The media is having some fun these past few days regarding news that’s broken on the Randy Shannon front. After losing 36-24 at Ohio State last week, Shannon went on a tirade and laid into his players for giving away what he felt was a winnable game.
Papers, bloggers and social networkers are latching on to the moniker “Nasty Randy”, which seems rather juvenile, but at least it has people talking.
The fact Randy let his kids have it is news to some, but it shouldn’t be. Those who called the fourth-year head coach statuesque or void of emotion these past few years have missed a key element; there was nothing to be upset about until now.
Expectations are finally high in Coral Gables after three years of serious rebuilding. Shannon spent the past few years rebuilding, weeding out bad seeds, waiting for upperclassmen to move on and letting the youth learn and grow on the job. What good would it do to rant and rave while fielding a lesser team that wasn’t ready for the spotlight – holes across the board at several key positions?
Miami spent the last three years learning on the job and 2010 is when the Canes were supposed to start turning the corner. Get some signature wins this year. Compete for an ACC title. Best case scenario, get to a BCS game, win and start next year in the top five, gearing up for a national championship run.
Ohio State was the No. 2 team in the land at home and Miami came to town No. 12, with a game plan that could’ve and should’ve put the Canes in position to pull an upset. For the first time in half a decade, UM finally had the talent to hang with and take down a top five team.
Many expected Miami to get owned in the trenches. They didn’t. Special teams finally looked special again on two returns, though the coverage teams had their breakdowns. The Canes have a stable of running backs, which should’ve been given more chances. The secondary had their shots at turnovers, but didn’t get their job done – while Miami was plagued with turnovers on its own, some on Jacory Harris and others on his wideouts.
Guys running the wrong routes. Receivers dropping upwards of nine passes. Linemen missing block and giving up sacks. Defenders missing tackles in the backfield (Shannon says he stopped counting at ten.) It was a 12-point ball game on the road against No. 2 in the land and mistakes at that level are unacceptable – especially in a “next level” year.
Shannon knows what this team is capable of as he’s been the architect for three full seasons now. When the pieces in place and guys know what they’re supposed to do, but aren’t doing it? Maddening and in his case, finally forced him to blow his stack – which can be a good thing.
Sports is about execution, but motivation also plays its role and this is a little bigger than rubber bracelets and cutesy catch phrases. When a coach not known for being overemotional finally loses his cool because he knows that you know you should be better – that can be a rallying cry to hit home. Shannon has waited over three years to finally unload and might’ve picked the perfect time.
Shannon isn’t asking his kids to reinvent the wheel and he’s not calling on a bunch of scrappy freshmen to do the unexpected. This is a battle-tested team who knows better and simply needs to stick to fundamentals. Those who want to lay the majority of the blame on the coaching staff are off-base. You can only direct so much in practice and on the sidelines. When it’s go-time, guys need to do what they’ve been taught.
Shannon and staff can’t be blamed for dropped balls wrong routes run by upperclassmen receivers. Same to be said for talented kids in the secondary who let sure turnovers slip right through their mitts. Throw the ball. Catch the ball. Be in position to break down and make tackles. These are skills taught at the Pop Warner level.
We’ll never know if Miami was mentally in this game or not, but coaches don’t seem to be leaving anything to chance. Not with Pittsburgh, Clemson and Florida State on deck. Shannon felt this was the time for a verbal ass-kicking and should be commend for doing so.
When you’re known for being a quiet one who choose his or her words carefully, there’s a lot more weight put into what you say. People understand that when you finally speak and chime in, you mean what you’re saying.
Enough is enough with this current group of Canes. Freshman mistakes when you’re an experienced junior – that can’t be the case when already in 1-1 hole early in the year. You hate to say “win out” but at minimum the next three games have that “must win” feel if this is going to be a turnaround year. Shannon’s message was loud and clear; “Do your job. If we do our job, ain’t nobody that can stop us”.
Time for guys to take inventory. Play as a team but take personal responsibility. Every man must do his job. Period. Take care of business and the feeling will be infectious. Success breeds success and everyone will inevitably feed off each other.
Think back to the 2001 season when things just seemed to “happen”. Players made it look easy and a new guy stepped up on a weekly basis. You always had a new hero because everyone on that squad rose to the occasion, playing to their potential and filling the role they needed to fill – be it leader, motivator and capable back up.
Even if you aren’t a Shannon fan, you can’t deny the fact the man knows how to win – both in life and on the field. Won as a player, won as an assistant and won as a defensive coordinator, while also coaching under some of Miami’s best coaches, learning what it takes to get it done at The U.
Shannon has a long way to go before he’s mentioned in the same sentence as Jimmy Johnson, but raising the bar and dropping the hammer after a winnable loss is a good start. Let’s see how those words resonate next Thursday when Miami takes the field against Pittsburgh.
