Shannon save us

• Greg Schiano: No
• Rich Rodriquez: likes to watch couches burning, so much so he turned down 'bama.
• Mike Leach: no thanks
• Mike Stoops: No
• Jimmy Johnson: enjoys his boat too much.
• Jim Leavitt: no.

Everyone who follows the Miami knew it was going to be hard to sell this program to anyone. When they decided to cut ways with Larry Coker, if they wanted Randy Shannon to be their head coach, they should have hired him then. Around the country the Miami job is a tough sell, the facilities need to be completely rebuilt, there is very little money to go around after they paid Coker a couple of million to leave, and the people expect nothing less then a national championship.

The thing that bothers me about this whole situation is that Shannon did not get a lot of consideration until a rumor came out that Mack Brown was going to make him defensive coordinator at Texas. For years, the U has not realized how good a coach he is, now they are looking for him to lead them out of the funk that the program has fallen into. To know how good a coach he is, just look at the players that he has coached over the years: Sean Taylor and D.J. Williams just to name a couple. During his time as defensive coordinator at the U, his defense worst rank has been 28th.

As a fan I hope that Shannon provides the spark the program needs. He will be one of the better younger coaches in American. One thing that cannot be overlooked is that Shannon has also been the person that has recruited all of the great defensive players to the U over the last decade. While some are unhappy that this is not the sexy hire they were looking for, just remember Jimmy Johnson, who came from Oklahoma State, and Dennis Erickson, who came from Idaho, where not sexy hires at the time.

• A closer look at the Shannon hiring from ESPN's Bruce Feldman.
• CNNSI's Steward Mandal thinks the hiring is a bold move for the U.