It took a (long) while, but Dave Shula is back in the coaching game.
Late last week, Dartmouth announced that Shula has been hired as the football program’s wide receivers coach. The son of the winningest head coach in NFL history, Don Shula, Shula played his college football at Dartmouth, as did his son, Dan, and Buddy Teevens, the Big Green’s current head football coach.
“I appreciate the opportunity that Coach Teevens has given me,” Shula said in quotes distributed by the school. “I am lucky to be married to a member of the Class of 1981, and our oldest son is an ’06, so Dartmouth roots run deep. I look forward to helping Dartmouth continue its championship tradition.”
Shula reportedly turned down a scholarship offer from Florida State to enroll at Dartmouth and play for the Big Green. Despite playing nearly four decades ago, Shula still ranks sixth all-time with 1,822 receiving yards as well as eighth in receptions with 133 in his three seasons on the field.
This will mark the 58-year-old Shula’s first-ever job at the collegiate level. His last coaching job at any level was as the head coach of the Cincinnati Bengals way back in 1996. He was fired in the midst of his fifth season with the NFL club after compiling a 19-52 record, a .268 winning percentage that is the lowest all-time (for now, right Hue Jackson?) of anyone who has coached at least 50 games.
Shula, the school wrote in its release, “has spent the past 20-plus years working in various capacities for the family restaurant, Shula’s Steak House, helping the chain grow from six to 30 restaurants while serving as the president of the company.”
One of Shula’s five siblings, Mike Shula, was the head coach at Alabama for four seasons, fired in November of 2006 after posting a 26-23 record and was, of course, replaced by Nick Saban.