But, I thought you needed a coach with head coaching experience.
Fire O'Brien, hire Fisher!

12/7/2006 9:48:12 PM

Shannon by the way was their Defensive coordinator

not the hire Miami was needing me thinks.

12/7/2006 9:49:00 PM

Miami just hired him so they wouldn't have to incur the wrath of the black coaches association

12/7/2006 9:50:33 PM

MIAMI GETS A GRADE A+++ FOR THEIR COON SEARCHING SKILLZ

12/7/2006 10:02:18 PM

Miami is a small school without the money of a large state school and alumni base.

So much for UM President Shalala "opening the coffers for a world-class coach"

12/7/2006 10:03:58 PM

dont act like we werent fawing over hiring him for dc a few years ago

word was then he was next in line for the hc job there i thought, and that was the reason he was sticking around

12/7/2006 10:12:45 PM

Quote :

"Fire O'Brien, hire Fisher!"

die in a fire.

12/7/2006 10:35:20 PM

^ wanna play tummy sticks?

12/7/2006 10:37:41 PM

Quote :

"dont act like we werent fawing over hiring him for dc a few years ago word was then he was next in line for the hc job there i thought, and that was the reason he was sticking around"

1. He'd never leave Miami for NC State. He bleeds orange and green.
2. He is HC material, but was the cheapest option for Miami, considering they don't have all the money in the world and unreal boosters. Miami fans will admit that.

12/7/2006 10:45:56 PM

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=2690489

Well, since there was never a link before, here is one now, from our friends at ESPN

12/8/2006 12:14:33 AM

I was hoping they'd get stuck with Kosar

12/8/2006 12:17:23 AM

Saturday's Miami Herald, http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/16200110.htm

Quote :

"UM FOOTBALL | RANDY SHANNON Triumph over tragedy A hard life and lots of disappointment have prepared Randy Shannon for his pressure-cooker assignment as head football coach for the Hurricanes. BY MICHELLE KAUFMAN mkaufman@MiamiHerald.com Anyone who thinks Randy Shannon now faces the toughest challenge of his life doesn't know what he's already been through. The new University of Miami football coach watched three siblings -- Ronald, Donald and Joanna -- lose their battles with cocaine addiction and die from complications of AIDS. His father, a construction worker, was murdered in Liberty City during a brawl when Randy was 3. Another brother stole Shannon's identity, causing him great inconvenience. Through it all, Shannon, 40, has maintained a quiet calm. Despite becoming a father at 16, he remained a dedicated student-athlete at Norland High, got a scholarship to UM and was the first member of his family to earn a college degree. 'Randy is the baby of the family, and he spent many years fussin' at his brothers and sister to stop doing drugs and clean themselves up, but they didn't listen and now they're gone,'' said Dorleatha Johnson, Shannon's mother, a retired nurse's aide. ``They all had talents. My daughter could have been an Olympic track star. My son could have been a radio announcer. But they got caught up in the web, and Randy didn't. God gave me five children, and he made Randy to take care of me when I lost the others. They grew up in the same surroundings, but Randy always chose the right road.'' LIFELONG DREAM As a result of those decisions, Shannon is about to enter the most exciting chapter of his life, the part in which he gets to fulfill his lifelong dream -- at his alma mater -- and mold the lives of young men who remind him of himself 20 years ago. Shannon will get to prove how much he learned behind the scenes the past two decades, and make a cool million while he's at it. Sure, it's a hefty challenge to take over one of the highest-profile, most stressful jobs in college sports, a job in which winning 80 percent of your games isn't good enough (just ask Larry Coker). And yes, it's true Shannon, 40, has high blood pressure, which is why he adheres to a strict diet and is a fitness freak. But he insists he's not worried. He says his tough upbringing gave him the necessary perspective and thick skin. ''I saw what didn't work for my siblings, what happens when you indulge in the things they indulged in, and I decided to do things differently,'' Shannon said. ``I did it mainly for my mother, to spare her more pain. She suffered a lot. I realize now that even though what happened with my brothers and sister was negative and very painful, I might not be where I am today if not for those adversities. I learned to handle hard times.'' ABLE TO RELATE Shannon plays down the fact that he's the first black head football coach in UM history, and only the sixth in Division I-A. He said it isn't so much his color that helps him relate to inner-city recruits, it's that he has lived their lives, been on the same streets and seen the same things back when he was known as ''Onion'' (for the shape of his head). ''When I walk into those homes and look into the eyes of those young men and their mothers, I really get it,'' he said. ``There isn't a story they can tell me that I haven't experienced myself. So when I tell them that there is hope, there is a way to get out of bad situations, they can look at me and see that it's true.'' He prides himself on being a strict disciplinarian, and treats the UM players like his own four children. Shannon, who is divorced, has a 24-year-old daughter, Ty, who is in the Navy and stationed in Japan; a 19-year-old son, Xavier, who plays offensive line at Florida International University; and two young sons, 8-year-old Randy Jr. and 2-year-old Steven. TALENT EMERGED EARLY Blanton Harris has known Shannon since they were little boys playing for Scott Lake Optimist. He said Shannon always seemed more mature than the other kids, and able to control his temper when fights broke out. He also recalled Shannon coaching teammates when he was as young as 12. ''I wouldn't understand a drill, and then Randy would explain it to me and I would grasp it right away,'' Harris said. ``He has a way of making things seem easy and fun on the football field, and that's why young players respond so well to him. He can relate to them, but at the same time command their respect.'' Shannon graduated from Norland in 1984, and was a four-year letterman at linebacker at UM. He was a starter on the 1987 national championship team and received the Christopher Plumer Award for most inspirational player as a senior. He was drafted by the Dallas Cowboys in the 11th round, and in 1989 became the first rookie to start at linebacker for Dallas since 1963. Two years later, he launched his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Miami under then-coach Dennis Erickson. He was promoted to full-time assistant in 1992 and coached linebackers until 1997, when he left for a job as a Miami Dolphins assistant. He returned to UM in 2001 as defensive coordinator, and his defenses have been among the highest-rated in the nation. In five of his six seasons as coordinator, the UM defense ranked in the top 10 in the country, and in 2001, he became the first UM coach to win the Frank Broyles Award, presented to the nation's top assistant coach. LIKE `WINNING LOTTO' ''It was just a matter of time,'' said Melvin Bratton, a former UM teammate of Shannon's who remains one of his closest friends. ``Way back under Coach [Jimmy] Johnson and [Dave] Wannstedt, Randy, Winston Moss and Tolbert Bain used to make adjustments on their own on the sideline. They'd tell Jerome Brown to watch for this or that, Bennie [Blades] to watch out for certain things, they were like coaches on the field. I knew Randy would be a head coach one day.'' The fact that he's done it at UM is ''like winning the Lotto'' for Hurricane alumni, Bratton said. ''He is one of our own, a guy who's been in a Hurricane huddle, who has lived, eaten and breathed what it is to be a Hurricane,'' Bratton said. ``It doesn't matter that he's black or white, it matters that he's one of us. He has connections to every era of UM football from 1984 to now, and he will succeed. We're not that far off. The engine's still good, the frame's still good, he just has to get the car shiny again.'' Bain said: ``It's one of us driving the car now, and there could be nobody more qualified behind that wheel. Randy's going to take us on a great ride, and all the former players are right there with him to make sure he succeeds.''"

12/9/2006 9:14:22 AM

my roommate from b-school is from miami and a huge UM fan. i heard this hire, and i thought "wow, thought they were gonna get someone bigger than this..." he, though, is freaking ecstatic about it. guess we'll see how this plays out, shannon can't be worse than coker though.

12/9/2006 10:54:42 AM