Florida interim head coach Randy Shannon said when he talked with athletic director Scott Stricklin on Sunday night, the subject of him possibly being considered a candidate for the vacant permanent head coaching job did not come up.
“I don’t look at it as an audition,” Shannon said Monday. “I just think the opportunity to coach and have fun with a bunch of guys, the student-athletes that you have a chance to be with. These guys have got to represent the University of Florida. I have to represent the University of Florida.
“We’ve got to go out there as a whole team and unit and coaching staff and have fun with these guys. Be very enthusiastic, be very positive and whatever happens in the game early, we’ve got to weather the storm. And at the end of the day, that’s the only thing that matters, what happened at the end of the game.
“The best job I’ve ever had is the job I have right now because it’s the only job. A lot of times in coaching, guys try to think about the next job instead of the best job they have that’s the one they have now.”
Shannon promoted defensive line coach Chris Rumph to replace him as defensive coordinator. Shannon also moved former Idaho head coach Rob Akey from defensive quality control coach to replace Rumph. He kept embattled coordinator Doug Nussmeier as play-caller.
“You can’t wholesale everything,” Shannon said. “Coach Mac left a great foundation for us. Now we’ve just got to build on it. Like anything when you have change, you have to change certain things.
“You have to change something or it becomes stagnant. We won’t be stagnant.”
Up next
Who: Florida (3-4, 3-3 SEC) vs. Missouri (3-5, 0-4)
When: Noon Saturday
Where: Faurot Field at Memorial Stadium, Columbia, Missouri
TV: ESPN2
Radio: 103.7-FM, AM-850
This administration needs to do one thing. Do whatever you can to make Tim Tebow your recruiting juggernaut . Throw money at him, give him the key to the city, whatever it takes. He will be the biggest rock star you could have walking into your recruits living room even bigger that Nick Saban! He would have an open door to every top recruit in the nation. What this does is let Strickland hire coaches more than recruiters. This is what we need to do to return to superpower status. It’s time for all you Bull Gators to open up your wallets and make this happen.
lord have mercy!
To up and coming football players Tebow is not a factor. They were in 4 or 5 grade when he was at Fla
Everyone knows Tim Tebow…I agree with Robert L
I am fairly sure all recruiters have to be active coaches. Just as we can’t have Spurrier visit recruits (like he would even want to), we can have Tebow as an active recruiter unless we put him on staff. As that would end his attempt at baseball or broadcasting opportunities, I don’t see it happening.
I think that Shannon should be in the running. Yeah, he didn’t get over the bar at Miami, but he did a great job cleaning up a notoriously felonious program. His players were fundamentally sound. He recruits Florida like a wizard. I have always been of the belief that beyond a certain organizational, personality, and leadership skill set, the success of a HC is tied closely to the performance of his coordinators. SOS would probably have not won the National Championship without Bob Stoops as his DC. Meyers program declined noticeably after the departure of Dan Mullens. I am not saying he should necessarily get the job, but I think he should not be ruled out for consideration. He is a good man, and he is obviously dedicated to mentoring and coaching his players to be good men as well. Given the time, and the support, I think Shannon could be very successful at Florida.
Thank you Coach Shannon! He’s handling this very well imo & hope the Team plays hard & gets a much needed W at Mizzou. Go Gators!
Very impressive remarks from an obviously experienced Coach. UF is very fortunate to have Randy Shannon around at this point in time. Thank you Coach Shannon!