Miami Hurricanes Staff Turnover Creates Opportunity For New OC Shannon Dawson
I love the hire. From the moment I found out Shannon Dawson was a candidate to become the next offensive coordinator at Miami, I rooted for Mario Cristobal to close the deal.
Dawson is in. Mission accomplished. But the real work is only getting started. Critical days lie ahead.
He has just over two weeks to begin installing his offense before spring practices begin on March 4th. I expect Dawson to spend countless hours over these next eighteen days communicating with the players he'll soon coach.
Establishing a relationship with starting quarterback Tyler Van Dyke will surely be one of his first objectives. Under Dawson's tutelage, Houston QB Clayton Tune threw an AAC Conference record 40 touchdown passes in 2022. TVD must be excited about the possibilities in Dawson's air raid offense.
Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith was coached by Dawson at West Virginia. Smith offered his seal of approval for the hire:
There is also a matter of staffing. The Hurricanes need to find a wide receivers coach. We've known that since Josh Gattis was let go.
And as of Tuesday, there's a help wanted sign outside the running backs coach's office.
Kevin Smith is headed right back to Ole Miss after spending the 2022 season in Miami. It's an interesting trend. A few weeks ago, quarterbacks coach Frank Ponce departed for Appalachian State, his previous stop.
On one hand, it's downright awkward to lose yet another position coach. It would be nice to have a tad bit of continuity heading into next season. The only returning offensive coach from last season will be O-line coach Alex Mirabal. Plus, with Kevin Smith having a hand in the recruitment of freshmen running backs Mark Fletcher and Chris Johnson, we have to hope his departure doesn't create any buyer's remorse on their part.
On the other hand, this gives Cristobal and Dawson an opportunity to collaborate on filling these positions.
I love the idea of finding running backs and receivers coaches whose philosophies and work ethic match up with Dawson's. Miami's staff was not working in harmony last season. We need them all singing the same tune in 2023.
After last season ended, I was alerted to a strained working relationship between former offensive coordinator Josh Gattis and former quarterback coach Ponce. The two were not on the same page and it's hard to expect an offense to run smoothly in a situation like that.
I'm not ready to speculate on who might be on the short-list to take over for Gattis and Smith just yet, but we have to wonder if coaches who have worked with Dawson in the past might be targeted.
In 2022, Miami's coaching staff looked like an all star team on paper but it turned out to be just a collection of names with no evidence of chemistry. This time around, coaches with group of five backgrounds like Dawson and new defensive coordinator Lance Guidry (most recently coached at Marshall) will have their chance to shine. Younger, more innovative, and hungrier might be the recipe for true success.
My hope is that Cristobal will take Dawson's input when filling out the staff. Together, they can do exciting things with the 2023 Miami Hurricanes offense.
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