Mike Shula finds a home in college football, at USC and with LaNorris Sellers’ future

A few months ago, Mike Shula sat for a media interview in the South Carolina quarterbacks room, taking some time away from watching film of Old Dominion’s defense to talk about what seems like one of his least-favorite subjects: himself.

Shula, who was introduced as South Carolina’s new offensive coordinator Wednesday, was quick to deflect the conversation away from his famous last name and his famous former job.

At one point during Wednesday’s news conference, Shula seemed to refer to his father — Don Shula, the all-time winningest NFL head coach — as simply “a guy who coached a lot of football.” He said of his abrupt firing as head coach of Alabama (his alma mater) in 2006: “There’s nothing you can do to change the past.”

That is all to say: South Carolina does not seem like a stepping stone for Shula to land back in the NFL — where he served mostly as a quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator for over three decades.

With no ties to South Carolina, Shula was brought to Columbia in March by then-offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains, who knew Shula a bit and had mutual friends. His change back to a college job came just two weeks after the Buffalo Bills chose not to renew Shula’s contract as a senior offensive assistant.

He joined the Gamecocks’ staff initially as an analyst — with his title later changed to “senior offensive assistant coach.” To outsiders, perhaps it seemed like it might be a quick little detour in college before a jump back to the NFL.

But there Shula sat at USC’s football operations building in August, with Old Dominion film on his projector, in no rush to leave.

“It’s good to feel wanted and I’m really happy here,” Shula told The State then. “Every day, I enjoy it more and more.”

His three-year contract worth $1.1 million annually was approved Tuesday by South Carolina’s Board of Trustees.

A day later, head coach Shane Beamer made it clear that once Loggains accepted the head coaching role at Appalachian State, Shula was the only person he considered for the USC job. He, of course, did not tab Shula as the offensive coordinator 10 minutes after the Loggains news broke. He thought of some names and called around, but he quickly came back to Shula.

“In my mind, coach Shula was always the direction I was gonna go,” Beamer said. “One, he’s a fantastic coach. He’s maybe overqualified for the position in some ways. But, really, the continuity was critical.”

Forget for a moment Shula’s last name, or his time with NFL quarterbacks Cam Newton and Josh Allen, or that he was the offensive coordinator for a Super Bowl squad. South Carolina has a future with one of the best quarterbacks to ever step on campus. To mess with the trajectory of LaNorris Sellers would potentially be jeopardizing the ceiling of the program.

Beamer knew that.

And to say Shula was a convenient hire is not a bad thing. Being in the building did not just allow him and Sellers to form a great relationship, but it also gave Shula months to understand perhaps the most important thing relating to South Carolina’s success: How do you elevate Sellers to become even better?

Shula already seems to have ideas. For a guy who’s officially been on the job for less than a week, he had no trouble pointing out where Sellers could be better.

“Some of those runs he’s had where he was just terrific running it,” Shula said, “he probably could have got the ball out on time where he didn’t have to run it. That’s what I mean — with experience, that’s just going to only make him more dangerous.”

Perhaps that also helps explain why Shula has been drawn to the college game after years and years or sticking in the NFL. He talked of the gratification of seeing the light come on for an 18-, 19-year old kid, that moment when the balance of football finally clicked.

“That part, it is cool,” Shula said. “It’s refreshing and it’s been very energizing for me.”

Jordan Kaye

The State

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