Hanover
In a warm twist, however, the new receivers coach has a relentlessly sunny disposition. Former NFL head coach David Shula may have taken what some would see as significant step down from his previous gridiron gig, but you’d never know it to look at him.
The 1981 Dartmouth graduate smiles nonstop. And not just when the likes of starters Hunter Hagdorn and Drew Hunnicutt are running patterns. Those occupying lower rungs on the talent ladder also come in for detailed instruction and feel-good phrases.
“It’s fun to see him back out there,” said Dartmouth coach Buddy Teevens, who generated national headlines last month by hiring his onetime college teammate and longtime friend. “It almost seems like a rebirth. His relationship with the guys, you can see that developing.”
Shula is the eldest of five children of legendary coach Don Shula, who directed the NFL’s Baltimore Colts and Miami Dolphins and was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame after winning a league-record 347 games. David Shula, 58, was the Cincinnati Bengals’ coach from 1992-96 after working on his father’s coaching staff and with the Dallas Cowboys.
In his own playing days, Shula declined a Florida State football scholarship to attend Dartmouth, where he twice earned All-Ivy honors at receiver. Like Teevens, he was a history major and a member of Beta Theta Pi fraternity. Following graduation, Shula joined the Colts and made his lone appearance in an NFL game later that year.
Shula attended a semester of law school at the University of Baltimore before joining the Dolphins’ staff with a game remaining in the 1982 regular-season schedule. Miami reached the Super Bowl a few weeks later, and their new guy became the youngest assistant in NFL history at 23.
Shula became one of the youngest head coaches in the NFL’s modern era when he was hired by the Bengals at 32, a year younger than Don Shula had been when he took over the Colts in 1963. The son, however, lost 50 games faster than any coach in league history (71 games) and finished with a record of 19-52.
Cincinnati owner Mike Brown, himself a former Dartmouth player, fired Shula seven games into the 1996 campaign, leaving him with the third-worst winning percentage (.268) in NFL history.
“I got over that a long time ago,” said Shula, who’s been working under Teevens at the prestigious Manning Passing Academy in Louisiana each summer for the past 20 years. “I have perspective now, an appreciation of the time you get to spend working on the football field with the guys. It’s energizing.”
Shula’s children were 13, 11 and 8 when he exited the Bengals and moved into top management of his family’s restaurant chain. He was able to be around his family more often and rarely missed his boys’ games, including most of those his son, Dan, played at Dartmouth from 2002-05 under former head coach John Lyons.
After he took over in 2005 for his second stint leading the program, Teevens would periodically ask David Shula if he wanted to rejoin its ranks.
“He was probably more joking than not,” Shula said. “But it was never the right time.”
That changed, Shula said, when the restaurant chain hired a new CEO and gave him free reign. The company is in good hands, Shula said, and he was comfortable stepping away. His boys are grown and have spent time in the coaching profession. His wife, Leslie, a Dartmouth classmate and former Big Green tennis player, was amenable to the move. Her parents live in western Massachusetts.
“It was like the planets aligned,” said David Shula, who fills an opening created when Jerry Taylor moved on to William & Mary. “I wouldn’t be prepared to be a coordinator, but I’m not looking to do that. As far as coaching receivers, the routes are the same and teaching is natural and comfortable for me.”
That’s the elephant in the coaches’ room: How will Shula fit in under second-year offensive coordinator Kevin Daft, who took indirect but public heat from Teevens at times last season? Shula said Daft and defensive coordinator Don Dobes, who’s known Teevens nearly as long, raised that issue with him during the hiring process.
“I understand there might be a time when he gets on me because the receivers aren’t doing their jobs,” Shula said. “I went through a similar situation with my dad for seven years. He wanted to make sure frequently that the other coaches and players knew I wasn’t there because I was his kid.”
Teevens noted that it’s easier to find a good coach than a good friend and said he gave his staff the chance to reject the move. He also emphasized to Shula that he was taking an entry-level job and that the learning curve with Dartmouth’s offense and recruiting process might be steep.
“He’s come in and been just like any other guy,” the coach said. “He’s working his butt off trying to master (the job), and he’ll screw up and I’ll pick him up on it. He has put all our fears to rest.”
Shula said his famous father is happy that his son is back doing what he’s long loved in a place about which he’s devout. The Shula name isn’t likely to be brought up on visits to prospects’ high schools or houses, however, unless it’s by someone else.
“I’m not going to tout that or wear it on my sleeve,” Shula said. “I’ve never been that way. But if someone makes the connection and says ‘Hey, by the way…’ ”
Hunnicutt said he knew his new coach’s surname was big in NFL circles, but his father, Mike, a onetime receiver at Texas Tech, had to fill him in on the details. The younger Hunnicutt was more familiar with the Shulas’ restaurants than their football pedigrees.
“It was exciting to hear that we were having a former NFL head coach coming,” Drew Hunnicutt said. “His first point of emphasis was that we want to get better on the field but also as men. He has great insight about what we go through at Dartmouth day to day. You can see his passion and drive, and it makes us want to play better for him.”
Shula wants some of the country’s best players to consider joining the Big Green. He’ll have to learn the ropes about Twitter and Instagram, but he’s got a killer sales pitch: genuine love for Dartmouth.
“It’s different from the pro game, where you don’t get involved with players’ personal lives and their parents,” Shula said. “One of my sons told me the toughest part of recruiting is being excited about the place you’re recruiting for. I roll out of bed that way.”
Tris Wykes can be reached at twykes@vnews.com or 603-727-3227.