This Is The End Of The Innocence

The Miami Hurricanes lost today.

Randy Shannon was fired today.

The disappointing, sad and at times tumultuous reign of "The Boss" has finally reached its brutal, bitter end.

For many Hurricane fans this is the end of the innocence.

So many wanted Randy Shannon to succeed for so many various and different reasons.  Hurricane fans, college football fans, fans of equality, African Americans in general.  Shannon had everyone in his corner yet he failed to produce the results necessary to retain his dream job.

Now he is gone, shown the door because he simply did not win enough games.  Offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland was named Interim Head Coach by Athletic Director Kirby Hocutt.

 
Yet Shannon, a former UM player, graduate, defensive coordinator and most recently head coach was not up to the task of leading ther Hurricanes back to the promised land.

Now he sits in the middle of nowhere, his dreams dashed, all hope lost and a shell of a man.

I am sad for him.

Shannon once bled orange and green.

Now, after being fired, he may have just bled to death.

This is the end of the innocence. 

Comments

[solarcane]

soup,
my newest posts appear yesterday. then I have to click the blue timestamp to move back to today
am I screwing up?

[Sarasota 'cane]

Censorship, it's what's for dinner! Just another example of "The Man" holding me down!

Go 'canes!

[Old Skool]

This is strange we've had a Typepad outage. 5 pages of comments have disappeared.

[solarcane]

Did soup just get fired?

[usagainsttheworld&theofficials]

SCHNELLY!!!

[francis w]

Time for not only new head coach but a new blog this one is depressing me. I have a cold and am constipated waiting for Jean to get me some prune juice. I know that's more than what you wanted to know about me, tough shit.

respectfully :-)
Fran

[francis w]

wow first in reverse HaHA
Fran

[SOUP]

TEST

[francis w]

Due to popular demand the most recent comments are now FIRST at the top of the page.
I changed it to 100 comments per page also instead of 50.
Feedback?

Posted by: SOUP | November 29, 2010 at 08:11 AM
............................

Love it !!
Fran

[SOUP]

Skool...the posts did NOT disappear.

I changed the format from 50 comments per page to 100 per page so now there are fewer pages.

The most recent comment appears at THE TOP of page 1.

[solarcane]

Soup,
nice move it will take a day for everyone to catch up but it will be much better. Good stuff !

[CGNC]

Good morning! what is the "strong chatter" today?

[SOUP]

nice move it will take a day for everyone to catch up but it will be much better. Good stuff !

Posted by: solarcane | November 29, 2010 at 08:55 AM

It is hard to get used to and I do not prefer it but if it is what EVERYONE wants then we will keep it.

My fear is that people will NOT scroll through the other comments and only read their own comment and ignore everybody else which will hurt the "conversational" feel that the blog had.

We will see after a few days once everyone catches on to the new format.

[SOUP]

Good morning! what is the "strong chatter" today?

Posted by: CGNC | November 29, 2010 at 08:56 AM

Word on the skreet is that a cold front is expected on Wednesday. Temperatures expected to drop overnight and into Thursday, wind shifting to the NW.

[raizecane]

damn......i thought i drank way to much last night because i get on here this morning and everything is "whacked".

I like the 100 over the 50 and will get used to having newest post showing first.

[Ungar]

Skool...the posts did NOT disappear.

I changed the format from 50 comments per page to 100 per page so now there are fewer pages.

The most recent comment appears at THE TOP of page 1.

Posted by: SOUP | November 29, 2010 at 08:50 AM

Hooray.

712 comments, and I am on top! Nobody else had better comment!

[IraqiCane]

...

[Jersey_Cane]

My fear is that people will NOT scroll through the other comments and only read their own comment and ignore everybody else which will hurt the "conversational" feel that the blog had.

We will see after a few days once everyone catches on to the new format.

Posted by: SOUP | November 29, 2010 at 08:59 AM

I prefer the old format. The reality is most of the posts become a form of conversation between posters. I find it more entertaining to read the history. I think that is what makes the blog so good. Thanks,

[solarcane]

CBS New York

Nice words for Randy

By Jason Keidel

It seems team sports need villains, players or teams that evoke love or loathing, inspire you to burn or brandish jerseys and other sacred items that vicariously prove your superiority over your brethren. In the NFL it is the Dallas Cowboys. In baseball it’s the New York Yankees. In college basketball it’s Duke.

In college football it’s the Miami Hurricanes. In 1983, Miami lit a fire of dominance tearing across America for two decades, under several head coaches, with the implicit premise that winning justifies all conduct.

Then, after too many complaints, too much scandal, too much of everything, they hired Randy Shannon to coach the team four years ago. And then they fired him after four seasons with no bowl wins, a .500 record in the ACC, and an unacceptable 7-5 record this season.

He’s from Miami, he played for Miami and, when he came on to coach his alma mater, Randy Shannon became a hopeful symbol, proof that you can rebuild a dynasty with dignity.

Shannon represents the crossroads of conscience that beguiles college athletics. It seems every school must choose between saints and sinners, or find a happy medium with proper stealth. When Miami was at its best (or worst, depending on your view) they were clashing yearly with Notre Dame, contests billed “Catholics versus Convicts.”

The marquee was silly, of course, because it presupposes any school consists entirely of one or the other. We’ve come to learn that it’s nearly impossible to win without both.

Shannon, a gentleman, scrubbed the team squeaky clean. Now it appears he is unemployed for sterilizing it. Miami lost its rap sheet and rap persona, graduated more players, and became an incubator for the ideal of the student athlete. But Shannon could be hailed as a good guy only as long as his team’s record allowed it.

