Randy Shannon’s Contract: The 800 lbs. Ibis in the Room!

Posted by By Sports Session at 15 April, at 06 : 26 AM Print

Randy Shannon’s Contract: The 800 lbs. Ibis in the Room!

I just whipped his team, shouldn't I make more money than him?

There is an 800 pound Ibis in the room no matter what subject comes up regarding Miami Hurricanes Football.  That would be the contract extension of head coach Randy Shannon, who right now is the 11th highest paid coach in the ACC.  Not to mention that he is not really the 11th highest paid he is tied with the guy in 12th place Frank Spaziani of Boston College.

In one of my other articles I talked about how “cheap” Miami can be when it comes to paying their coaches, and the fact that Coker was making near $3 million a year when he left shows they are willing to pull out the cash when needed.  I can understand starting Randy off at the lower end of the scale he is a first time head coach, but a decision needs to be made.

Any time coaches sign a new contract goals are set forth, and either he has met the goals you want or not.  At that point you need to make a decision and either fire the man, or give him an extension based off of his current body of work.  I know that Kirby Hocutt was not the person that hired Shannon, but he has had time to lay out what his vision is for where the football program should be and go from this point.

The cruxes of the matter currently are a discussion over the new base salary per year, and buy out amount if he gets fired before the end of the contract.  It seems that the administration is offering Shannon about $1.4 million in base salary and Shannon wants about $2 million a year which is a little bit over the ACC average of $1.75 million per year.  Here is the table of coach’s pay in the ACC:

1. Paul Johnson, Georgia Tech. – $2.3 million ($3.33 million possible with bonuses)

2. Jim Grobe, Wake Forest – $2.17 million ($2.5 million)

3. Butch Davis, North Carolina – $2.15 million ($2.26 million)

4. Ralph Friedgen, Maryland – $2.03 million ($2.56 million)

5. Frank Beamer, Virginia Tech – $2 million ($2.42 million)

6. Jimbo Fisher, Florida State – $1.8 million ($2.6 million)

7. Dabo Swinney, Clemson – $1.75 million ($2.63 million)

8. Mike London, Virginia – $1.7 million ($2.27 million)

9. Tom O’Brien, North Carolina State – $1.52 million ($2.63 million)

10. David Cutliffe, Duke – $1.5 milliion ($1.5 million)

11. Randy Shannon – $900,000 ($900,000)*

12. Frank Spaziani – $900,000 ($900,000)

(Data provided by http://www.sun-sentinel.com)

What the administration at the University of Miami are saying to the fans publicly is Randy Shannon is our guy, and he is going to be our coach for a long time!  Well the administration’s actions are saying we want to pay this guy the least amount we can, but put gigantic expectations on him to win and make sure the buyout is small enough so we can easily get rid of him.

$1.4 million is a slap in the face; they are saying that Randy has not done enough to be paid the median salary in the ACC?  I have heard all these Shannon detractors talk about top flight coaches getting it done; well they get paid the salary and are given the resources to get it done.

In Shannon’s case he has not even cracked $1 million dollars per year yet, but Mike London who has not coached a game for UVA is almost at $2 million per.  The new contract they are offering is still less than Jimbo Fisher, Mike London, Dabo Swinney, Tom O’Brien, and David Cutliffe all coaches that have been hired after Shannon.

That is why it will be difficult for Miami to land a big time coach that all the naysayers are clamoring for; they do not want to pay for it.  They pinch pennies where they can, and even though the football program has brought so much into the school they continue to choke it off whenever they get the opportunity.

This is hurting the team on the recruiting trail, and if you notice this year’s recruiting class was the lowest ranked in the Shannon era.  Much of that had to do with the fact that every living room Shannon went into he had to field the questions, are you going to be there when my son graduates?  How do you answer that question confidently without looking like a liar if things change later, uncertainty breeds mediocrity.

I won’t play the racial angle here, but it would be easy for someone to make that case.  The bottom line is the administration at Miami needs to pay Randy Shannon or give him his walking papers, this waffling in the middle looks like the program has no direction and that is as good as blood in the water to the competition.

I will leave you with this tidbit, when Miami played South Florida this past season Jim Leavitt was being paid about $1.3 million dollars per year.  While Randy Shannon at a “better” program, in a tougher conference, and a better record than Leavitt’s team was making a paltry $900,000.  Miami beat USF soundly 31 – 10, and not only that Shannon has out recruited Leavitt every year as well, but still makes less money?

Lastly, if you are going to comment talking about how bad the economy is, and he should be happy to get $1.4 million you just have no understanding of a free market economy.  This is not an economics article, so I won’t get into it here.  If Saban and Meyer can get over $4 million why can’t Shannon get his $2 million?

