It was on the intro to Sportscenter, on the ESPN BottomLine, on national television, radio, print and online spotlights for publications you could only dream of. That’s where you could find FIU on the week of April 13, 2009.

We got what we wished for. We got what we’ve been waiting for. FIU has exited the shadows of the University of Miami and of every distracting element of the South Florida lifestyle for the first time ever.

ESPN agreed.

An anchor asked the cameras, “Did you ever expect to hear us talk about Florida International this early on Sportscenter?”

The blogosphere was going insane.

“If this were April 1, we’d definitely be wondering about the veracity of this story,” wrote <i>RushTheCourt.net</i>.

The story was Isiah Thomas becoming the men’s basketball head coach for the Golden Panthers. Sure, the attention was mainly on Thomas, not FIU, but the University is certainly getting enough coverage and the rest of us are sharing the spotlight; a spotlight that shines a lot closer to home than you might think.

It’s tough to understand what a celebrity goes through when they get this kind of attention, especially since Thomas has been a controversial figure in sports media during recent years.

But as exciting as it is to read all the national stories and blogs that just mention FIU, even though most are critical about the decision to hire Thomas, there are a few that hit a personal level that shows us what it’s really like to have all eyes on you.

A sports blog – that looks and works like a tabloid for men more than anything else – regularly features models, cheerleaders and other “guy-friendly” posts that gives a tone of ridicule to the people it features.

Unfortunately, the site was home to a blog post involving FIU cheerleaders the Golden Dazzlers that featured personal photos. I’m sure no one from any media relations department gave the blog these photos, and I only assume they obtained them by accessing some cheerleaders’ Facebook profiles or other pages social networking sites.

The post was about what a hard time Thomas will have at FIU, having to deal with the “ridiculously hot” Golden Dazzlers being around, referring to the sexual harassment lawsuit involving Thomas’ while he was with the New York Knicks.

Our girls are definitely worth complimenting. South Florida is a hotbed of extremely talented girls who want to cheerlead or dance, and you can find them at FIU. At least the blog acknowledges this to some degree.

“It’s a bold statement but I think this team rivals the USC Cheerleaders as well as UCLA Spirit Squad,” wrote “Natty” of <i>Uncoached.com</i>.

But when you see photos of your friends on a blog where their personal photos are being treated like those of a gallery on Maxim’s website, you realize what else you get out of the attention FIU has garnered.

“Natty” also wrote under a picture of three FIU students sitting in the trunk of a minivan, “Nothing spells team spirit like taking a ride in the trunk of a car. They’re so tiny. Yay!”

As FIU starts becoming a more familiar name in South Florida and elsewhere, public figures in the University community will be much more looked at than ever before. That includes everyone in athletics, but also includes everyone in the surrounding community: Student Government, the cheerleading and dance teams, clubs, the administration and more.

<i>The New York Times</i> ran an article on April 16 about how Isiah Thomas will affect faculty at the University.

“Laurie Shrage, the director of women’s studies and a philosophy professor at the university, said she and some of her colleagues planned to hand-deliver to Thomas a copy of the university’s sexual harassment policy,” wrote Pete Thamel of <i>The New York Times</i>.

“When other schools say ‘no,’ FIU says ‘yes,’” jokes a narrator for a piece on "The Late Show with David Letterman" – a joke that takes FIU a step back from a reputation they’ve been doing well at getting rid of in South Florida.

So before you go out to celebrate that you’re going to see a couple more people wearing FIU gear and you won’t have to have your retinas burned in Miami by "the U” anymore, be aware of what you’re getting.

Appreciate it, but be careful.

We got what we all definitely wished for, but now we’re learning how to deal with everything that it comes with.