Does the Miami Hurricanes athletic department have the financial support to compete at the top level of college football?
There has been some chatter in UM circles about a potential deep pocketed booster, John Ruiz, having the means to come to the forefront and help provide financial support to the UM athletic department in the future.
According to Forbes.com, Ruiz, who is an attorney, entrepreneur, and founder of a firm called MSP Recovery that is set to be worth ‘over $20 billion’ thanks to a recent acquisition by Lionheart Acquisition Corp. II that plans to take the company public.
That net worth would make Ruiz, the son of Cuban immigrants, one of the wealthiest residents in the state of Florida.
Ruiz’s business model is primarily based on an algorithm that identifies medical claims that are paid by government-funded healthcare programs where it believes another insurer like an auto policy or worker’s compensation is actually responsible.
MSP then seeks to collect the full billed amount—there’s usually a huge difference between what the government paid and what the healthcare system asked for.
Ruiz was quoted in Forbes as saying: “The government ends up paying bills that it should not pay for because there is no system to identify who should be the proper payer. That’s what we've revolutionized in America.”
According to Forbes, MSP is operating under the assumption that 11%—or around $177 billion—of the $1.6 trillion spent on Medicare and Medicaid each year is actually related to accidents, fraud and misconduct, which means that somebody else should have paid the bill.
InsideTheU.com was recently able to briefly speak with Ruiz and wanted to pass along some notes from the conversation on what his vision for the UM athletic department looks like…
• Ruiz and his family are die hard fans of Miami Hurricanes athletics. Ruiz graduated from UM in 1987. He is proud that his three children, Johnny, Cristy, and Alex are also Miami alums. All three children were involved with UM athletics as Johnny and Alex played for UM’s baseball program while Cristy was a member of UM’s dance team, the Sunsations. “We are a Miami Hurricanes family,” Ruiz said. “This school means so much to us.”
• Due to his financial success as a business man, Ruiz wants to give back to the school that means so much to his family. He is not ready to announce what that type of financial commitment would be, but he wants to make clear that he is ready to step up and support Miami’s athletic department “substantially” in the future. “My family is very fortunate to be in a good financial situation to provide meaningful help,” Ruiz said. “I hope my willingness to provide support will also spark a strong core of local businessmen that I know who may be motivated to join me.”
• Ruiz wanted to make it clear that he has nothing against former athletic director Blake James, calling him “a great man” and also noting “we have nothing but great things to say about the people that work at UM” that he does believe UM’s athletic department would benefit from modernizing their approach and implementing more business principles that take advantage of UM’s brand combined with the South Florida business potential. “In my opinion, you have to bring back the interest of the athletes,” Ruiz said. “Organizations have to be malleable and be willing to adapt with the times while also having a vision for what the future holds. Miami has the best brand in college athletics and I see so much potential there from my experience with creating companies that have a solid platform for marketing and an understanding of how to extract the power of marketing. That buzz and that swag is important. We need to excite people to back this program. Having a business mindset that brings innovation can change the entire playing field.”
• What vision does Ruiz ultimately have for the Miami Hurricanes football program? “I went to school during the 1980s and those UM teams were some of the greatest of all time,” Ruiz said. “I come from an era when Miami was a power to be reckoned with and I know it will take time to build, but with the right leadership from top to bottom, I think Miami has the potential to return the swag and success of the 1980s.”
• Does Ruiz have any opinions about what direction UM should go with the athletic director search and the impending decision on whether or not to retain football coach Manny Diaz? “I am supportive of what needs to be done and willing to back up the university substantially,” he said.
• Ruiz did confirm that he has a family connection to current Oregon coach Mario Cristobal. His wife’s family is related to Cristobal.
• At the end of the day, Ruiz wanted to make it clear that he is not trying to ruffle any feathers, understanding that this is the first time he and his family are planning to substantially give to the UM program. “I just want to make it clear that we are ready to help and the program can count on us on multiple levels,” Ruiz said. “We care about this university and this athletic program.”
