Miami Hurricanes: Was Randy Shannon a Downgrade From Larry Coker?

The University of Miami (FL) has always had very high expectations for their football program.  As Canes fans we expect to compete for a National Championship, every year. 

So...When did those expectations change? Is Randy Shannon doing good enough or were we better off with Larry Coker?

Larry Coker led the Canes to an undefeated season and a national championship in 2001. He followed that season with another undefeated season and a chance for another title, where another title was robbed by Big Ten officials. 

Coker went 4-2 in bowl games.  He was a combined 60-15 (.800) as the Hurricanes head coach.  Coker also qualified for a bowl game ever year he coached. He never had a losing season though, Coker needed a victory in their MPC Computers Bowl game to secure a winning season in his final year.

The question is, was Shannon a downgrade from Coker?

In Coach Shannon's first year, the Canes had their first losing record 5-7 in over a decade.  They failed to qualify to a bowl game.  Shannon chose to play his young players and it showed. The Canes did not play with any sense of urgency.

In 2008, we hoped for a better year. The Canes were still very young.  Fans that watched a pedestrian team finish 7-6, saw an improvement. But still saw a team well below the standards set by past legends.

His third year Jacory Harris emerged and the swagger returned.  The Hurricanes looked like the Hurricanes of old.  They were fast and aggressive.  After a fast start to the 2009 season, Miami cooled down. The Canes ended up with a record of 9-4, and lost their Bowl game to Wisconsin.

In his three years, Coach Shannon has a record of 21-17. A record that is just not good enough for Miami fans. Remember, Coker's record was 60-15.  So what happened to the Mighty Canes?  Was Coker eroding the talent stream?

The answer is NO!

I studied both Coach Shannon and Coach Cokers recruiting classes and its looks like Coker had more success.  Miami has always had great recruiting classes, South Florida is the mecca of speed.

In Coker's tenure his recruiting classes ranked 8th, 5th, 4th, 7th, 14th.  He recruited current NFL stars such as Devin Hester, Brandon Meriweather, Sinorice Moss, Eric Winston, Jon Beason, Kevin Everett, Taveras Gooden, Greg Olsen, and Kenny Phillips.

Quite a good group of names, the amazing thing is most of these players were not 5-star recruits.  Many of the 5-star recruits just did not develop. 

Who remembers the name Willie Williams.  In high school, Williams was so good many thought he could jump from High School to the Pros.  Well the Canes landed him, actually Coker landed him, and it didn't work out.  At the time Williams was considered the best prospect in the country at his position.  A once in a lifetime talent.

Neither did 5-star quarterback Kyle Wright or UF transfer Brock Berlin.

Here are the numbers for Coach Shannon recruiting classes.  They ranked 19th, 5th, 15th, 16th.  It is too early to tell which players will develop to be NFL players, so I am strictly using their Rivals.com recruiting rankings to compare.

Coker's recruiting classes were far better than Shannon's. 

Shannon's 2010 recruiting class has 18 3-star players.  Coker never had a class with more than 10 3-star recruits. 

Coker's classes all had at least 10 4-star recruits, Shannon has accomplished this just once, if fact the 2010 recruiting classes only has 6 4-star recruits.

So if recruiting wasn't the problem, coaching was.  Coker got fired because 7-6 was unacceptable.  The worst any of his other teams did was 9-3.

We shouldn't commend Shannon for rebuilding the Canes.  The house never had to come down.  The talent was always there.  Now its time to win or walk for Shannon. He is playing with all HIS players and the hall-pass has expired. 

So I ask you Canes fans, Has Randy Shannon failed us?  Can he win us a championship?  Or were we better off with Larry Coker?