GAINESVILLE, Fla. – On the first full day since the Jim McElwain era ended at the University of Florida, interim head football coach Randy Shannon spoke to reporters about the shakeup and the team's focus moving forward at Monday's news conference.
Looking serious and determined, Shannon described Sunday as a "whirlwind," but also made it clear that the focus is not on the past, but on the future, including Florida (3-4, 3-3 Southeastern Conference) at Missouri (3-5, 0-4) on Saturday.
"We have to look forward. We can't look back," Shannon said. "Sometimes, when you look back, that tends to bring you down."
Florida and McElwain parted ways Sunday after two-plus tenuous seasons and a tumultuous week that ended with a third consecutive loss to Georgia in the annual rivalry game in Jacksonville.
"I feel like after the last three Ls, it's going to be good to get a new coach," UF student Brenna Roth said. "Maybe we'll get some Ws in there."
Athletic director Scott Stricklin asked Shannon to take over, knowing he would make adjustments that could spark the Gators.
"You know, everybody loved Coach Mac. I loved Coach Mac. He gave me the opportunity to be at Florida and he's recruited a lot of guys on this football team," Shannon said. "But they know deep down inside, the biggest thing that we have to do is win games."
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Shannon, who previously served as Miami's head coach, sent a message to the Gator team: Nothing matters but the next game against Missouri.
"These guys have got to represent the University of Florida. Myself has to represent the University of Florida. And we’ve got to go out there as a whole team and unit and coaching staff and have fun with these guys, you know, and be very enthusiastic and be very positive," Shannon said. "Whatever happens in the game, early, we’ve got to weather the storm. And at the end of the day, that’s the only thing that matters is what happened at the end of the game."
There wasn't much time for the Gators be distracted by the changes as the team was back on the practice field Monday afternoon.
Shannon opened up the quarterback job, essentially giving former Notre Dame starter Malik Zaire a chance to compete with struggling incumbent Feleipe Franks. He promoted defensive line coach Chris Rumph to defensive coordinator and elevated former Idaho head coach Robb Akey from quality control assistant to defensive line coach.
"As a head coach, I've got to be able to multitask on offense, defense, special teams," he said.
He also tweaked parts of practice and said there would be an increased emphasis on special teams, an area the Gators have been inconsistent on all season.
One thing Shannon didn't do was make radical adjustments to a lackluster offense that ranks 112th in the nation. He even stuck with embattled coordinator Doug Nussmeier as play-caller.
"You can't wholesale everything," Shannon said. "Coach Mac left a great foundation for us. Now we've just got to build on it. We're going to do certain things in practice that are maybe a little bit different. ... You have to change something or it becomes stagnant. We won't be stagnant. We'll change some things that we feel are best for us."
But what he does during his four-game stint as interim coach might not matter in Florida's coaching search. When Shannon was asked whether he was auditioning for the permanent job, he said it didn't view that way.
He added that he didn't even talk to Stricklin about being the team's next permanent coach.
"The best job I've ever had is the job I have right now because it's the only job," Shannon said. "A lot of times in coaching, guys try to think about the next job instead of the best job they have -- that's the one they have now."