This team is plenty old enough to get chewed out now. Great take and it was a needed blow-up by Coach Shannon. It's like when a normally calm parent yells at his son – the kid will take notice and realize that he really did something wrong to get yelled at. You can't take the same appraoch all the time. I commend the much needed ass-chewing on these guys.
I did put the game on Jacory for 4 INT's, but at the same time, where is his help? It's time many of these guys stop living off of potential and start producing on the field. Hankerson got knocked silly, so where was Johnson, Byrd or another WR to take up the slack? Where was the defensive pressure on Pryor, with tackles and not just trying to throw your body in front of him? We had picks right in our hands only to have them bounce right off or through them. Jacory is the leader, but everyone on that field has to do his part and win his one-on-one battle.
That was a very winnable game Saturday. We will not beat ANYONE until we stop beating ourselves. I told everyone I knew before the game that if we took care of the ball we could win – we didn't and we didn't. I don't want to have the feeling of "what if" any more this season. Do your job, take care of the ball on offense, TAKE AWAY the ball on defense, and we can beat anyone in the country. Time to get nasty.
Bravo, Coach!
-Columbus Cane
Chris good read and spot on in my opinion. Sometimes as I sit here watching these Canes make freshmen mistakes, trying not to throw my remote through the wall, I wonder what must be going through Shannon's head as he stands emotionless on the sideline taking it all in. I can't imagine good thoughts are running through the mans head….
That being said its about damn time he laces into someone! It is time for this team and these players to man the f*ck up and start making plays. I'm tired of reading about the swagger being back. I'm tired of hearing how a certain player has taken huge steps forward only to see the same player make the same mistakes in the biggest of games. The time is now….no more damn excuses. I fully expect to see J12 and TB go off against Pitt. I fully expect to see VT actually make a play on a ball in the air next Thursday. I fully expect to see the D-line (Holmes talked about dominating every game in an interview with Canesport just a few short weeks ago) beat up on somebody other than FAMU. If not now when? No more coming out flat…that sh*t is played out. No more excuses period….roll into Heinz Field, man up, swagger up, whatever you want to call it and knock those fools out.
Go Canes!
You never see Bill Belichick going off during a game, but off the field. That's another story.
The players had this coming.
The talent is definately there, but they need to produce.
Ive been waiting for his Jimmy Johnson moment to arrive. It's about time!
From today's Miami Herald:
"A veteran NFL scout, on Jacory Harris and UM's offense: “He has an average arm, no velocity and doesn't have the athleticism to avoid pressure. With all the running backs they have, I don't understand why they don't run more. Damien Berry and Lamar Miller need more touches.''
I agree 100%
This will be an interesting year. A win against Ohio State would have been huge re National champ run and respectability at the elite level. Its still very early, but rest of schedule is manageable. The way the rest of ACC playing this is certainly not the gauntlet it could have been. Absolutely no reason we don't win every remaining game this year, win ACC and then bcs win. If we can do this we set up well for next year. We get Ohio State at home next year. This season is important. In the big picture, Jacory has got to turn it around this year. I've read the opinion that not having a guy breathing down our neck for the starting job may be part of his problem. I tend to agree, competition always makes you better. Certainly not his fault,but somehow got to eliminate turnovers. In reality, other than Clemson we won't face the level of competition Ohio State provided, so he should be able to mature in decision making. I don't care who ran routes wrong etc. there is a trend here that has got to be reversed for us to beat top 10 teams. Penalties hurt, bad kick coverage hurts, but turnovers kill you. Remember the penn state fatigue game, and that was an unbelievably talented team.
Thanks,
Maybe pulling Jacory against FAMU without even taking a snap in the second half wasn't the right move after all. It wasn't like the team was 5 games into the season, firing on all cylinders, and simply looking to make sure Harris was not exposed to any unnecessary injury risk. It was the first time Harris had seen action at full game speed in 9 months. Give the guy some extra work. Let him get back into the swing of things with his receivers. Let him air it out a couple more times. Maybe some of the "miscommunication," poor timing, and sloppy routes that were emblematic of the Ohio St match-up could have been avoided.
I'm fully aware that Harris is not solely to blame for the poor offensive performance in week 2's game. Not even close. Nevertheless, Jacory certainly didn't help. And I'm glad Shannon is finally laying into the team when appropriate. But when is he going take off the kid gloves and treat Harris like the man he's going to have to be? We hear Shannon ripping the receivers, ripping the secondary, ripping whoever. But with Harris, all Shannon will ever say is, "He's doing fine. Nothing to worry about." It's like Shannon is still afraid to let Harris know when he's f-ed up. As I said before, the Ohio St loss surely is not on Harris alone, but his play was far from fine.
In an interview last week with WQAM, Dan Morgan expressed concern about "player development." He may be on to something.
This team continues to make the same physical mistakes and mental errors. It is becoming a worrisome trend.
At what point to you start pointing fingers at Shannon and his coaching staff?
Kirk
Altamonte Springs, Fla.