Shannon lands Young & Hill…

A little bit o’ action on the homefront since our last blog. Let’s jump right into the action instead of making excuses about the lack of posting these past few days:

Bill Young was officially named defensive coordinator last week, much to the chagrin of Jayhawks fans as well as some Miamians who swore off the rumor being that CSTV broke the story. The same CSTV that reported ‘Steve Spurrier to Miami’ winter 2006.

Regardless of who broke the news, the story proved true. Young is Miami-bound and ready for a new challenge after spending the past six seasons at Kansas under Mark Mangino. Young was a finalist for this year’s Broyle’s Award, given to the nation’s top assistant coach. KU went 12-1 this past season and beat Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl Classic.

Young has been in the coaching game for 39 years and was ready for a new challenge. He’s never won a national championship and was quoted as saying he felt Miami was a place that would give him a great shot to bring one home. Young runs an aggressive defense. Expect a lot more blitzing and different looks than the Canes’ D has seen in forever and a completely different defense than the one Randy Shannon ran 2001-2006, which leads us to…

… a big ol’ glass of “shut the hell up” to Shannon’s critics. Seems a lot of the ‘know it all’ crew swore the second year Canes coach was all set up to either 1) stubbornly run the defense by himself or 2) bring in a young, low-cost up and comer who would essentially run Shannon’s standard Man Cover Two defense and act as the head coach’s puppet. Not quite.

People were miffed when Miami didn’t land some of the bigger name guys out there like DeWayne Walker (UCLA DC who stayed on when Rick Neuheisel was hired), Ron English (took the Louisville DC gig after leaving Michigan) and Charlie Strong (Florida DC who is staying put for now). The critics quickly blamed The U’s top brass for being cheap and not being willing to pay for a top name guy.

Days later, Young is lured away from KU. A coaching veteran. A big name guy, thanks to the Jayhawks recent success and hardly someone who will play Shannon’s puppet.

My mantra to this fan base has been and still is this – be patient. Things take time. Young first talked about the Canes opening at a recent coaching conference in Anaheim, CA. Days before that he was having the interior of his Lawrence, KS home repainted and played to remain at KU in 2008. Within days, signed on with The U and headed to Coral Gables.

That’s how the game works, people. The right guy at the right time was willing to get on board. Walker, English and Strong knew of the Miami opening and didn’t bite. Young heard about it an it was the perfect time in his life to make the move and take on the new challenge.

It took a little longer than expected, but Shannon got his guy. Next time around, let’s can the criticism. As I’ve said a million times here – who gives a damn about the process? Worry about the result. In this case, the result is a very solid defensive coordinator headed to town to right the ship.

Early last week, the hammer dropped again and this time it was wide receivers coach Marquis Mosely who got the boot. Safe to say the wideout position at Miami has taken a hit in the post-Andre Johnson era. The Canes have lacked that big time receiver for five years now. Guys like Ryan Moore, Aikeem Jolla and Lance Leggett were never developed and didn’t pan out.

Mosely spent 2006-2007 at Miami and while the cupboard was hardly full, he didn’t do much with the talent he had during that two year stint.

Within days of the Mosely firing, Shannon tabbed former Gator, Carol City high grad and Miami native Aubrey Hill to take over coaching wide receivers. Hill spent the past three seasons coaching the Pittsburgh Panthers wideouts and jumped at the opportunity to return home to Miami.

Hill played under Spurrier in the early to mid-nineties and was featured in the ‘Fun-N-Gun’ offense. He stayed on as a grad assistant with Florida (1996-1998) and spent the next five seasons as receivers coach at Duke. The next two seasons were spent interning with the Washington Redskins and Miami Dolphins before taking the job at Pitt.

Hill is the second new addition to the Miami coaching staff this off-season.

Bet the house after two firings/hirings, some will point out Shannon’s statement about no off-season firings and that continuity was the name of the game. Smarter, more on the ball Canes fans will realize that Shannon is simply doing what needs to be done.

I do agree that Shannon shouldn’t make these ‘absolute’ type statements – i.e. no off-season firings and the fave of the critics, “I’ll shoot myself if we go 8-4” months before wrapping up a 5-7 season. I praise Shannon’s off-season work, but one thing to work into his head coaching repertoire is better dealings with the media. Knowing what not to say is equally as important as what not to say.

Miami fans are a tough nut to crack and believe they want to win at all costs and want to see tradition restored in the worst way. News flash, people. Add up all your love and pride for all things The U and times it by a million. That’s how much Shannon wants to win.

Forget all your hours logged tailgating or ranting and raving on message boards. With Shannon, you’re talking First Team, All Cane. A four-year letterman as a Canes linebacker in the 80s. Winner of the Christopher Plummer Award for most inspiration player as a senior in 1988. Fourteen years as a University of Miami coach – starting as a grad assistant, a position coach, an award-winning defensive coordinator and now head coach. Three national championship rings – one as a player and two as a coach.

