David Donald Shula (born May 28, 1959) is an American football coach and former player. He is the wide receivers coach at Dartmouth College. Shula served as the head coach for the

Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The c ...

of the National Football League (NFL) from 1992 to 1996, compiling a record of 19–52. He is the son of Pro Football Hall of Fame coach

Don Shula Donald Francis Shula (January 4, 1930 – May 4, 2020) was an American football defensive back and coach who served as a head coach in the National Football League (NFL) from 1963 to 1995. The head coach of the Miami Dolphins for most of his ca ...

and brother of fellow football coach Mike Shula.

Biography

The Shula family moved to Detroit in 1960 and

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore was d ...

in 1963, following Don Shula's career in the NFL. The family settled in Miami Lakes, Florida in 1970, where Dave Shula was a high school football and baseball player at Hollywood Chaminade High School.

NFL career

Shula's career as an NFL player was a brief one-season appearance as a wide receiver and punt returner with the

Baltimore Colts The Baltimore Colts were a professional American football team that played in Baltimore from its founding in 1953 to 1984. The team now plays in Indianapolis, as the Indianapolis Colts. The team was named for Baltimore's history of horse breed ...

in 1981. He began his coaching career with the Miami Dolphins in 1982, under his father as head coach. In 1989, Shula was hired by Jimmy Johnson to be his

offensive coordinator An offensive coordinator is a member of the coaching staff of an American football or Canadian football team who is in charge of the team's offense. Generally, along with the defensive coordinator and the special teams coordinator, this coach re ...

for the Dallas Cowboys, a position he held for two seasons. Shula clashed with players due to trust differences and was demoted from that position after the 1990 season, and soon thereafter left the Cowboys to take an assistant coaching position with the

in 1991. In 1992, Shula was named head coach of the Bengals. At age 32, he was one of the youngest men to achieve such a position with an NFL team. The younger Shula faced off against his father twice, dubbed Shula Bowl I and Shula Bowl II by the media, the first father and son head coaches to face each other in NFL history. Don's Dolphins beat Dave's Bengals in both games, 23–7 in 1994 and 26–23 in 1995. Both games were played in Cincinnati. The younger Shula's stint with the Bengals was unsuccessful and the team was dismal during the 1990s. The team compiled a 19–52 record over Shula's four and a half years at the helm. Infamously, Shula was hired over Kansas City Chiefs defensive coordinator Bill Cowher. Cowher took the head coaching position with the rival

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. Founded in , the Steel ...

that same offseason and went on to have a 22–9 career record against the Bengals, the most wins he had against any team as a head coach. This included an 8–1 record against Shula. The Bengals fired Shula after starting the 1996 season 1–6. Shula lost 50 games faster than any NFL coach in history, in 69 games. Shula surpassed former Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach John McKay as the fastest coach to 50 losses to begin an NFL coaching career. After a 22 year absence from coaching, Dave Shula was hired as a wide receiver coach by Dartmouth College on March 29, 2018.

Business career

After leaving football, Shula joined the family steakhouse business in 1997 and has helped expand the franchise internationally. He is an amateur golfer, tennis player, and

marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair div ...

runner. Dave is married and has three sons, Daniel, Chris and Matthew.

Head coaching record

References

External links

Dartmouth profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shula, Dave 1959 births Living people Sportspeople from Lexington, Kentucky American football wide receivers Baltimore Colts players Cincinnati Bengals coaches Dallas Cowboys coaches Dartmouth Big Green football players Miami Dolphins coaches People from Miami Lakes, Florida Players of American football from Florida Players of American football from Lexington, Kentucky American people of Hungarian descent Chaminade-Madonna College Preparatory School alumni Cincinnati Bengals head coaches