age, bleed orange and green.”

DiMare is the 10th head coach in the baseball program’s history. DiMare has more than 20 years of experience with the program, having played for College Baseball Hall of Fame coach Ron Fraser from 1989-92 and serving as an assistant on Jim Morris’ staff for 19 seasons - including the 1999 and 2001 national championship teams. Since 2011, DiMare has served as the associate head coach and recruiting coordinator in addition to his duties working with Miami’s hitters and outfielders.

“Being a Hurricane it means you have pride,” DiMare said. “You have to have desire, determination to be the very best. A Hurricane player has to play with confidence. Football players call it swagger - as we look back its one of the greatest programs in the history of college baseball.

“We’ve won four national championships. But it’s been a while. It’s been a while. I know it, we all know it. I want to make sure that we create our own history. And that’s something that’s very important to me.”

James said today that “It’s an exciting day for us … Miami baseball is one that continues to be a topic of conversation and people are always asking me how it’s going or telling a story. I’m excited with the leadership that we’ll have taking over.

“(DiMare) is clearly a winner. You want a recruiter - when you look at what Gino has done as a recruiter, he’s brought some of the very best here. If we want to be in Omaha we need to bring in the very best. … For me it was a no-brainer (to hire DiMare) - I could not be happier. He understands our program, our community, knows the expectations. I have no doubt in my mind that Gino is going to lead us back to Omaha, will lead us to great things in the classroom, in the community.’

James also said an indoor hitting facility will be built for the baseball team.

“I’m pleased to say our supporters have stepped up to support (it), we have the money in place,” James said.

DiMare also said the field will be resurfaced, that the walls will be padded in the outfield and along the foul lines.

“We need to share our history that’s put up out there - that’s something I want to do,” DiMare said.

The bottom line?

DiMare sees a bright future for the Cane program that has missed regionals the last two seasons after 44 straight appearances.

And he expressed his gratitude to have the support of the UM family and his own family.

“I’m the luckiest guy in the world, I really am,” DiMare said. “I’m excited to say the least. I never dreamed this. I dreamed of being a player, never dreamed of being a coach. I realize the ultimate responsibility lies with me now. I embrace it. This program has done some great things over the years and I’m looking forward to the future and where we can be. Nobody wants to win more than me. Nobody.”

* Former coach Jim Morris was not on hand due to a medical procedure. But he said in a statement that DiMare “is my guy” for the job and that no one will work harder to put baseball on the road to Omaha.

Asked about following in the footsteps of Fraser and Morris, DiMare said, "I'm not coach Fraser, I'm certainly not coach Morris. But I have learned from them. And the best thing I can do is be myself."

* DiMare pointed to his mother as one of the inspirations who led him to coaching instead of the family business - DiMare’s mother passed away several years ago, and he was emotional talking about her impact. DiMare also thanked his father for helping him get to this point.

* DiMare said he wants to make going to games a unique experience for fans.

“We’ve lost a little of that atmosphere at our ballpark and I want to bring it back,” DiMare said.

* With a young returning corps of players, DiMare said, "We all know the last couple of years isn't where we need to be. Nobody knows that more than I do and our staff. We understand where we need to take the program. We have to create our own history now. We have a really good class returning, the freshman class from last year, along with an incoming class - they're probably as two deep a classes as we've had. Having said that, what's going to matter is where they finish, how they develop over the next two years. Coming in and being rated high, that doesn't mean anything. We have to get back to work, get back to old school and doing the things we needed to be successful that we've done in the past."

DiMare added, "I don't want it to be an excuse that we're going to be young (again next year), but we have 34 players on our roster right now (and) 27 are freshmen and sophomores. So we have seven juniors and one walkon senior. ... So it is a relatively young team but gained a lot of experience last year - we had six, seven freshmen starting. We have some impact guys coming in just like we did last year.

"I'm not going to make any statements, promises right now we're going to win the national championship, but what I will tell you - when I met with players our goals and our expectations are to do that. That's our main goal."

* DiMare said, like with the football program, he wants former Cane baseball players to be around his players.

And that includes his former roommate, Alex Fernandez, who DiMare said gives great speeches.

"I'm going to call on these guys to help," DiMare said. "Just like football does, they bring a lot of guys back, we do have a lot of guys back here. A lot of our ex-players work out at our gym, work out at our field. I want them to be involved in the program as well."