forums

Shannon Dawson is the New OC/QB Coach

View as article
The U is back to work said:
Of all the things that have been odd about the reaction to his hiring this piece to me is what I scratch my head at the most. Their defense was atrocious lol they scored 63 AND LOST BY 2 TDs!

He was at 32PPG the first half of the season. The defense, led by Doug Belk who everyone across the country coveted a year ago, is what caused UH to lose 5 games - not the offense.
Click to expand...

Yep. I remember everyone dying for Belk to be hired last year. Crazy how a year changes things.
 
Advertisement
crossover22[]_[] said:
Yea alot of our fans thought steele and gattis were great hires. Our fans dont know ****.
Click to expand...
And I’m not blaming our fan base in particular. There are just so many things that determine success that all the definitive pronouncements about any coach are just silly. The proof of whether this is a good or bad hire will be in the play. Until then its all opinion and everyone has one and they don’t mean sh*t.
 
canesbaby said:
I don't think there's ever a chance Mario goes total air raid. It's really exciting that he's seemingly seen the light on updated college football concepts but, the way I see it, MC is taking the long view and trying to get us in position to be able to compete with Bama, UGA, OSU, Clemson. I don't see him viewing full air raid as a way for us to do that so mixing in air raid concepts with a strong run game will probably be as far as MC will go.

I envision our offense ultimately looking like what TCU ran this year once TVD is gone (TVD isn't a runner like the TCU QB this year).
Click to expand...
I believe that what REALLY made Mario consider some degree in change in his "publicized offensive philosophy" was the FACT that UM was virtually totally shut out in the portal attempts to land a WR as well as attempting to land a #1 outside WR in the 2023 class. EVERYBODY was saying they had no interest in playing in the '3 yards and a cloud of dust' offensive style that was being portrayed, and the inept scheme and play calling exhibited by Gattis in 2022.

Mario WANTS to land some elite WR's from South Florida (or elsewhere) in every class and it wasn't happening with the OLD SCHOOL approach. Hope Dawson develops the QB's and has tremendous success in 2023.
 
TheEye said:
We’ll see. That team would make Gattis look good.
Click to expand...
Larry David Reaction GIF
 
Rickd said:
The only negative comments that I have found regarding Dawson were comments posted by the Rivals Kentucky Moderator (Justin Rowland) after the 2015 season and it all had to do with Dawson's "hands off ... just coach football" relationship with his QB's and offensive players. "I'm not going into details but Shannon Dawson was totally unplugged from his players & families in an unacceptable way last year". Kentucky was #79 in total offense the year before Dawson arrived. Ranked #89 for Dawson's one season, and improved to #61 the year after Dawson left.

Certainly his 2022 season at Houston was stellar by comparison, so it is really hard to put too much emphasis on what was going on at Kentucky in Stoops 3rd year, and his record in the SEC at a time when KY was basically comparable to FAU 10 years ago.
Click to expand...

Yup

Plus it’s been chronicled here regarding the revolving door for OCs at Kentucky because of Stoops
 
Advertisement
The U is back to work said:
Of all the things that have been odd about the reaction to his hiring this piece to me is what I scratch my head at the most. Their defense was atrocious lol they scored 63 AND LOST BY 2 TDs!

He was at 32PPG the first half of the season. The defense, led by Doug Belk who everyone across the country coveted a year ago, is what caused UH to lose 5 games - not the offense.
Click to expand...

I wonder how many of the guys complaining about Dawson were in favor of hiring Belk last year lol. That would be a fun Venn Diagram. If I had the time and really cared I'd have a look. :)
 
Cryptical Envelopment said:
Pretty funny to think that a former UM D1 and NFL WR who has gotten to the highest level, probably top 10 in the world at his position, coaching for the f'ing San Francisco 49ers under an offensive genius, with a work ethic to get there, experience playing and coaching and recruiting in college, absolutely won't be able to talk to kids. That we should hire a much less accomplished coach instead. Talk about making ASSUMPTIONS.

Recruiting is about worth ethic and personality. You have to like it. If he wants to leave the NFL to come recruit, that's a massive indicator. And again, he has recruited in CFB before, so there are people out there who know what kind of recruiter he is.

Chip Kelly went from New Hampshire to Oregon. Lincoln Riley went from ECU to Oklahoma. Need 100 more? This guy has those lower level chops AND a successful NFL tenure that is going WELL.

Why do you hate Christmas so much?
Click to expand...
Hankerson would be a homerun hire as a WR coach with the added bonus that he’s a Cane

Would love to see that happen
 
Last edited:
Advertisement
JHallCanes said:
Hankerson would be a homerun hire as a WR coach with the added bonus that he’s a Cane

Would love to see that happen
Click to expand...

ya, b. Anyone not into Hankerson is weird and might be goofy.

We touted Rob Likens here for years for the work he did with Brandon Aiyuk to become a R1 WR...under Hankerson, Aiyuk established himself as one of the better WRs in football and is in line for a MASSIVE pay day...and its not like the 49ers are trotting Pat Mahomes out there to play QB every week. That WR group is full of DAWGS. Even Jennings had a decent year last year for a deep roster guy at WR for SF in '22.

Hank would be a dope get.

Would bet the anti-Dorsey and anti-Hank types are a complete circle Venn diagram.
 
This reminds me of the Jeff fisch and James Coley hire, really kind of unproven but reputable guys that has been around good offensive minds. I think this will work out the same for us with better talent of course
 
Advertisement
BoxingRobes said:
ya, b. Anyone not into Hankerson is weird and might be goofy.

