Geoff Collins parlayed two seasons with the Florida Gators into a head-coaching job at Temple University. Collins made the move from Mississippi State to Florida to join Jim McElwain’s inaugural staff and was a hot name in the head-coaching circuit both years he spent in Gainesville.
“We’re really excited about the opportunity for him and his family,” McElwain said. “It’s a place that’s really done a great job, and he’ll carry that on. He’s a guy that’s meant a lot to us.”
McElwain was left with a void to fill. Collins had called the defensive plays for a unit that has ranked in the top-10 nationally the past two seasons and the Gators needed to find someone to fill that role for their date with the Iowa Hawkeyes in the Outback Bowl. McElwain didn’t need to look far, tabbing former Miami Hurricanes head coach and UF co-defensive coordinator Randy Shannon for the job.
McElwain has yet to formally announce that Shannon is the interim defensive coordinator, but Collins is in Philadelphia working on his first head coaching job and the Gators have returned to the practice field. Several players acknowledged Friday that Shannon has taken on a bigger role during the first two days of bowl practice. He’s also a popular coach among the entire defense.
“I feel like a lot of guys respect Coach Shannon,” junior cornerback Jalen Tabor said. “It’s hard to get a coach who really cares about you in like college, because most of the time they’re trying to advance what they do just like we’re trying to advance what we do. Just having Coach Shannon there who really cares about his guys. Not even talk about what he’s done in the past, but talk about what he does for us. He’s just great at what he does. We all respect him. We all love him.”
Shannon has spent the past two years as the Gators’ linebackers coach. He also had the additional tags of co-defensive coordinator and associate head coach. During that time he’s built relationships with the players and earned their trust. That’s not to say that if McElwain chose to make a hire from outside the program a new coach couldn’t do the same, but Shannon has a leg up and he has a proven track record.
“Just check his resume out. He has been in a lot of different schools, played with a lot of different guys, and just liked he talked to us this is his best team now,” redshirt junior Marcell Harris said. “Now that we are here, he is going to take this job seriously and it’s a great job for him if anything happens.”
There’s no indication that these next two weeks will be a job interview for Shannon and it’s no certainty that he will be named the Gators’ next defensive coordinator. He’s certainly qualified, a good recruiter with strong ties to the rich recruiting grounds in South Florida and, on top of all that, he has the unwavering support of his players.
“He’ll do very good,” linebacker Kylan Johnson said. “I trust him and I think he’s the guy for us.”