MIAMI -- A couple of times a year, I get to cover a sports story. It is usually when the story is outside the realm of who won, who struck out, or who did the Dolphins pick up in the 14th round. I get in on the action when sports gets political, some athlete falls on the wrong side of the law, or the world of business lands in the midst of the playing field.

I got the call the other day: The University of Miami was pulling out of the Big East and was jumping to the Atlantic Coast Conference.

It was my first encounter with UM's new President, Donna Shalala. She did not disappoint.

UM football is like religion. The sports writers and sports reporters who cover it are much like the press corps that follows the pope. There are folkways and mores that are followed, there are not many feathers ruffled, it is pretty clubby and the whole scene drips with the influence of Jimmy Johnson, Dennis Erickson, Butch Davis.

UM Athletics is a world of its own. That's why I love showing up now and then. It is like the infidel in the temple. The looks and stares are not hostile but there is always the question, what are you doing here? The answer always is, "it is a news story."

UM leaving the Big East is a big story. It goes well beyond the basketball courts, the baseball diamond and the gridiron. It is all about big money, big time television, and post season revenue producing bowl games. Ducking out of the Big East and joining the ACC was a pressure-filled decision.

"The ACC was desperate to get us and the Big East was desperate to keep us," said Shalala. After the decision was made, after two press conferences one to put off the decision the second to accept the ACC bid, Shalala said the talks were, "goofy."

The petite university President told NBC 6's Ike Seamans, "I thought is was goofy. It made absolutely no sense. The University of Miami had said nothing watching this circus," A lawsuit was filed against UofM, money was thrown around, the Big East mounted a behind the scene campaign to keep the 'Canes.

UM officials told me that the atmosphere may have been "a circus" but Shalala was not distracted. She stayed right on course. "She was tough, listened to her advisors, weighed the upside and the downside," officials said. If you want someone to hammer out a contract for you, call Donna Shalala, was the consensus. "We really like what she did."

"It went up and down, back and forth. We were disciplined to make a thoughtful decision. We would not be rushed into it," Shalala told Seamans. "She was like a midnight poker player," I was told

Shalala is the new sheriff in town. The jocks over at the Hecht Athletic Center know it. Waiting for the press conference to accept the ACC invitation the meeting room was full of sports guys, coaches, athletes, and members of the Board of Trustees. It was noisy, macho sports stuff going on, then a slightly breathless sports information assistant rushed into the room. "President Shalala is in the building," he announced. There was dead silence. The room stayed that way as she approached the rostrum. She paused and then in a no nonsense declaration said the University was joining the ACC. Shalala took a few harmless questions and was gone.

No question who is in charge.

Hank Tester is a general assignment reporter. He is occasionally allowed to report a sports story.