Randy Shannon vs Butch Davis: Shannon Wins Hands Down

by Kartik Krishnaiyer
Canes Rising Staff


Randy Shannon has been vilified by many critics and so-called Hurricane fans as unfit to lead a College Football program who can boast five national titles in the past 25 years.

Yet with each passing week, Shannon and his staff, led by Offensive Coordinator Pat Nix and Defensive Coordinator Bill Young, continue to impress as a unit.

Miami is well-coached team, minimizing penalties and making the right calls at the right times in games. Miami's overall lack of talent when compared with the rest of the ACC has at times made these play calls less than successful.

Six wins already is better than what anyone who objectively looked at this team could have expected.

For all the Shannon haters out there, I would claim he has already proven himself.

David Cutcliffe is the top ACC coach this year: no argument there for the job he's done with Duke. But Shannon has done a better job than anyone else.

Take a look at Florida State's talent level currently. At every position not on the offensive line FSU has a more proven or more talented player. Yet under Shannon, Miami almost heroically beat the Noles and has the same number of league losses as FSU.

The very same Florida offense that is scoring for fun against alleged top 25 competition in the SEC was held down for three quarters by Miami. Wake Forest's Riley Skinner has torched the ACC for three seasons and could finish his career as the winningest QB in the history of the league, but he had his worst game in his career against Miami two weekends ago.

Miami is overachieving right now. Some of you, however, may want to believe this: the talent level at the "U" is like it was in the 1980s or early part of this decade. It's not even close.

Butch Davis had a slight decline in talent from 1995-1997, but was also blessed by the relative softness of the Big East at the time.

Let's not forget that under Dennis Erickson in 1994 Miami had made the Orange Bowl and dominated Florida State at home giving the Noles their biggest loss of the 90s until the Sugar Bowl in 1997 against Florida.

Davis inherited the core of that team and could not coach it adequately. Sure probation and the media did not help, but Davis was learning on the job.

As we saw come 2000 he became a decent gameday coach and was from day one a great recruiter. But the bottom line is Randy Shannon is much further along as a gameday coach in year two than Butch Davis was even in year five as Miami's CEO.

Losses to East Carolina in 1996 and 1999 as well as near misses against Boston College in 1995 and 1997, and Pitt in 1995, have been forgotten as the romanticism of Butch Davis has intensified since his departure from the "U."

Davis never had to deal with the low caliber of talent Shannon has been forced to coach his first two years at Miami. The 2007 and 2008 Miami teams are the least talented since Lou Saban took over the program in 1977.

Davis mismanaged games, losing to Virginia Tech in 1997 out of his own incompetence in constantly chasing points after Andy Crossland missed an early extra point. That loss cost UM a bowl birth.

Davis also made curious calls late in games in losses to East Carolina in 1999 and a Tremain Mack inspired luck win at West Virginia in 1996.

Davis also lucked out in 1998 when his offensive coordinator, Larry Coker, called two straight QB sneaks with Scott Covington into the West Virginia line in Morgantown and the Mountaineers stopped both. Somehow in that game Miami got the ball back with about a minute to go and James Jackson rattled off a long run to give Miami a late win despite the game mismanagement by the coaches.

Davis and Coker were then in their fourth year together and still could not manage conference games at an acceptable level.

Later that season, with a Big East title and a potential Orange Bowl matchup with Florida on the line, the Hurricanes gave up 66 points to Syracuse. The U had never been lower than where Davis had taken it at that point.

By contrast, Randy Shannon and Pat Nix, in year two of their partnership, have shown in the last three ACC games they can make the right call for the right occasion with a game on the line.

Miami's talent level in 2008 is far inferior to 1998. Yet Miami has an opportunity to win the ACC, and, should the Canes fall short, I doubt we're going to see a 66 point effort by the opposition in the deciding game as we did in 1998.

Butch Davis allowed his Defensive Coordinator Greg Schiano to call a safety blitz with Miami leading #2 Penn State 23-20 very late in a 1999 game. Schiano's blitz backfired as Choppy Fields burnt Mike Rumph for a long TD pass and the Canes lost the chance at a signature win. Schiano also called the same blitz against Florida State a year later allowing Chris Weinke to find a wide open Atrews Bell to give FSU a late lead on the Canes. Thankfully, Jeremy Shockey had the final say that day.

The final statement on Butch Davis at Miami rightly or wrongly was his failure to understand the BCS system in 2000 and to take advantage of the rules.

With Miami leading Virginia Tech, 35-0, in the 2nd half, the Canes allowed the Hokies three late TDs which ultimately sent Florida State to the BCS Title game instead of Miami.

Florida State made sure of this by running up the score a week later on Clemson and stopping Florida at the goal line two weeks following the Clemson game.

The BCS rules in 2000 were ridiculous, but Davis chasing a national title needed to understand them better and coach accordingly.

Critical coaching mistakes when the game is on the line. This was a signature item of the Butch Davis era at Miami.

Great recruits, a new attitude, a clean program indeed Butch Davis delivered, and for this he must be thanked.

But Davis has been almost deified by Miami fans looking to pillage Randy Shannon and who simplicity points to North Carolina's two head to head wins with Davis over Shannon's Canes.

Instead of playing down to the competition as Miami did under Larry Coker and Butch Davis, the Canes are playing up to them under Shannon.

The competition is stiffer than Butch Davis faced with the week-in and week-out grind of the ACC replacing the day at the beach that the Big East represented when Donovan McNabb was not at Syracuse.

Shannon has the potential to be the best gameday UM coach since Dennis Erickson and is a much better recruiter and, obviously, a better man than Erickson.

Randy Shannon is building Miami the right way and doing it with less resources under tougher circumstances and in quicker time than Butch Davis had to work with.