Introducing.....

Randy Shannon Defensive Coordinator at the University of Miami, was announced as Head Football Coach today. I like this hire. Coach Shannon bleeds orange and green. He has three rings with the U. One as a player ('87), one as a graduate assistant ('91) and one as a coach ('01). I think this will help propel Miami into the top 5 in recruiting this year and will breathe life into the 18 returning starters for next year. If you aren't familiar with Coach Shannon, this is his life as reported by Dave Hyde of the Sun Sentinel:
He came out of the meanest streets of Miami, the ones in Liberty City that murdered his father, sent a brother to prison and killed three siblings by AIDS, each one the result of a crack-cocaine addiction. You think Randy Shannon's a bit of an upset today as the University of Miami's newly named football coach? That doesn't begin to tell the upset Shannon has been in life. At every age, he has overcome more than most of us have ever faced. At 3, his father was murdered while trying to break up an argument. At 16, he became a father himself. At 22, he was the first in his family to earn a college degree. At 23, he was an 11th-round pick by the Dallas Cowboys and became their first rookie linebacker to start since their expansion days. At 25, his sister, Joanna, died of AIDS. Two brothers soon followed. A third brother wallowed in drugs to the point he stole Randy's identity, plunging his life into such a chaos that he had to carry around special identification to prove that he really was Randy Shannon. At 40, he's Miami's new coach.