Randy Shannon’s true impact at "The U"

Kudos to George Diaz of the Orlando Sentinel. Check out this recent piece on Miami head coach Randy Shannon. Puts some things in perspective for those unhappy with the results of this season:

The 9-3 record, the first chance at a 10-victory season since 2003, and the bowl trip to Central Florida are all reflective of the hard work put in by Randy Shannon and the University of Miami football team.

But there’s all the other stuff, too.

The player who lost a cousin and a brother over the last two years.

Two players who found out that their dad was really not their dad, and another dad popped up out of the blue.

Another player whose brother was kicked out of the house by their dad, and killed on the streets two days later.

All of this usually doesn’t come up in the BCS rankings or the polls or in the fiery spittle of blogs. But it measures the strength of a team in a much more powerful way. It’s mostly on Shannon’s shoulders on how to make sense of it, how to manage the chaos, how to make sure his team is prepared every week.

Perhaps it’s not a unique challenge given the diversity of teams. Not every young man who signs a scholarship is a fortunate son.

But navigating through this dysfunctional maze is something that most coaches won’t find on the job description. For three years, Randy Shannon has tried to figure it out as best he can. With only one player arrest in those three years, I’d say he’s finding his way.

“You get past one day, you get past another day and all of a sudden there’s something else that’s going to hit you,” he said Wednesday afternoon. “How do you respond? You can’t close your eyes and hope that it goes away. It will never go away. That’s the hardest thing.”

So yes, by all means celebrate the journey that leads the Hurricanes here to play in the Champs Sports Bowl against Wisconsin on Dec 29th. There’s a good vibe at the U this bowl season, especially when you take a comparative peek in Tallahassee and Gainesville.

Bobby Bowden is still pulling out arrows from his back after getting speared from fans, media and even school administrators who didn’t have the courtesy to show up for the announcement that he was stepping down as football coach at Florida State University.

Florida’s Urban Meyer is still catching heat after only one team – not his – showed up to play in the SEC Championship game last week in Atlanta.

Shannon is chillin’: Stepping out of a limousine and into the tropic vibe of a place called the Tiki Lounge in downtown for a casual meet-and-greet with the media Wednesday.

“Life is very good,” he said. “No stones, no targets.”

But he knows that football fans are impossible to please. All they see are five national titles at Miami since 1983, and what’s up with that 7-6 record last season?

“When the darts and everything else start coming, I look at it from this perspective: Anybody who is upset with me or the players or not happy with the way we are performing, that means they care about the University of Miami,” Shannon said.

So does Shannon, obviously. That’s why he has no time for the blogs or the papers or the TV during the season. He has a family to take care of every day, players who lose their way in one catastrophic step. Shannon knows the deal. His father was murdered when he was three. His twin brothers died of AIDS. So did a sister.

“You just can’t send a young man off to see a psychiatrist,” Shannon said. “He doesn’t know who the psychiatrist is. He doesn’t have a relationship with him.

“I have to be the psychiatrist. I may not know what I’m talking about but I know the situation they’ve been in. I say what’s in the heart.”

There will be a final score on Dec. 29th, a measure of how successful this University of Miami football team has been in 2009. If Miami loses, some people might still look at Randy Shannon and say he didn’t get the job done.

Those people won’t have a clue.

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