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6 Comments

  1. Strauzer, 1 year ago Reply

    Its all about the wins, Shannon needs to win the ACC this year or we need a new coach, period. Shannon has no leverage, nobody is clamoring to hire him away and the administration knows this. Why? because our mid season collapse is why. The #1 recruiting class in 2008 is now in its Junior year, time for results. Take an incentive laden contract and lets move on. To say the U is being cheap is false, they are being smart business people. Would you give an automatic raise to a guy that isnt going anywhere that has yet to prove he is worthy of the same dollars his peers get. lets look at it from a head to head standpoint (thanks to my man CC for the assist on this):

    Frank Beamer-is arguably the best coach in the ACC and deserves more $ simply because his teams have won the ACC several times.
    Butch Davis has “owned” Shannon at a school known more for BASKETBALL by beating him head to head every time they have met.
    Paul Johnson- despite losing to Miami last year on the whole he has outperformed Shannon and won the ACC title in less time than Shannon has been head coach.
    UVA- Groh got fired, Virginia had to pay $$ to lure a coach to turn that team around if they were serious about being a competitive team.
    David Cutclffe has brought Duke to their best seasons since the Spurrier days and has nearly beaten Shannon 3 years in a row AT DUKE! This year Duke was beating Miami into the 4th quarter. Reminder this is DUKE in football!
    Atlantic Division
    FSU- Jimbo Fisher – his offenses have put up 35+ points on Shannon’s defenses every year they have faced including at LSU and has already proven his $$ by outrecruiting Shannon in his first recruiting class.
    Clemson – Dabo – In his first year he achieved more at Clemson then Shannon has in 3 yrs at Miami, including a head to head win vs Shannon and reaching the ACC title game in year 1.
    Wake Forrest – Grobe- He has won an ACC title, enough said.
    NC State – O’brien- while NCST sucks currently and embarrassed Shannon in their only meeting two years ago.
    So if we look at it rationally, Shannon deserves to be in the bottom quartile of compensation. Until he proves otherwise (beats, Clemson, UNC, wins his division and get to the ACC championship and WIN it) then pay him what he is worth and layer in incentives to bring his comp in line with performance.

    • Sports Session, 1 year ago

      Thanks for stopping by Strauzer been offline for a few days. I don’t see how you can say that Cutcliffe deserves to be paid more than Shannon because Duke “almost” beat Miami three years a row. A win is a win, there is no almost won column, that is like saying the Colts almost won the Super Bowl. There is no almost either you win or you lose period. You bring up Grobe LOL, I think he has won one ACC title in 10 years maybe? If that is the bar you want then if Shannon wins one next seasons he is set for the next six years. What has Dabo achieved that Shannon hasn’t he took some of Tommy Bowdens players and had a good season? It’s simple you hate Shannon and want him out, which is perfectly fine. But, he is OUR coach so if you as big of a Miami fan as you seem to be back the guy until he is canned. Talking negative about him and NOT supporting the team serves does not help “The U”.

  2. Cane Fan Win or Lose, 1 year ago Reply

    First, Excellent article and very well put. I don’t believe that Shannon should be paid as high as $4M like Saban and Meyer but I do believe he is worth more in the ACC than Jim Grobe, Ralph Friedgen (who may be out of a job in a year), Jimbo Fisher (1st year coach on an under performing FSU team), Mike London (who is he?), Tom O’brien and David Cutcliffe. I will say that Cutcliffe is doing remarkable work at Duke but not enough to be paid better than Shannon because he almost beat Miami.
    Strauzer – It’s interesting how detractors of Shannon point out all of the negatives yet they forget the major point of concern, the Canes have progressed each and every year under Shannon. 5-7, 7-5 & 9-7. I don’t know if you know how to read a bar chart but if I input that information that would be an Upward Trend in stats. They went from having one of the worst offensive stats when he got there to one of the best in the ACC last year. Butch Davis and Beamer are arguably the best coaches in the Nation regardless of conference and Davis has made his respective school better with his arrival. Also keep in mind that Shannon is passing on great 5 Star athletes out of the South Florida area because their character and grades do not meet the standards that he and the university want to display. He’s bought Miami into an era where the attention they’re receiving is not about thugs. My friend, if you believe Shannon should be at the bottom of the league in pay then I’ll give you numbers instead.
    League Average Record 2007-2009 7-6
    Miami’s Average 2007-2009 7-6
    League Average Record 2009 7-6
    Miami’s Record 2009 9-4
    Not Meyers numbers but definite deserving of raise consistent with the rest of the league with his numbers. $2M sounds just about right….Also; it’s Miami for God Sake. They ought to be ashamed of themselves for paying pennies to the coach of a team that funds their entire athletic department. They definitely have the money.

  3. Sports Session, 1 year ago Reply

    Cane Fan excellent post, and I have heard Strauzer say on other threads that he likes Randy Shannon. Shannon does not deserve Meyer or Saban money, but I would say he is easily one of the top 3 or 4 coaches in the ACC.

    You are exactly right about the upward trend with a teams winning record, he has gotten better every year. Winning a conference is not an easy thing, as good as Florida was supposed to be they did not get it done.

    Shannon is a great recruiter and I think he is growing as a coach there are some things he needs to improve upon, and all those detractors have not offered up any alternatives to Shannon. Thanks for the comment.

  4. Reyes Jose, 1 year ago Reply

    Howdy, i read your blog from time to time and i own a similar one and i was just curious if you get a lot of spam remarks? If so how do you protect against it, any plugin or anything you can suggest? I get so much lately it’s driving me mad so any support is very much appreciated.

    • Sports Session, 1 year ago

      Jose,

      Sorry for the delayed reply it has been a rough few days. Are you using WordPress? If so then you will need to turn on the Akismet plugin (it shoud be included with WordPress) if not then you can just download it. Once you activate MOST of the spam comments will be handled automatically for you. I had the same issue and was getting annoyed denying all of them, but once I figured that out things are great now. Thanks for reading, I will check your page out too.


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