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Randy Lennard Shannon (born February 24, 1966 in Miami, Florida) is the current head football coach of the University of Miami Hurricanes. In 2007, in his first year as head coach, he led the team to one of its few losing records of the past three decades, and the team failed to qualify for any bowl game. With a career head coaching record of 7–10 (.412), he maintains the worst record of any University of Miami head coach of the past four decades.

Playing career

Shannon is a graduate of Beth Am Day School in Miami and Miami Norland High School in Miami Gardens, Florida. He played college football for the University of Miami, starting at outside linebacker for the 1987 national championship team.

After graduating in 1991, Shannon played briefly as a linebacker for the Dallas Cowboys.

Coaching career

Early years

Shannon was first hired by Miami coach Dennis Erickson in 1991 to be a graduate assistant. He later became the team's defensive line coach and linebackers coach. Shannon worked as linebackers coach for the Miami Dolphins in 2000 and as a defensive assistant in 1998 and 1999.

In 2001, Miami coach Larry Coker hired Shannon to be the defensive coordinator. That year Shannon received the Broyles Award given annually to the best assistant coach in college football.

During Shannon's six years as UM's defensive coordinator, his defenses ranked as follows in total defense nationally:

2001 - 6th
2002 - 7th
2003 - 2nd
2004 - 28th
2005 - 4th
2006 - 7th

University of Miami Head Coach

Shannon was officially introduced as the head coach of Miami on December 8, 2006, replacing Larry Coker in the position. Shannon reportedly agreed to a four-year deal worth over $4 million. He is the sixth black head coach in Division I-A NCAA football, the others being Kevin Sumlin, (University of Houston), Sylvester Croom (Mississippi State), Tyrone Willingham (Washington), Ron Prince (KSU), and Turner Gill (Buffalo). Coker stayed on to coach the team to a 21-20 MPC Computers Bowl victory over the University of Nevada; Shannon assumed all other functions, including recruiting, immediately upon his hiring. The first recruit he visited as head coach was five star running back Graig Cooper, who signed with Miami.

Debut season

Shannon's first decision as head coach was a controversial, unsuccessful and unpopular one. Highly unuusal for one of the country's traditionally successful football programs, the team finished the season with a losing record and failed to qualify for any bowl game.

Additionally, in a highly controversial decision, Shannon removed the players' surnames from their jerseys. This led The Miami Herald to jokingly refer to the team as a "no name offense, no name defense." Fans found the decision made the game more difficult to follow.

The season opened with a predictable victory over Marshall in his first game as head coach. The second game was a 51-13 loss to the University of Oklahoma in a nationally televised game, one of the most lopsided defeats in the program's history.

Miami did defeat then-20th ranked Texas A&M in the third game, but then collapsed completely, losing to unranked North Carolina and, in the Orange Bowl, to unranked Georgia Tech and North Carolina State. One highlight was Miami's fourth quarter comeback against rival Florida State. However, this was offset by the team's embarrassing final appearance ever at the Orange Bowl in which Miami suffered a crushing 48-0 loss against 21st University of Virginia, the worst loss for the program in the history of its play at the Orange Bowl and the worst overall loss since the 1998 Canes' loss at Syracuse (66-13).

Miami finished the season losing to Boston College 28-14. Under Shannon, the team lost 6 out of their 7 last games, finishing with a losing record and failing to qualify for a bowl game for the first time in over a decade.

Two days after the season ended, one of Miami's former players, Sean Taylor, was shot in his home in Miami. Shannon expressed frustration over the media's handling of such incidents, alleging that the coverage made it appear as though the University of Miami is a haven for crime.

2008 season

Prior to the start of the season, Shannon finished last in a Sporting News ranking of the 66 BCS head coaches. While the University of Miami has regularly appeared in the nation's "Top 20" Division I football programs since the 1980s, Shannon's team (which finished unranked in 2007) is unranked four games into the 2008 season and, on September 27, lost to unranked North Carolina.

Head coaching record

References

External links

Randy Shannon biography at University of Miami Official Athletics Web Site