Athlon Sports lets Jorge Milian talk Canes

Kudos to Athlon Sports. Arguably my least favorite preseason college football publication, though this time they got something right that so many other mags miss.

Athlon’s regional Atlantic Coast issue features a great piece by Jorge Milian of the Palm Beach Post and some great insight to Randy Shannon’s thoughts, history and agenda for this upcoming season. Very refreshing to read the words of a solid writer familiar with the program, than the compiled stats of some national hack who probably sees one Miami game per year. Check it out.

When Randy Shannon was hired as the Miami Hurricanes coach in December 2006, it appeared to be the ultimate Horatio Alger story. Born in the rough-and-tumble section of Miami known as Liberty City, Shannon grew up the hard way. His father was murdered. Three siblings died of AIDS. All that while growing up in a neighborhood infested with drugs, crime and poverty.

But, because of his determination, Shannon conquered all the dysfunction around him. He earned a scholarship to Miami and was a starting linebacker for the 1987 national champs.

After a brief stint in the NFL, Shannon embarked on a coaching career at his alma mater that included Miami’s fifth national championship in 2001. Shannon, UM’s defensive coordinator at the time, capped the title season by receiving the Frank Broyles Award as the nation’s top assistant coach.

When Shannon was named to replace Larry Coker as Miami’s head coach following a tumultuous 2006 season, the move couldn’t have been more popular. Shannon was the local boy who made good and, most important to the program’s supporters and former players, understood exactly what it meant to be a Hurricane.

But Shannon’s rags-to-riches trip has encountered a few speed bumps. The Hurricanes were 5–7 in Shannon’s first season in 2007, marking the program’s first losing record in a decade. That seemed forgivable after Miami began 2008 by ringing up a 7–3 record heading into a late-November showdown against Georgia Tech with an ACC Championship Game berth on the line.

The Hurricanes wound up humiliated on national television, allowing 472 rushing yards — the second-most in school history — during a 41–23 loss in Atlanta. Two more defeats followed that one, including an Emerald Bowl loss to California that ended with a caught-on-camera tiff between Shannon and offensive coordinator Patrick Nix.

The unflattering finish to the 2008 season turned Shannon into a punching bag on message boards and sports talk shows. The hometown discount given to him by critics was over.

In some ways, the turbulence was just beginning.

Two days after the Emerald Bowl, Shannon fired Nix. After his dismissal, Nix said he and Shannon had a “philosophical difference” on how to run the offense, which ranked 89th nationally with an average of 326 yards per game.

“What I want to do is just not what he wants to do,” Nix said.

The airing out of that dirty laundry was nothing compared with what came days after.

Quarterback Robert Marve, a starter for 11 games but suspended for two others, told Shannon he wanted to transfer and asked for a release from his scholarship. Shannon agreed, but with the stipulation that Marve could not sign with an ACC or SEC program, or any school in the state of Florida.

That’s when things really got ugly. Eugene Marve, a former NFL linebacker and Robert’s father, called Shannon’s restrictions “vindictive” and “shameful.” Robert Marve cited a poor relationship with Shannon. Robert Weiner, Marve’s coach at Plant High School in Tampa, said he wouldn’t advise a player to attend Miami as long as Shannon was coach.

School officials said the stipulations were put in place because there was evidence of contact between people connected to Marve and several SEC schools.

Marve appealed the decision and got the terms changed so that he was barred only from accepting a scholarship from any ACC school as well as SEC programs Florida, Tennessee and LSU.

The case may have been resolved, but neither side came out looking particularly good.

A couple of weeks after the Marve situation, defensive coordinator Bill Young quit after one season to take the same job at Oklahoma State. A desire to coach at his alma mater sparked Young’s departure and the split was drama-free, but there were whispers that Shannon — now on his third defensive and second offensive coordinator — was difficult to work for.

“When you become a coach, you become a target,” says Shannon of the criticism he’s received. “You accept what it is and move on.”

All will likely be forgotten if Shannon, who is 12–13 at Miami, is able to turn around a program that hasn’t been to a BCS game since the 2003 season. The Hurricanes appeared on their way before last year’s meltdown.

The last Miami coach to post a losing record after his first two seasons? That would be Lou Saban, who was a combined 9–13 in 1977-78.

But supporters point out that, unlike the coaches who preceded him, Shannon was left with very little talent to work with. The rush of NFL players that flowed out of Miami’s program for years has dried up dramatically. The Hurricanes’ only representative on the 2008 All-ACC team was Matt Bosher, who was selected to the second team as a punter and placekicker. Further proof of Miami’s dearth of high-impact players came in April when the school’s NFL-record run of producing a first-round pick for 14 consecutive years came to an end.

“People just don’t realize how bad it was,” Shannon says of the talent drain. “People see it as, ‘You have all these players, so you should be doing this and that.’ Well, where are the players at? They’re all puppies.”

Which brings up Shannon’s unquestionable strength — recruiting. His first full recruiting class in ’08 — which included linebacker Sean Spence, the ACC Defensive Rookie of the Year — was ranked No. 1 by ESPN. The ’09 class wasn’t rated as highly because the Canes signed only 19 players. But, according to Rivals.com, 10 of the 19 are either four- or five-star players.

“Particularly in Dade and Broward counties, the coaches are still pro-Randy Shannon and pushing players (Miami’s) way,” recruiting analyst Tom Lemming says. “As long as you have those high school coaches in the area on your side, you’re going to recruit well because you have a huge advantage with that amount of talent within a 100-mile radius.”

Other Shannon backers point to the lack of off-the-field trouble since the no-nonsense 43-year old coach took over the program. In the past two-plus seasons, only one Miami player has encountered issues with the law.

The exception? Marve.

The quarterback was arrested on Halloween Night in 2007 after vandalizing a car and briefly running from police. Charges were later dropped, but Shannon suspended the freshman for the 2008 season opener.

Marve was suspended again before the Emerald Bowl for academic reasons, leading to his desire to transfer and the ensuing mudslinging. Among Miami’s football team, it’s hard to find anyone who thinks Shannon didn’t make the right choice by allowing Marve to leave.

But discipline and young talent haven’t translated into victories.

Shannon admits the transition from defensive coordinator to head coach was more involved than he once imagined, which may explain several game-management snafus that have proven costly over the past two seasons.

Shannon enters the 2009 season with two years left on his original four-year contract. Miami athletic director Kirby Hocutt has repeatedly stated his support for Shannon.

But if Miami gets off to a wobbly start in 2009 — no stretch considering the Hurricanes open with Florida State, Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech and Oklahoma — questions regarding Shannon’s future could grow louder.

“Everybody says, ‘You have to do this or that,’” Shannon says. “I don’t put pressure on myself. I just know we have to be better than we were last year.”

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