Dave Shula Returns to Hanover ... and Coaching

The first time David Shula talked with his dad about coming to Dartmouth legendary Hall of Fame coach Don Shula was lukewarm about the idea at best.

It went a lot better the second time around.

Dave Shula was a record-setting receiver for the BIg Green.

Back in the mid-1970s the younger Shula was emerging from his father's out-sized shadow as the Miami Dolphins coach to make a name for himself as a somewhat undersized wide receiver in South Florida. Although he wasn't fast, he was sure-handed, smart and skilled enough to sign regional and then national letters of intent to play for Bobby Bowden as a scholarship player at Florida State.

"That's what I thought I was going to do until Lou Maranzana, my senior English teacher and our defensive line coach, pulled me aside after class one day," Shula recalled last month in Floren Varsity House. Maranzana played at Dartmouth before graduating in 1970 and later served as head coach at Bucknell.

"I remember he said to me, 'This may be crazy but you need to check Dartmouth out,' " Shula said. "He knew me pretty well and he thought it would be a good fit."

Stopping by a Dartmouth practice on Blackman Field last month, Maranzana wouldn't take any credit all these years later for steering Shula this way but let the record show that he did play a role. So did a reality check by Shula.

"I had gotten some feedback on where I stood in the pecking order of offers for D1 schools and I knew that I was not at the top of the list," he said. "I could see, having grown up around football, that all of the other guys going to Florida State were generally much bigger, faster and stronger guys than me. I had that in the back of my mind.

"So I came up here, and it just opened my mind to what opportunities might be afforded me by going to Dartmouth. Coach (Jake) Crouthamel and Jerry Berndt, my recruiting coach, were great in kind of letting me absorb things. When I got home I went to talk to my folks and my dad said, "What did you think of your visit?"

For David Shula, the return to coaching at Dartmouth has been an eye-opener. Here are some of his observations since arriving on campus in time for spring practice.

On concerns that his close relationship with Buddy Teevens might have made working under him awkward for the both, as well as others on the staff:
"It was a legitimate concern and one that both Buddy and I addressed. He had Coach (Sammy) McCorkle, Coach (Don) Dobes and Coach (Kevin) Daft call me in the process. And they all asked me the same question. The other question was, Are you content coming in as a receiver coach? You are not the coordinator. You are not the assistant head coach. You are going to be recruiting. You're going to share an office with two other guys."

On the biggest difference coaching today versus 20 years ago:
"The technology. The guys here have been tremendous about helping me along. You have to be able to seamlessly go through Word, Excel, Visio, DVSport and PowerPoint just to do our 'installation' for a day. In the spring I was horrible. I am less than horrible now and am working to get better."

On the quality of the players he coaches, and the people he coaches with:
"I was lucky to come in and inherit a good room, a good position group with some really good players. Coach T's one comment to me when I asked what I should look for when I go out recruiting, was, 'We don't take bad guys.' That has proven to be true. That's another reason why I wanted to come back. To be around the culture that he has set up here among the staff and the players. He encourages the guys to get out and be a part of the college. That is something I worked hard at doing when I was here. I got involved in a lot of other things besides football."

On whether finding a way to be a record-setting wide receiver and to make it to the NFL without great speed or prototypical size works in his favor as a receiving coach:
"I had to be very technique oriented and pay attention to all the little things that some more gifted athletes didn't necessarily have to do. The ones that are in the Hall of Fame are the gifted athletes that did."

On Teevens taking a chance on someone who has been out of the game for two decades:
I appreciate the opportunity that he gave me. It is something of a risk on his part. Do I still have it? That's yet to be determined. When you get into the heat of the season and everybody's tired and you are here late at night, how am I going to work out? I appreciate the patience that all the guys here have shown in helping me get caught up. Every day is new for me. I don't have the benefit of having gone through a season here or coaching college."

On the role of his famous name on school and home recruiting visits:
"I recruit the mid-Atlantic area so I have Baltimore. I went to the high school I probably would have gone to and one of the coaches had up a Johnny Unitas photo from back in the day when my dad coached there in the '60s. A lot of these guys, their parents will know who Don Shula is, but most of the kids don't. I have never worn that on my sleeve. When you are recruiting it all comes down to finding good kids who fit our program and embrace what Dartmouth is."

On life in the Upper Valley after so many years in South Florida:
"My cycling commute is three minutes and it's six if I have to walk. We were fortunate to rent a college-owned property that has beautiful wood floors and a fireplace, and no air conditioning. I don't drive my car but once on Sundays to go to the grocery store. That's coming out of the rat race where I was. I had about an hour-and-a-half commute every day for the last 10 years and about an hour commute prior to that. I always loved Hanover and New Hampshire and Vermont. I'm happy to be back."

Shula told him: "I kind of liked it."

To that, he remembers his famous father saying, "No you didn't."

But he did.

If Don Shula was at first unsure about seeing his son walk away from a scholarship at a national power to go to small school 1,500 miles away in northern New England, he came around.

