Another new Cane officially on board. Miami announces offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson
The Hurricanes officially announced their new offensive coordinator on Thursday, and he’s a man who likes to pass.
Speaking of passing, new Miami offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson, who comes to the Hurricanes from the University of Houston, is also expected to serve as the Hurricanes’ new quarterbacks coach.
Dawson, 45, replaces Josh Gattis, who was fired after one season and had not been officially in charge of the quarterbacks. The quarterbacks coaching responsibility last season was held by Frank Ponce, who left the Hurricanes recently to return to Appalachian State as offensive coordinator.
UM coach Mario Cristobal still needs to hire a running backs coach, as last season’s running backs coach Kevin Smith left UM to return to Ole Miss, where he rejoined Lane Kiffin and Wednesday was named to the Rebels staff. Also, the Hurricanes currently don’t have a receivers coach because Gattis served that role.
Dawson’s hire is a major shift from Gattis’ a year ago. Gattis implemented a power spread in his lone season in Coral Gables — the same type of offense his Wolverines used to reach the College Football Playoff in 2021 — and it did not suit Miami well after the Hurricanes played the previous two years in Lashlee’s spread system. Dawson’s pass-heavy system is even more extreme — Dawson began his coaching career with the FCS Southeastern Louisiana Lions, learning from former coach Hal Mumme, who is one of the inventors of the air raid offense.
The Hurricanes were in dire need of a productive offense last season, in large part to a litany of debilitating injuries at key offensive spots, including starting quarterback. Dawson brings with him a prolific passing attack.
In Dawson’s three seasons as the Cougars’ offensive coordinator, Houston ranked 13th in the nation with 87 passing touchdowns and 21st with 10,008 passing yards. Last year, Cougars quarterback Clayton Tune set an American Athletic Conference with 40 passing touchdowns and ranked fifth in the nation with 313.4 passing yards per game.
Among several college coaching stops, Dawson served as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for Southern Miss from 2016-1018. His last season there, the Golden Eagles were ranked No. 3 nationally in completion percentage, completing 69.2 percent of their passes.
The Hurricanes finished 2022 ranked 96th of 131 FBS teams in rushing offense (128.1 yards a game), 60th in passing offense (239 yards a game), 86th in total offense (367.1), 87th in red-zone offense, 97th in scoring (23.6 points a game) and 109th in sacks allowed (three sacks allowed a game and 36 total).
The Dawson announcement comes a day after UM officially announced the hiring of defensive coordinator Lance Guidry to replace Kevin Steele, who left UM after one season to return to Alabama in the same role.
