If there’s one thing Randy Shannon knows, it’s linebackers and coaching up defenses – and after being sidelined since November 2010, the former Miami head coach appears headed back to the Lone Star State, with an official announcement coming shortly.
Shannon will soon be named the new linebackers coach at Texas Christian University, joining Gary Patterson and staff in Fort Worth this fall.
Shannon, under the terms of his buyout with Miami, was better off (financially) staying unemployed and collecting checks from UM than he’d have been assuming an assistant role elsewhere. Last month ‘The U’ and former head coach reached a long-awaited settlement, which opened the door for Shannon to coach again.
After spending 44 of his 46 years in Miami, Shannon spent the other two in Texas, during his two-year career with the Dallas Cowboys, in 1989-1990. From there he reunited with former UM and Dallas head coach Jimmy Johnson, joining his staff with the Dolphins, which paved his way back to Coral Gables.
TCU has been on a tear under Patterson the past few seasons. The Horned Frogs finished 11-2 last season, but prior to that went 13-0, beating Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl. The year prior, a 12-1 run and a Fiesta Bowl loss to Boise State.
Any knocks TCU received as a member of the weaker Mountain West Conference will come to an end this season as they’ve officially joined the Big XII and now reside in a football conference.
For Shannon, a welcomed return to coaching, albeit in a much lesser role than recently seen. Prior to being the head coach at Miami (2007-2010), Shannon was the Canes’ defensive coordinator for six seasons (2001-2006). The last time Shannon was strictly a position coach at the collegiate level was 1993-1997, when he coached linebackers at UM, first under Dennis Erickson and then under Butch Davis.
Kudos to Shannon for the new gig, but a quick note for those who wonder how the University of Miami dropped off this past decade – look no further than the past two UM head coaches.
Both were fired, which hadn’t been the case at UM since Carl Selmer went 3-8 in 1976 and was let go after the season.
Furthermore, Shannon’s was brought back on a position coach, while previous head coach Larry Coker, who started out 24-0, won a title, and reached back-to-back championship games, spent a few years on the sidelines before being named leader of the upstart University of Texas at San Antonio football program.
Coker was hired in February 2009 and didn’t coach his first game until fall 2011. His Roadrunners went 4-6 year one as a NCAA Division I FCS Independent School.
Here’s hoping that when Al Golden makes his next move, it’s a step up towards the NFL, having succeeded at Miami – and not a step back, having not gotten the job done.
Congrats to randy, and i,m glad that the dispute was settled. Both shannon and coker illustrate the difficulty of promoting a “position” coach to head coach. Lets hope that after Jim leaves baseball (and he will leave sooner or later – lets hope sooner) UM will look for an up-and-coming head coach to replace him and not an existing assistant.
Promoting from within can work sometimes … but absolutely didn’t with Coker / Shannon. Unfortunately, when Randy took over, no one else wanted the job. Schiano turned it down and others quickly took their name out of the running. (Again, 2006 season saw the Louisville logo stomp, the FIU on-the-field brawl, the Bryan Pata murder and a late four-game losing streak.) Miami became an undesirable gig and thankfully post-Shannon, a guy like Al Golden saw the potential and was at the right point of his career to make that leap. It takes a rare breed to want to coach at UM — same for baseball — which fans need to remember when wanting to run Jim Morris out of town. No doubt his teams have slipped, but again, firing him only makes sense if a suitable replacement is on board. To dump a college legend for just another guy – that’s not the right play.