Randy Shannon to serve as Florida's interim defensive coordinator for the Outback Bowl. (Photo: Tim Casey/UAA Communications)
Shannon Named Interim DC, DeBastiani to coach LBs in Outback Bowl
Monday, December 19, 2016 | Football, Scott Carter
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Gators head coach Jim McElwain announced a pair of moves on his staff in the wake of defensive coordinator Geoff Collins' departure last week.
By: Scott Carter, Senior Writer
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Florida head coach Jim McElwain announced Monday that Randy Shannon will serve as interim defensive coordinator for the Outback Bowl and Mark DeBastiani will coach linebackers.
Shannon takes over for Geoff Collins, who was hired as head coach at Temple last week. Meanwhile, DeBastiani takes over the linebackers from Shannon for the Jan. 2 game against Iowa, an easy transition for the defensive quality control specialist in his second season at UF. Shannon
The moves had been rumored for days after Collins, who was McElwain's first hire at Florida, accepted a five-year deal to replace Matt Rhule at Temple.
"Continuity in what we're doing is important,'' McElwain said. "They've been doing a good job with what we've been doing, and obviously Randy is more than qualified for that position."
Shannon is a veteran defensive coordinator and former head coach at Miami from 2007-10. Prior to taking over the Hurricanes, Shannon served as Miami's defensive coordinator for six seasons.
He was hired by McElwain as associate head coach/co-coordinator/linebackers coach, a title that reflected the depth of his experience on the sideline.
McElwain said Shannon is certainly a candidate for the position permanently but not to expect an announcement any time soon.
"We're not going to make any full-time decisions on that until after the bowl games out of respect for coaches and people who are coaching in other programs and that kind of thing,'' McElwain said. "Let them focus on that and then we'll move forward. There is no time frame. Obviously, want to have it done before we get back on the road recruiting after the first of the year. That's kind of where we're at there."
Florida's players spoke confidently after practice Friday that Shannon was the perfect fit to move into Collins' role.
"I feel like a lot of guys respect Coach Shannon," junior cornerback Teez Tabor said. "It's hard to get a coach who really cares about you in like college, because most of the time they're trying to advance what they do just like we're trying to advance what we do. Just having Coach Shannon there who really cares about his guys.
"Not even talk about what he's done in the past, but talk about what he does for us. He's just great at what he does. We all respect him."
The 20th-ranked Gators (8-4) returned to practice on Thursday to prepare for No. 21-ranked Iowa (8-4).
While McElwain said he continues to look at potential scenarios in revamping his staff in the wake of Collins' departure, practice has been business as usual.
"Coach Shannon is putting in good stuff for us as well as Collins did," linebacker Kylan Johnson said. "He still kind of interacts with us, too. He was with us all the time, now he's kind of with the whole squad. ... I was kind of excited. It's not really going to be a difference." DeBastiani
DeBastiani has extensive experience in a coaching career spent primarily at the FCS division. He was an assistant at Norfolk State for 10 seasons before joining McElwain's support staff, including as defensive coordinator.
In his final season at Norfolk State, the Spartans limited opponents to 251.3 yards per game, second among FCS schools in total defense. DeBastiani has also coached at Bethune-Cookman, Appalachian State and Division II Shepherd University in West Virginia, his alma mater.
DeBastiani has known McElwain since they crossed paths on the recruiting trail in Florida while DeBastiani was an assistant at Bethune-Cookman in Daytona Beach.
