After a few days of obsessively refreshing websites and searching Google news and constantly checking Twitter for the latest on Maryland’s offer to former Miami head coach Randy Shannon, I finally got the news. Too bad it wasn’t what I was hoping to hear.
The Baltimore Sun reported that Shannon has declined an offer to take the defensive coordinator position at the University of Maryland.
I won’t lie; I like Randy Shannon and I was very happy to hear he’d been offered the position. I already had a blog post all ready to go about how he’s a stellar defensive coach and a stand-up guy and a really strong hire for new Terps head coach Randy Edsall.
I’ve liked Randy Shannon since he was elevated to the head coaching job at Miami at the end of the 2006 season. I thought it was wonderful when he refused to cater to former UM QB Robert Marve when he was acting like an entitled brat. I wanted him to be successful at Miami - and I don’t even like Miami - because I thought he was good for that program at that particular time (new rule: any player with a gun is off the team and out of school). And I was disappointed when it didn’t work out, just as I’m disappointed it’s not going to work out between Shannon and the Terps.
Shannon reportedly turned the job down because if he took it, he’d be losing $1.5 million in buyout money from the University of Miami. It seems like he gave that number to the Terps, theoretically offering them the chance to match it, and they said “Kbye.”
Can you blame either side?
Maryland’s already paying Randy Edsall somewhere in the $2 million range, and they’re also paying former coach Ralph Friedgen another $2 million to not coach (Tell me where the logic is in that. Please. Someone.) Coming up with another enormous chunk of change for a coordinator probably wouldn’t be a great option for the school right now.
While there are some college coordinators pulling in salaries worth millions, those coordinators do not coach in the ACC (Auburn’s Gus Malzahn will be making $1.3 mil after a raise, but ACC D-coordinators last year made between $150,00 and $700,000, depending on the school.)
Maryland had no business giving Randy Shannon $1.5 million. They probably could’ve come up with something that would add up to that over a few years, but it seems like he didn’t want that.
I wouldn’t either. Why go back to work if you’re going to make less than if you were to stay home and relax? (Jury is still out on whether Randy Shannon actually knows how to relax. Interesting thought, and much more pleasant than thinking about the reality of a world where someone can earn that much money for doing absolutely nothing, while millions work multiple jobs just to put food on the table.)
Randy Shannon to Maryland was a really exciting possibility, but in the end, it was more fiscally responsible for both sides not to come to an agreement. No harm, no foul. And still no DC at Maryland. So, who’s up next? (And can we get a “Candidates must submit minimum salary requirements in order to be considered” this time?)
