Randy Shannon Named Finalist For Broyles Award
Dec. 5, 2001
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – On a wild college football Saturday when two of the top three teams in the Bowl Championship Series rankings lost, the Miami Hurricanes defense stood tall, earning the nation’s top-ranked team a chance to play for the national title.
Three days later, the man responsible for that defense, first-year coordinator Randy Shannon, was named a finalist for the sixth-annual Broyles Award, given to the nation’s top assistant football coach.
Shannon, whose Hurricane defense intercepted four passes, recorded five sacks and recovered a fumble to beat Virginia Tech, 26-24, was one of six Broyles Award finalists announced Tuesday by the Major Sports Association.
Losses by Texas and Florida have the undefeated Hurricanes waiting to find out what team they will face in the Rose Bowl, but Shannon’s competition for the award is known to be solid.
The other five finalists come from teams ranked in The Associated Press Top 25, including two coaches who were hoping to play for the national championship until two upsets on Saturday and another who can play Rose Bowl spoiler.
The other finalists are: Florida receivers coach Dwayne Dixon, LSU offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Jimbo Fisher, Virginia Tech defensive coordinator/inside linebackers coach Robert “Bud” Foster, Fresno State offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Andy Ludwig, and Texas defensive coordinator Carl Reese.
The winner will be announced Dec. 12 during a banquet at the Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock.
Former LSU Coach Charlie McClendon, who is battling cancer, will receive the Broyles Lifetime Achievement Award at the banquet.
The Broyles Award is named in honor of longtime University of Arkansas Athletic Director Frank Broyles, who developed a reputation during a stellar coaching career of producing top-notch assistant coaches.
Former Broyles assistants have combined to win almost 20 percent of all Super Bowl titles, five national collegiate championships, more than 40 conference titles and more than 2,000 games. More than 25 Broyles assistant coaches went on to become head coaches at the college or professional level, including Joe Gibbs, Hayden Frye, Johnny Majors, Barry Switzer, Jackie Sherrill, Doug Dickey and Jimmy Johnson.
The Broyles Award is one of the most lucrative awards for college football coaches. The winner receives $5,000 and a 100-pound cast bronze statue worth $5,000. Each finalist receives $1,000 plus a set of Wilson golf clubs and a personalized bag. Finalists and their spouses are flown to Little Rock for the banquet, receiving premium lodging and limousine transportation.
Previous Broyles Award winners are: Florida State defensive coordinator Mickey Andrews (1996), Michigan defensive coordinator Jim Herrmann (1997), former Tennessee offensive coordinator David Cutcliffe (1998), who was named Ole Miss’ head coach shortly before he received his award, former Georgia Tech offensive coordinator Ralph Friedgen (1999), now the head coach at Maryland, and Oklahoma offensive coordinator Mark Mangino (2000).
Previous Broyles Lifetime Achievement Award winners are: Texas A&M assistant Ray Dorr, San Diego State assistant Claude Gilbert, and Penn State assistant Jerry Sandusky.
Randy Shannon, 35, has the nation’s 11th-ranked defense, the top-ranked scoring defense and the fourth-ranked passing defense at his alma mater. That’s one of the reasons Miami is ranked No. 1 in both The Associated Press Top 25 and the ESPN/USA Today Top 25 polls, riding the nation’s longest winning streak at 21 games. The Hurricane defense gives up just 259 yards per game, 132.6 of it in the air, and 10.3 points a game. Big East champion Miami has posted three shutouts and has given up seven points or less in eight of its 11 games. Shannon has coached many top-notch players at Miami. This season, safety Ed Reed is a Thorpe Award finalist. A linebacker on Miami’s 1987 national championship team, Shannon was linebackers coach for the Hurricanes from 1993-97 when he coached Ray Lewis, Jessie Armstead, Michael Barrow, Darrin Smith and Twan Russell. Prior to returning to the Hurricanes this season, Shannon was the linebackers coach for the Miami Dolphins, starting in 1998.
Dwayne Dixon, 39, has also coached numerous well-known players during his 12 seasons at his alma mater, No. 6 Florida. Dixon has coached 17 players who have signed NFL contracts, including first-round selections Reidel Anthony, Ike Hilliard and Travis Taylor. Dixon might be coaching the best trio of receivers in the country this season for the 9-2 Gators in sophomore Jabar Gaffney, junior Reche Caldwell and junior Taylor Jacobs. All three have receiving yardage that ranks in the top 10 in the Southeastern Conference. Gaffney has 67 catches for 1,191 yards and 13 touchdowns. Caldwell has 65 catches for 1,059 yards and 10 touchdowns. And Jacobs has 38 catches for 712 yards and 7 touchdowns. While with the Gators, Dixon has helped win a national championship (1996) and has coached on six SEC championship teams.