"He really didn't know anything about Dartmouth," the son said. "But when he started talking to people in Miami that did, and to other people around the country, he was told, 'Hey, if your son can get into Dartmouth, you would be doing him a disservice if you didn't let him.' "

And so the would-be Seminole went on to play a year with all of his football classmates on the Pea Green freshman team before leading the Dartmouth varsity in receiving for three straight seasons. Aided by the arm of a senior quarterback named Buddy Teevens, Shula set a school record with 49 catches as a sophomore. He broke his own record with 52 as a senior to finish his career with a then-record 133 receptions.

His biggest catch at Dartmouth, however, wasn't on the football field. It was the classmate who would become his wife, Leslie.

"That was just another amazing benefit of going to school here for me," he said. "I don't know how you phrase this, whether it's called providence or fate or whatever, but we took three courses a term and in my first two terms we were in four courses together," he said. "I wore her down. We started dating sophomore year and we have been a couple ever since."

Shula had job offers after graduation from Procter & Gamble and Budweiser but he put those on hold when he got a chance to try out with the Baltimore Colts. Soap and beer went by the wayside when he made the roster of his father's old team, appearing in all 16 games primarily as a punt returner. A history major with a minor in education, he also started law school only to have the football bug lead him to join his father's staff in Miami after his one-year stint as an active player ended.

Shula spent seven years with the Dolphins and then two years as as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach mentoring Troy Aikman with the Dallas Cowboys. He moved on to the Cincinnati Bengals as wide receiver coach in 1991 and one year later succeeded Sam Wyche as the NFL's youngest head coach at age 32.

Shula would coach the Bengals for the better part of five years before he suffered the fate of coaches who came before him and came after him in Cincinnati and was let go.

Out of one family business he joined another, Shula's Steak House. Over a 20-year career with the chain he helped it grow from six to 30 restaurants, serving as company president.

Along the way there were feelers about getting back in the game but he didn't actively pursue them because yet another family business was more important.

"We wanted stability for our three sons, who were in middle school at that point," said Shula. "I didn't want to be dragging them all around through high school. It turned out to be terrific. I could be a part of their lives. I got a chance to be there and see all their high school games, and most of their college games."

For all Don Shula's success, that's something he couldn't do. "The only game he saw in person was my last one at Princeton, and we lost that one," Shula said wistfully.

In addition to the time Shula's Steak House afforded Dave with his family, it had another benefit.

"We built a pretty good business," he said. "We put ourselves in a position where I could afford to do this."

Ah yes.

Shula had stayed close with his old quarterback over the years. Each year Teevens brought him over to Louisiana to work the Manning Passing Academy. The pair traveled together, even one year testing each other's fortitude on a mad-dash marathon bicycle trip across the Southwest. When the Mobile Virtual Player came along Teevens brought Shula onto the MVP board.

Last winter, with his three sons settled in their careers Shula felt the football itch return after hearing that Dartmouth wide receivers coach Jerry Taylor was leaving for William & Mary. He wondered if the time was finally right to return to that other family business.

He remembers the conversation he had with Teevens clearly.

THE HEAD COACH AND A PLAYER CHIME IN

Buddy Teevens:
"I asked him after the scrimmage, 'How was it?' He said, 'You know, it was so good to have a headset on again.' You could tell that he appreciated all the vibe of the game situation, and the game-week type of thing. If you have been away from it for a while, there is nothing that simulates or replicates what you experience and your emotions. I am excited for him. It makes me not take it for granted when you see how excited a guy is that has been away from it for a while."

Senior receiver Drew Hunnicutt:
"I was really excited when I heard about him but I think my dad was even more excited because he knew about the Shula name. I knew about Shula's Steak House but I don't know if I could've told you the difference between him and his dad and brother. He is a great coach but also one of those people who knows football is important but making us better people is his main priority. He is always asking, 'What are you interested in?' He wants to make sure that when we come out of here we are ready to enter the real world. It's not just about football."

"I said to him," he recalled, " 'I'm going to throw you a little curveball here. What would you think if I was interested in this job?' His first question was, 'What does Leslie think?' Which is a great question.

"I said, 'Well, I haven't brought it up to her yet because I wanted to find out if you were interested. There's no sense in bringing it up if you want to go in another direction.' He said to talk to her and call me back. So I did."

With their sons – and grandsons – no longer living in South Florida and Leslie's nonagenarian parents an easy drive down I-91 from Hanover in Springfield, Mass., Shula got the Big Green light from his wife. The lone caveat was that they maintain a residence in warm Florida as an escape from the snows of New England.

Shula also bounced the idea off his sons, each of whom has coached in college, including former Dartmouth quarterback Dan Shula '06.

"They listened and thought it was great," he said, "although they told me I don't know anything about social media. I did know a little bit more than they thought because we did it corporately, even if I didn't do it myself."

And that brings us the long way around to Don Shula, now 88, who balked the first time Dave brought up going to Dartmouth 40 or so years ago.

"My dad was funny," he said, a faraway look in his eyes. "I told him and he was excited. He said what I hoped he would say, which was, "You have always loved coaching, you love Dartmouth and you have a great relationship with Coach Teevens.

"I think it's awesome that you are doing it."

And so he did.

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