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July 28, 2009
Posted by ESPN.com's Heather Dinich
GREENSBORO, N.C. -- Despite the mounting pressure for him to win, there are certain things Miami coach Randy Shannon doesn't have to worry about entering his third season as head coach. He doesn't have to go into the locker room to make sure the players are keeping it neat. He doesn't have to be on campus making sure the players are in class. He trusts the players who are of drinking age know when to call it a night.
"That's easy for me now," Shannon said.
Not all of the positive changes at Miami during Shannon's short tenure have showed up in the win column. At the ACC Football Kickoff, I got a chance to ask him what he thought about his neighboring rivals being in the news so much for off-field incidents when Miami has had no reports of legal troubles. That's right, none. Florida State and Florida, however, could combine to field an entire team of players who have run into trouble with the law in the past year.
"I feel bad for other schools because we're all coaches and we're part of a coaching family and everybody goes through it," Shannon said. "When it hits you, you just have to weather the storm and get back in control of it. That's one thing we've done -- we went out and recruited the right type of players that are great athletes, great students, and the only thing they believe in is Miami. What I mean by that is they're going to represent the University of Miami, they love the University of Miami and the players on the team and that's the only thing they think about.
"Also we go into places that have winning programs," he said. "If you go look at what we've done in three years, you're going to see a lot of players from winning and state championship programs, and it's like anything -- if you're used to winning, it's going to come, and when it comes, it's going to be hard to stop."
It's only a matter of time before it starts.
