Randy Shannon has been around the block in the state of Florida.
Shannon, who has been with the Florida State program since 2021, was named the interim defensive coordinator for the Seminoles following the firing of Adam Fuller. FSU, off to a 1-9 start to the 2024 college football season, promoted Shannon to the position following a 52-3 loss to Notre Dame on Nov. 9.
REQUIRED READING: Urban Meyer praises Billy Napier, Florida, accuses Florida State football of ‘quitting’. The 58-year-old from Miami will debut as the Florida State interim defensive coordinator when the Seminoles take on Charleston Southern at 1:30 p.m. ET on Saturday. Shannon, a former standout at Miami and the Dallas Cowboys, has also held coaching positions with the Miami Dolphins, the Hurricanes, TCU, Arkansas, Florida and UCF throughout his career.
Here’s what you need to know about Shannon, including coaching stops, records and more:
Who is Randy Shannon?
Shannon was a three-sport athlete at Miami Norland Senior High School in Miami. He earned all-state honors as a defensive back as a senior, and earned a scholarship to play with the hometown Miami Hurricanes under then-head coach Jimmy Johnson from 1985-88 — including the 1987 national championship team.
After starting his career as a defensive back, he was converted to a linebacker as a redshirt freshman. As a senior, Shannon earned an honorable mention as an All-American after registering 83 tackles, eight tackles for loss, five sacks, and three forced fumbles. The Hurricanes won 24 of the 25 games he started.
Shannon was selected in the 11th round of the 1989 NFL draft by the Dallas Cowboys, led by Johnson, who left Miami following the 1988 season. Shannon played in 11 games as an NFL player, including four starts.
In 1991, he joined his alma mater as an assistant coach and was promoted to defensive line coach in 1992. He served as the Hurricanes’ linebackers coach from 1993-97 before leaving for a defensive assistant position with the Miami Dolphins.
He returned as the Hurricanes’ defensive coordinator in 2001 and held the position until he was hired as the head coach on Dec. 8, 2006. Shannon went 28-22 as the Hurricanes coach from 2007-10. Shannon was fired on Nov. 27, 2010, following a 7-5 regular season for Miami, which entered the season with national championship aspirations.
Shannon spent three years outside of Florida coaching at TCU (2012) and Arkansas (2013-14) before returning to the state in 2015 to join the Gators as their associate head coach, co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach. He was promoted to defensive coordinator in 2016. He was named the interim Florida coach after Jim McElwain was fired after eight games in 2017.
He went 1-3 to end the season.
After he departed from Florida, Shannon served as the defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at UCF from 2018-20. Shannon was briefly the interim coach for the Knights when Josh Heupel left for Tennessee, until the university eventually hired Guz Malzahn. He never coached a game as head coach at UCF.
Shannon returned to Florida State in 2021 to serve as a senior defensive analyst under Mike Norvell . On Dec. 11, 2021, he was promoted to co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach, a role he held until his recent promotion to interim DC.
Randy Shannon coaching career
Here’s a full look at Shannon’s coaching career:
Miami Hurricanes (1991): Graduate assistant
Miami Hurricanes (1992): Defensive line coach
Miami Hurricanes (1993-97): Linebackers coach
Miami Dolphins (1998-99): Assistant coach
Miami Dolphins (2000): Linebackers coach
Miami Hurricanes (2001-06): Defensive Coordinator
Miami Hurricanes (2007-10): Head Coach
TCU (2012): Linebackers coach
Arkansas (2013-14): Linebackers coach
Florida (2015-2016): Assistant head coach/co-defensive coordinator
Florida (2017): Defensive coordinator
Florida (2017): Interim head coach
UCF (2017-20): Defensive coordinator
UCF (2021): Interim head coach
Florida State (2021): Senior defensive analyst
Florida State (2022-24): Linebackers coach/co-defensive coordinator
Florida State (2024): Interim defensive coordinator
Randy Shannon head coaching record
Here’s a look at Shannon’s coaching record with time spent at Miami and Florida:
2007 (Miami): 5-7
2008 (Miami): 7-6
2009 (Miami): 9-4
2010 (Miami): 7-5
2017 (Florida): 1-3