Randy Shannon will be fine. Whether the program he left behind will be fine as well is unknown and not his problem. But it makes the objective follower applaud any coach that wins consistently with any class.

Mike Krzyzewski at Duke, for instance, seems to toe the spiritual line without selling his soul, winning myriad titles without the NCAA siren blaring at his back. Perhaps we presume that Coach K does it the right way because we want to believe it. There are too many animals in the athletic jungle and not enough leashes to assume that any program is pristine. But those of us without the provincial bond of a college degree often look for other reasons to root for a school.

Perhaps the ideal doesn’t exist. Coaches like Randy Shannon, men of principle, are often proof of this, that the beauty and the sorrow of sports is that we keep score, that there are indeed winners and losers, and that those qualities are measured during a three-hour period on a patch of grass on Saturday afternoon, where moral victories are not welcome.

Feel free to email me: Jakster1@mac.com

[solarcane]

I can see people's points that you will be more tempted to read the current post and not review the prior posts that pertain to it.

[BEERicane]

WTF is this all about? Is it opposite day? How does one establish it is opposite day? Is that even possible?

[raizecane]

I didn't know today was April 1st.......

[SOUP]

This format is for lazy people who do not want to read other people's comments.

[SOUP]

I rooted for Shannon. I admit it. The greatest misconception most sports fans have of sports journalists is that we wish ill of the local teams or coaches. It isn't true.

We prefer to write about good stuff, about happy, about wins and champions.

I rooted for Shannon beyond that, though. Some of it was my knowing him since he was an undersized, overachieving linebacker for the Canes in the '80s, but most of it was simply hoping a native son, born and raised in Miami, would succeed in his beloved backyard.

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/11/28/1947770/shannon-leaves-um-with-a-strong.html#ixzz16gKIUJTg

[solarcane]

Soup I am beginning to see exactly what you fear might happen.
I like this because I scroll back and read.

But you are right it is too easy to just read what is on the screen and move on.

I'll be fine with whatever the majority say is best...
dang did I just type that?

OK out for awhile I'll be back and read what everybody says this afternoon.

Go Kirby

[raizecane]

RIP - Leslie Nielsen

[usagainsttheworld&theofficials]

question: could chucky be compelled to come to the U given that there is a serious threat of a work stoppage in the nfl soon? maybe he comes here for a couple of years until the stoppage stuff blows over. i'm not sold on chucky but we'll see.

[mi@mic@ne]

///

[SOUP]

NEW BLOG IS UP.

[dj moonbat]

Well, I always knew that Randy knew -- better than anybody -- what made 'Canes football tick. I guess what I forgot is that there are some people who Can Do, but Can't Teach. Those kids on the field, with a few exceptions, just never seemed to develop that Miami killer instinct.

So Shannon had to go.

Best of luck, Randy. You were a class act, doomed to be misunderstood because of the very same isolated and tough persona that got you through Miami's mean streets.

[CGNC]

:-D

[LegalImmigrantCane]

MH

The Miami Hurricanes began a national coaching search Sunday to replace Randy Shannon. And it looks like former Super Bowl-winning coach Jon Gruden is their top target.

One UM trustee said Gruden has been the focus of the school's search, and UM would be willing to pay far more than they paid Shannon to try to lure him. And another source told The Miami Herald Gruden has some interest in the job, and UM clearly is interested in Gruden. But Hurricanes fans should temper their excitement.

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/11/29/1947816/source-gruden-shows-interest-in.html#ixzz16f6fUpct

There was not a longer-running relationship in South Florida sports. The divorce came suddenly. The words from both sides have been professionally amicable, but don't let the words fool you.

``I'm hurt. You get hurt,'' Randy Shannon said by phone Sunday, his first day waking up to his new reality. ``I'm disappointed. I wish I had more time.''

Since 1984, for more than half his life, Shannon has regarded the University of Miami and its football program as family. Late Saturday night, his family kicked him out of the house. His school of more than a quarter century -- his school -- told him for the first time he wasn't good enough. And goodbye.

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/11/28/1947770/shannon-leaves-um-with-a-strong.html#ixzz16f7KElAl

Championships.

Winning.

Relevance.

Those were the hallmarks University of Miami athletic director Kirby Hocutt repeatedly mentioned during a Sunday news conference in the wake of football coach Randy Shannon's dismissal.

``Simply stated, winning is important at the University of Miami -- always has been, always will be,'' Hocutt said, his voice breaking at times while explaining one of the hardest decisions he ever has made. ``. . . At the U we expect to compete for championships and nothing less. We have a group of talented young men in this program, and our future is promising. To once again sit at the top of the college football world, Miami must be relevant in college football.

``. . . We will not compromise on winning.''

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/11/28/1947645/winning-is-important.html#ixzz16f7jCNH7

According to linebacker Jordan Futch, Kirby Hocutt told the players that some of the assistant coaches already know their fate, but hadn't revealed it yet.

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/11/28/1947004/um-football-news-conferecne-on.html#ixzz16f8mPqGI

Manny

http://miamiherald.typepad.com/umiami/2010/11/reaction-to-randy-shannon-firing.html

Posted by: NativeCane | November 29, 2010 at 04:40 AM

[J curran]

why not bring back the only active coach wearing five national championship rings and bleeds orange and green Art Kehoe

[J curran]

Kehoe was Assistant head coach at Miami and Ole Miss, Anyone that has played with him, or for him, will tell you that he definitely has what it takes. Give the man one year and he will make things happen right away! He has something to prove and he will. I hope it's at Miami

[DADDEH]

U

[Insurance Olympia]

I love it! We rock!