As the son of legendary NFL coach Don Shula, Mike Shula is striving toward his own career coaching goals as Alabama’s head coach.
Shula became Alabama’s third coach in less than six months when he was named the Crimson Tide’s 26th head football coach in May.
Shula’s hiring followed the departure of Mike Price, who was fired after the Tide’s spring practice for inappropriate public behavior. Price was hired last December after Dennis Franchione left Alabama to become the coach at Texas A&M.
Alabama Athletics Director Mal Moore said hiring Shula was a decision the university felt comfortable with.
“Mike brings a mixture of youth and experience to our program, while at the same time, a 15-year career in the NFL has prepared him for the step he is taking today,” Moore said after the hire. “It was that mix of enthusiasm, experience and ties to The University of Alabama that made Mike the perfect fit for this job. ”
Shula is the youngest coach in the modern era of Alabama football at age 38. He had stints in the NFL with Chicago, Tampa Bay and most recently in Miami as quarterbacks coach. Shula said his experience coaching has helped him learn to deal with players.
“I think just coaching in general, the experience of working with guys and understanding how first of all each guy’s different and how each guy ticks so to speak [is important]” Shula said. “[I have to find out] how he is motivated, what he responds to and how you can get the most out of him.”
Miami coach Dave Wannstedt said Shula has learned from some great coaches and possesses the skills to succeed in major college football.
“He is an outstanding leader, a person of unquestioned integrity and a fine coach who has worked for many years to prepare himself for such an opportunity,” Wannstedt said after Shula’s hire. “Perhaps the highest compliment I could give Mike is that if I had a son, I would be thrilled if he were to play for him.”
Shula also depends on his father Don, who owns the NFL record for the most regular season wins with 328.
“We talk more father-son type stuff and we’ll talk football too,” Shula said. “When my mom was alive she was always someone who told me what I wanted to hear and my dad does too. But he also is a good resource, obviously, and tells me some things that I need to hear. It’s more on an overall basis football, not X’s and O’s.”
LSU coach Nick Saban said he is impressed with the way Shula stepped into a difficult situation and has been able to have some success. He has coached the Tide to a 4-6 record with close losses to Oklahoma, Arkansas and Tennessee. Saban said not having an offseason program and spring practice to prepare for a season is difficult.
“What he had to do is much more difficult than anything that I had to do,” Saban said. “It’s difficult enough to get players to buy in not just to the system that you play on offense, defense, special teams, whatever it is, but just psychologically to get them to go about things the way you want to do it.”
Shula’s ties with Alabama run deep. He quarterbacked the Tide from 1984 to 1986 and during that time some people thought he would make a great head coach some day, said associate athletics director and media relations director Larry White.
“Just his presence and the way he carried himself at the time, many people said in the future that he would make a good head coach,” White said.
Shula shows that same charisma today as coach with the media and with the public, White said.
“The way he handles people, you can see that he has great people skills,” White said. “He’s just fabulous. He’s family-oriented, very personable. He has a unique sense of humor and is a pleasure to work with.”