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Tuesday, August 07, 2012

TCU excited about Randy Shannon’s arrival






August 5, 2012

By Tim Griffin

FORT WORTH — TCU made a big national splash last month when former Miami coach Randy Shannon was hired as the Horned Frogs’ new linebackers coach.

TCU coach Gary Patterson said that Shannon has barely arrived at TCU after visiting with his daughter who is serving in the military in Europe. But he expects Shannon’s expertise to quickly impact the Horned Frogs.

“It’s unbelievable,” Patterson said. “Here’s a guy who turned down eight to 10 coordinator jobs in about every conference in college football.”

Shannon worked under Larry Coker at Miami, where he led helped lead two teams to national championship games and had three defenses that led the nation in total defense.

He later served as Miami’s head coach for four seasons before he was fired at the end of the 2010 regular season. He went 28-22 in four seasons as the Hurricanes’ head coach.

Patterson and Shannon have been friends for many years. He visited TCU twice on spring fact-finding visits since leaving Miami and also watched several of TCU’s bowl practices before the 2011 Rose Bowl.

“We coach a lot of the same kind of principles that he did,” Patterson said. “It’s the way we do our schemes.”

In a way, being able to attract Shannon to join Patterson’s coaching staff is an indicator of TCU’s growing influence in college football.

Several TCU defensive players said Sunday they can’t wait for his arrival.

”Talking to our linebackers, they are excited,” TCU sophomore strong safety Sam Carter said. “We know by him being at Miami and some of the players who came from there that he’s an amazing coach. We’re glad to have him here.”

Former TCU linebackers coach Tony Tademy resigned after spending seven seasons on Patterson’s staff to spend more time with his family. Tademy has taken an assistant coaching job at Duncanville High School.

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