Miami football analyst Bob Shoop better fit than Randy Shannon to Florida State

Miami football analyst Bob Shoop who was hired earlier this year is a better fit than former Hurricanes head coach and player Randy Shannon who was hired for the same role with Florida State on Monday. Shannon spent the last three seasons as the defensive coordinator at Central Florida.

Florida State is the fifth school that Shannon will work for in the Sunshine State. Shannon also spent two seasons as an assistant with the Dolphins in 1998 and 1998. Central Florida has had porous defenses each of the last three seasons. The Knights finished 92nd, 41st and 36th in the last three years in scoring defense.

Central Florida was 123rd in total defense in 2020, 32nd and 95th in total defense in the last three seasons. Florida State has finished 107th, 90th and 80th in total defense the last three years and 105th, 66th and 90th in scoring defense over the last three seasons. Miami had a top 25 defense in 2018 and 2019.

Even with the struggles last season, the Miami defense was 50th in scoring defense and 67th in total defense in 2020. Those numbers were far higher than where the Miami defense was ranked in the two previous seasons. The Miami football team was 18th in scoring defense in 2019 and 23rd in 2019.

Miami was fourth and 13th in total defense in 2018 and ’19. Shoop was a defensive coordinator at Power Five schools from 2011-2019. Shoop was at Vanderbilt from 2011-13, Penn State in 2014-15, Tennessee 2016-17 and Mississippi in 2018-19. Shoop was the safeties coach at Michigan in 2020.

Shoop was a finalist for the Broyles Award in 2018 as Mississippi State led the nation in total defense allowed 263 yards per game and finished second in the country in scoring defense allowing 13.2 points per game. MSU was second in run defense with 95 yards per game allowed and seventh in pass defense.

Shoop and head coach Manny Diaz are more closely aligned than Shannon would be with the Hurricanes head coach. Six times Shoop led a top 25 defense as a coordinator. Shoop led defenses force turnvoers. In 2013 with Shoop as the DC, Vanderbilt finished 10th nationally and third in the SEC in turnovers.

Shannon will assist Florida State defensive coordinator Adam Fuller. They have a monumental job raising the level of the Seminoles defense. Diaz has assumed control of the defense as coordinator in addition to being the head coach of the Miami football program. Diaz also replaced almost the entire Hurricanes, defensive staff.

Diaz brought in former South Carolina defensive coordinator Travaris Robinson as defensive backs coach, elevated DeMarcus Van Dyke to cornerbacks coach, rehired Jess Simpson as defensive line coach and brought in Ishmael Aristide to coach strikers. The Miami defensive staff is as strong as ever without Shannon returning.