Again, next time you’re stroking yourself for being Super Fan #1, bleeding the orange and green and criticizing ‘the process’ of your supposedly stubborn head coach – remember who you’re talking about. Some of you say I get a little ‘rah-rah’ for Shannon and cheerlead to much. Maybe so, but that’s because 1) I need to combat all the idiotic negativity we’re seen year one into the rebuilding process and 2) because I believe this man earned this job and deserves some time to right the show.

Amazing to me how so many fans will blindly follow, support, pull for or believe in any former Cane in any walk of life – yet in the same breath will tear Shannon a new one at any given moment because he couldn’t right several years worth of wrong in the matter of one season.

Be patient.

Speaking of all things Shannon, add another member of the family to the official U Family. Xavier Shannon is headed to The U from crosstown rival Florida International. The younger Shannon recently wrapped up his undergrad degree at FIU and with a year of eligibility left, he’ll have to apply for a waiver to play for Miami in 2008.

Randy has oft stated he would never coach his own son, fearing he’d put too much pressure on him – but obviously has changed his stance. Xavier will compete for the starting job at center this coming season and will be considered a walk on as offspring of University of Miami employees are offered a free ride.

The world of recruiting is still the circus it was when I bitched about it a few weeks ago. Another defect and a few more ready to get on board.

The latest casualty is Ramon Buchanon of Palm Bay Senior High in Melbourne, FL. Last we heard from Buchanon he was all over the Canes. Shandel Richardson echoes this in his Sun Sentinel blog, staying that Buchanon was very pro-Canes after the Under Armour game a few weeks ago and all he talked about was arriving in Coral Gables, reaffirming his commitment, etc.

A few weeks later, he’s in Gainesville standing next to Tim Tebow and being reluctantly forced to do the Gator chop while UiF fans and Buchanon’s pro-Florida family rooted him on.

Buchanon is a stud and it’s a shame he won’t be a Cane. That said, Miami is chock full of linebackers entering 2008 should the rest of this class stick. Kids like Arthur Brown, Jordan Futch, Sean Spence, Antonio Harper and Marcus Robinson will more than make up for the loss of Buchanon and a Lerentree McCray to Florida.

I don’t know if it’s a fear of competition, a fear of letting down family members or a combination of that and more. Either way, the recruiting game is a joke and it’s a shame to see these early commits get wrapped up in ‘the game’ instead of being true to their word. That goes for Miami defects Buchanon and McCray the same way it does any other decommit who winds up at The U after committing to another program.

I’m all for less early commitments that aren’t written in stone and seeing more kids sticking to their word, moving forward. A man is only as good as his word and all this decommitment crap, white lies to the press, silent commitments elsewhere and stringing coaches along – they’re character flaws that will hopefully be righted while these boys grow to men in their four years at the respective university they eventually choose.

Thank God we only have a few more weeks of this nonsense.

For those recruiting buffs longing for some positive news, Miami coaches wowed potential recruits who were on campus last weekend. Vaughn Telemaque, Gavin Hardin, Aaron Hester and Herman Davidson all enjoyed their time spent in Coral Gables. None committed on the spot, though some commitments could be forthcoming.

Telemaque and Davidson – both safeties and teammates at Long Beach Poly – gave Miami high marks and are going to make their decisions sooner than later.

Hardin is a three-star linebacking prospect out of Tennessee who is currently committed to Ole Miss. There was some question as to if Miami had room for him, but with the decommitment of Buchanon, Hardin could be in the right place and the right time. For the stat buffs out there, Hardin is an inside linebacker measured at 6’5″ and weighing in around 225 lbs.

Last but not least, Hester is a cornerback out of Compton, CA and a current UCLA commit. One would think with the Neuheisel hiring, as well as Walker sticking around to coach the D and Norm Chow hired today to coach the offense, Hester is beyond a long shot and actually reaffirmed his commitment to the Bruins soon after his Miami visit.

More potential Canes headed to town next weekend for their official visits. Stay tuned…

I don’t cover much Miami Basketball here and for that I apologize. I’ve followed the Canes as much as I can from the left coast, but with few nationally televised appearances, it’s been rough. The Canes are riding their first two-game losing streak of the season after falling to Boston College and N.C. State, both on the road.

At 14-3, Miami gets a shot at redemption this Wednesday when No. 4 North Carolina heads to town and again on Sunday when No. 25 Clemson visits. Both are formidable ACC foes, but here’s hoping the confines of home help The U get back to winning ways.

Pretty pathetic that no one is choosing to pick up any Canes games nationally until February 2nd when Miami heads to Duke and ABC will broadcast the action, but I guess that’s life as an up and comer.

.:Canes305:.

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