Charles N. Shira (September 23, 1926 – January 2, 1976) was an American

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

coach and

athletic director An athletic director (commonly "athletics director" or "AD") is an administrator at many American clubs or institutions, such as colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches a ...

. He served as head coach of

Mississippi State University Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a Public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Mississippi State, Mississippi, Un ...

from 1967 to 1972 and compiled a combined record of 16–45–2. Shira received the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central United States, South Central and Southeastern United States. Its 16 members in ...

Coach of the Year Many sports leagues, sportswriting associations, and other organizations confer "Coach of the Year" awards. In some sports — including baseball and association football — the award is called the "Manager of the Year" award. Some of the ...

award in 1970, the only season of his tenure in which his team finished with a

winning percentage In sports, a winning percentage or Copeland score is the fraction of games or matches a team or individual has won. The statistic is commonly used in standings or rankings to compare teams or individuals. It is defined as wins divided by the to ...

above .500. He also served as the Mississippi State University athletic director, at first concurrent with his head coaching duties, and then as his sole responsibility until his death in 1976.

Early life

Shira attended college at

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, TA&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of ...

, where he played football as a tackle from 1943 to 1944. He received an appointment to attend the

United States Military Academy The United States Military Academy (USMA), commonly known as West Point, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York that educates cadets for service as Officer_(armed_forces)#United_States, comm ...

, and was admitted as a Cadet in 1948.''1999 Register of Graduates and Former Cadets'', United States Military Academy, 1999, p. 4-225. Shira played football for

Army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

under

Earl Blaik Earl Henry "Red" Blaik (February 15, 1897 – May 6, 1989) was an American football player, coach, college athletics administrator, and United States Army officer. He served as the head football coach at Dartmouth College from 1934 to 1940 and at ...

from 1949 to 1950. In 1950, he was named Army's

most valuable player In team sports, a most valuable player (MVP) award is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particular competition, or ...

and to several All-America teams, including the

International News Service The International News Service (INS) was a U.S.-based news agency (newswire) founded by newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst in 1909.

first team. After the season, he appeared in the Blue–Gray Classic all-star game. Shira did not remain at West Point to graduate, however, and the following year, he served as an assistant coach at

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

before moving on to a position at

Mississippi State Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a public land-grant research university in Mississippi State, Mississippi, United States. It is classified among "R ...

in 1952. There, he worked alongside fellow assistant

Darrell Royal Darrell K Royal (July 6, 1924 – November 7, 2012) was an American college football player, coach, and athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at Mississippi State University from 1954 to 1955, the University of Washington ...

under head coach

Murray Warmath Murray Warmath (December 26, 1912 – March 16, 2011) was an American college football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at Mississippi State University from 1952 to 1953 and at the University of Minnesota from 1954 to 1971, ...

.Burial to be in Starkville; Shira Funeral Services Today
''Florence Times-Tri Cities Daily'', January 3, 1976.

Coaching career

Shira received a degree in

mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines and mechanism (engineering), mechanisms that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and engineering mathematics, mathematics principl ...

from

in 1954. When Royal took over as head coach at

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

, he hired Shira as his top defensive assistant, in which role he remained from 1957 to 1966. In 1967, he was hired by Mississippi State as its head football coach and

.Shira New Coach At Mississippi State
''Sarasota Journal'', January 11, 1967.As Shira Takes Over, Getting Staff State's Big Problem
''The Tuscaloosa News'', January 14, 1967. In his first season, his team won two games, followed by none the following year. Mississippi State improved to 3–7 in 1969. That year, Shira served as the coach for the Gray squad in the Blue-Gray Classic. Mississippi State posted a surprising six-win season in 1970, including a victory over their intrastate rival,

Ole Miss OLE, Ole or Olé may refer to: * Olé, a cheering expression used in Spain * Ole (name), a male given name, includes a list of people named Ole * Overhead lines equipment, used to transmit electrical energy to trams, trolleybuses or trains Co ...

. For the accomplishment, the

named Shira its

.Michael B. Ballard
''Maroon and White: Mississippi State University, 1878–2003''
p. 201, University Press of Mississippi, 2008, . In 1972, having compiled a combined record of 16–45–2, Shira resigned as head coach to focus on his duties as athletic director. In 1975, the

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

imposed a two-year probation on Mississippi State for possible rule violations. He suffered a

cerebral hemorrhage Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), also known as hemorrhagic stroke, is a sudden bleeding into the tissues of the brain (i.e. the parenchyma), into its ventricles, or into both. An ICH is a type of bleeding within the skull and one kind of stro ...

on November 20, 1975, and died on January 2, 1976, in a

Jackson, Mississippi Jackson is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Mississippi, most populous city of the U.S. state of Mississippi. The city sits on the Pearl River (Mississippi–Louisiana), Pearl River and is locate ...

hospital two days after suffering a second

stroke Stroke is a medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to a part of the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemor ...

. A Mississippi State athletic facility, Shira Complex, is named in his honor. It was originally built in the 1970s for the football team, and now houses an indoor

FieldTurf FieldTurf is a brand of artificial turf playing surface. It is manufactured and installed by FieldTurf Tarkett, a division of French company Tarkett. FieldTurf is headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and its primary manufacturing facility i ...

surface used by the

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

teams. One of his sons, William G. Shira, graduated from Mississippi State in 1979 with an

aerospace engineering Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. Avionics engineering is s ...

degree and, as of 2006, was a vice president of

Gulfstream Aerospace Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation is an American aircraft company and a subsidiary of General Dynamics. Gulfstream designs, develops, manufactures, markets, and services business jet aircraft. Gulfstream has produced more than 2,000 aircraft sinc ...

.Engineering college honors 2006 Distinguished Fellows Thursday
Mississippi State University, February 21, 2006, retrieved June 2, 2010.

Head coaching record

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Shira, Charles 1926 births 1976 deaths American football tackles Army Black Knights football players Edmonton Elks coaches Mississippi State Bulldogs football coaches Mississippi State Bulldogs athletic directors Texas Longhorns football coaches Texas A&M Aggies football players Mississippi State University alumni