There’s one underdog left who has a chance to be a Rose Bowl spoiler, and Jimbo Fisher, 36, is an integral part of it in his second season at No. 21 LSU. The 8-3 Tigers face No. 2 Tennessee in the SEC championship game, hoping to keep the 11-1 Volunteers, currently No. 2 in the BCS rankings, out of the Rose Bowl. LSU, which averages 30.9 points a game, is sixth in the nation in total offense at 466.64 yards per game. It has the nation’s leading receiver in Josh Reed (90 catches, 1,680 yards, 7 touchdowns). Quarterback Rohan Davey, the first Tiger to throw for 3,000 yards in a season, is 10th in the country and second in the SEC in total offense (3,262 yards), and tailback Labrandon Toefield (974 yards, 19 touchdowns) is the SEC’s second-leading rusher.
Two-time Broyles Award finalist Robert “Bud” Foster, 42, and No. 15 Virginia Tech nearly played Rose Bowl spoiler Saturday in a two-point loss to Miami. Now the 8-3 Hokies have their eyes on the Gator Bowl, where they will play No. 24 Florida State. Foster’s defense, ranked fourth nationally, is one of the reasons the Hokies will be playing in their ninth consecutive bowl game. Virginia Tech gives up just 222.8 yards per game. It is third in the nation in rushing defense, allowing only 68.6 yards per game, and fifth in the nation in scoring defense, allowing just 14.7 points a game. Leading tackler Ben Taylor, one of Foster’s starting linebackers, was a semifinalist for the Butkus Award for the second consecutive year. Foster, who is in his 15th season on Frank Beamer’s Virginia Tech staff, was a 1999 Broyles Award finalist.
With a high-flying offense directed by Andy Ludwig, 37, No. 19 Fresno State was a Cinderella story early in the season, impressing the college football world with victories over Colorado, Oregon State and Wisconsin. The Bulldogs rose as high as No. 8 in the top 25 and enjoyed a highly successful year, finishing the regular season 11-2 and earning a bid to the Silicon Valley Football Classic. In his fourth season at Fresno State, Ludwig produced an offense that averaged 496.92 yards per game, ranking fourth nationally.
The Bulldogs also ranked fourth nationally in scoring (41 points a game) and sixth in passing offense (333.5 yards per game). Quarterback David Carr, a Heisman Trophy candidate and winner of the Johnny Unitas Award, became just the sixth quarterback in NCAA history to pass for 4,000 yards and 40 touchdowns. He leads the nation in total offense with 4,396 yards (4,299 passing yards) and is the WAC offensive player of the year after throwing 42 touchdown passes. Combined with wide receivers Rodney Wright and Bernard Berrian and running back Paris Gaines, Fresno State became the only school in NCAA history to produce a 4,000-yard passer, two 1,000-yard receivers and a 1,000-yard rusher.
Texas was eliminated from the national championship picture Saturday in a 39-37 loss to Colorado after giving up 26 points off interceptions. But Carl Reese and the 10th-ranked Longhorns can still say they have the nation’s best defense, ranking first nationally in total defense and passing defense, second in scoring defense and sixth in rushing defense. The 10-2 Longhorns, who will play No. 20 Washington in the Culligan Holiday Bowl, held five opponents to seven points or less this season under Reese, a 36-year coaching veteran and one of the nation’s premier defensive architects. Texas has allowed just 200.2 yards per game, 116.3 passing yards per game and 12.6 points per game. That defense had numerous stars. Senior cornerback Quentin Jammer is a first-team All-American, Thorpe Award finalist and Football News Defensive Player of the Year semifinalist. Freshman linebacker Derrick Johnson was the Big 12 Defensive Freshman of the Year. Senior linebacker D.D. Lewis was a Butkus Award semifinalist and All-Big 12. And junior defensive end Cory Redding was first-team All-Big 12. Reese also has been defensive coordinator at LSU, Vanderbilt, Navy, Missouri, Virginia and East Carolina.
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Charles McClendon, 78, the winningest football coach in LSU history, was a Tiger assistant for nine years before becoming head coach in 1962. He led the Tigers to a 137-59-7 mark, 13 bowl games and the 1970 SEC title during his 18 years in Baton Rouge, posting a .692 career winning percentage. McClendon coached 21 first team All-Americans at LSU and 56 first-team All-SEC selections. He was named SEC Coach of the Year twice, in 1969 and 1970, and National Coach of the Year in 1970.
Broyles Award nominations are submitted by the 115 NCAA Division I-A head coaches. Every assistant that is nominated, but not selected as a finalist, receives a personalized wall plaque recognizing his efforts.The finalists are chosen by an eight-man panel that may be the most prestigious of any awards panel, one that represents nine national championships, more than 1,500 victories, 76 conference titles, 129 bowl appearances and 13 national head coach of the year honors. The panelists are:? Former Texas Coach Darrell Royal? Former Michigan Coach Bo Schembechler? Former Nebraska Coach Tom Osborne? Former Georgia Coach Vince Dooley? Former Washington Coach Don James? Former Syracuse Coach Dick MacPherson? Former Baylor Coach Grant Teaff? Former Brigham Young Coach LaVell Edwards, who is in his first year on the panel
Tickets to the banquet are $75 per person or $750 per table of 10 and can be purchased by calling the Greater Little Rock Chamber of Commerce at (501) 374-2001. More information can be found on the Internet at www.broylesaward.com.