We touted Rob Likens here for years for the work he did with Brandon Aiyuk to become a R1 WR...under Hankerson, Aiyuk established himself as one of the better WRs in football and is in line for a MASSIVE pay day...and its not like the 49ers are trotting Pat Mahomes out there to play QB every week. That WR group is full of DAWGS. Even Jennings had a decent year last year for a deep roster guy at WR for SF in '22.

Hank would be a dope get.

Would bet the anti-Dorsey and anti-Hank types are a complete circle Venn diagram.
Click to expand...
I don’t think anyone outside of the fanbase or just pure football junkies would know how good Aiyuk is, but maybe more importantly how far he’s come the last couple of years. He basically was benched early in his career and on the verge of just being let go. Dude has come a long way in a short time, which not saying that’s because of Hank, but I’m sure he played a role there.

You’re right about Jennings too! That entire WR group plays the game ferociously.
 
Rickd said:
I believe that what REALLY made Mario consider some degree in change in his "publicized offensive philosophy" was the FACT that UM was virtually totally shut out in the portal attempts to land a WR as well as attempting to land a #1 outside WR in the 2023 class. EVERYBODY was saying they had no interest in playing in the '3 yards and a cloud of dust' offensive style that was being portrayed, and the inept scheme and play calling exhibited by Gattis in 2022.

Mario WANTS to land some elite WR's from South Florida (or elsewhere) in every class and it wasn't happening with the OLD SCHOOL approach. Hope Dawson develops the QB's and has tremendous success in 2023.
Click to expand...
Exactly. I think the success WR have had in Dawson’s system (9 WR over 1k yards in 11 full seasons) and Geno Smith’s view of Dawson were a big contributing factor in Mario hiring him. Mario is determined to drastically improve WR recruiting this year.
 
Advertisement
TheOriginalCane said:
What the ****? Did Hartline stick that silver tongue up your brown starfish a few times?

There are a number of things that help a coach to recruit. The school, the facilities, the coaching staff, the wins, not to mention his own track record of development.

If we bring Coley aboard AT ANY POSITION, we will have a silver tongue who hasn't really succeeded as, you known, an ACTUAL coach. And if we bring Hankerson (or another candidate) aboard as WR Coach, we will have a legitimate technician and developer of talent at WR. But, yeah, it's just impossible to have BOTH, right?

It is pretty funny that you think that a guy with significant anxiety issues is such a silver-tongued charmer, and has no other attributes that might contribute to his successful recruiting...but, sure, you were pretty bold and insulting when it came time to throw Mike Rumph under the bus for his personality issues, weren't you?
Click to expand...
 
hollyhood27 said:
It might have been @JayCane20 who labeled this as a B- hire. I agree with that.

Dawson is good safe Air Raid coach for Mario (that's not a bad thing in this case). I think if Mario would have gone fully to the dark side, I feel like it would have been more growing pains for him and the staff. This is a good "entry level" into the Raid. He's going to run sound concepts that are tried and true, with variations in the run game. After last year, I think it's what we need. Do something to get this kids playing with confidence. And the practice routine of AR will allow them to get comfortable quickly and play faster with less thinking.

Also he is veteran coach who has worked in different leagues under different styles of HC, who can adapt.
Click to expand...
Yep I labeled it a B- .. I think I said it was at worst B- but I think the ceiling is probably B+ here. He's no guru. The guys who have branched off of Leach's air-raid in the form being run by Kliff Kingsbury, Lincoln and Garrett Riley, and Heupel.. those guys are the gurus. Dawson is a good entry level type coach - paired with an elite OL and run game could propel this hire further than that though which is interesting paired with Mario and Mirabal.

No one running the air-raid in any form has really paired with an elite recruiter to pull elite athletes to run it plus an elite OL. The closest thing was Riley at Oklahoma with Bill Bedenbaugh and now at USC but he's missing the OL piece (Josh Henson is good but not that good). Garrett Riley at Clemson is going to get close to that too but Clemson doesn't produce elite OLs even in their championship years.
 
JayCane20 said:
Yep I labeled it a B- .. I think I said it was at worst B- but I think the ceiling is probably B+ here. He's no guru. The guys who have branched off of Leach's air-raid in the form being run by Kliff Kingsbury, Lincoln and Garrett Riley, and Heupel.. those guys are the gurus. Dawson is a good entry level type coach - paired with an elite OL and run game could propel this hire further than that though which is interesting paired with Mario and Mirabal.

No one running the air-raid in any form has really paired with an elite recruiter to pull elite athletes to run it plus an elite OL. The closest thing was Riley at Oklahoma with Bill Bedenbaugh and now at USC but he's missing the OL piece (Josh Henson is good but not that good). Garrett Riley at Clemson is going to get close to that too but Clemson doesn't produce elite OLs even in their championship years.
Click to expand...
I think you’re spot on…I’m going B hire with the potential for A-, but the floor is also in the C range. Incorporating basic spread concepts for TVD and the WRs will benefit the passing game immensely. How high? Not sure. Need to snag Greg Bryant (weirdly positive feeling here considering he still hasn’t signed, which tells me he was waiting on our OC) and maybe 1 more WR.

Running game should be more diverse, and it’ll hinge on how quick our freshmen can grow up + the leap that the returners take. If our O-line is at least solid in the running game, should allow Dawson to implement a more balanced approach while still spreading the field and maintaining an aerial threat. Best advantage a running game can have is less defensive players in the box…and you do that by spreading 3-4 out wide.
 
Advertisement
Back
Top