People are finally starting to ‘get it’…

I’ve wanted to write something on Randy Shannon for a while now, but I haven’t gotten to it. I think our new coach had done a tremendous job month one into turning this thing around.

I think back to early December when I was calling for someone from the Stoops family tree. I was dead wrong.

I thought promoting from within was weak, strictly because of how it turned out last time. I wanted that ‘new blood’ and felt The U needed to disassociate the new era from an embarrassing five months of Miami Football.

I wasn’t anti-Shannon. I just wanted a name that at least sounded like it could be an instant fix.

The day he was hired, I knew Shannon was the perfect guy for this job. The week the coaching search dragged out, I couldn’t see the forest for the trees. Once the decision was made, it all made sense to me.

When Shannon talks, I believe him. When he preaches his philosophy about how Miami will become Miami again, it makes complete sense.

You want the Canes to get back to their roots? Let one of the guys who laid the foundation lead you out of this current mess. Davis was a former assistant under Jimmy Johnson and he led Miami through a probation era that would’ve crushed a weaker program.

Shannon is cut from that same mold and not only did he coach under Johnson; he played under him, doing so in thick of Miami’s glory days.

It’s been a while since this type of attitude trickled down from the top. You see a lot of JJ in him. That attitude and mindset seem to have rubbed off on Shannon.

There’s a little bit of Butch Davis, as well. Especially on the recruiting front. Mix in Larry Coker’s class and you have a pretty solid head of a program.

I watched Shannon’s press conference today and it’s a breath of fresh air. No coachspeak. No nonsense. Straightforward. Shannon has a vision. Ask him and he’ll tell you all about it. Quality kids. Winners from successful high school programs. A mindset where every job is up for grabs. May the best Cane win.

That competition will either motivate you, or it’ll break you.

Shannon officially signed 17 quality kids today, with a few more making it official in the coming days. He did so after one month on the job, a staff half assembled, no offensive coordinator until the final two weeks of recruiting and no defensive coordinator until next week.

Just imagine what this guy can do year two after a season which fared better than, 7-6.

Miami’s fan base still seems split on Shannon. They don’t want to give him his due. I think most feel so burned by the last regime and some boneheaded decisions along the way that they’ll believe it when they see it.

After the last few seasons, I understand the cynicism. Still, for all the negative talk, someone occasionally does ‘get it’ – which is a nice change of pace.

I put off writing about Shannon these past few weeks, in the wake of Signing Day I realize it’s time to start getting fired up about the direction we’re headed.

I found the following post online earlier and edited it to make it sound less like a message board post:

God bless Randy Shannon. He continues to amaze me.

For years we’ve heard that Shannon was going to be hired away from us. Lucky for us he wasn’t snapped up.

Regardless, he’s a Cane now and forever. I truly believe – and the facts are there – that Shannon is the very personification of everything we hold dear.

He is a Miami guy. He’s is a U of Miami guy. He’s a great man and he’s a great coach. Nothing he has done or said has ever made me cringe like the “blah, blah, blahs”, the cliches and the inane behavior of LC these past few years.

Randy Shannon makes me proud to be a Cane in everything he has said or done since being named head coach. I thought we may have needed a marquee name to save us. I know now that he IS the right man at the right place at the right time.

I never heard much from him while he was defensive coordinator, so I had not much to guide me. His recruiting today and his philosophy is sound and is a model for the country.

If we did go 7-6 again, I have a feeling we will be there not for the lack of trying or looking stupid or be a laughing stock like we were made us to be in 2006. This is not an opinion – it’s a fact. Look at the fallout after the Duke game, the collapse at Georgia Tech, the choke against Virginia Tech and the no show at Virginia.

Shannon will play the best players. Put the pedal to the metal. He will not tolerate mediocrity like LC inculcated. (Wasted players like a certain Chicago Bear, etc). When I hear people doubt Shannon or trash him at this point of his tenure, I shake my head in wonder.

I feel that Randy Shannon is home forever. I don’t see that Schnellenberger, JJ, Erickson or Davis “ego disease” sending them all the NFL at some point. He seems too well-grounded and humble for that. The college game seems to suit him and he’s doing it at his alma matter, in his hometown and at a place which he helped make successful in its hey day.

I believe he could be the next GREAT ONE at The U and that he could be around, helping us win for the next 20 years.

Hard to argue with that. Go get ’em, Coach Shannon. It’s your team and your time.

.:Canes305:.

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