Mike Shula is back in the SEC this year for the first time since he left Alabama following the 2006 season, and his current boss has been impressed already with his contributions.
Shula, the Crimson Tide’s head coach from 2003-06, joined the staff at South Carolina as an offensive analyst in March. Gamecocks head coach Shane Beamer said the two have known each other for many years, and that Beamer followed his progress during his various stops as an NFL offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.
Beamer and Shula are both the son of legendary coaches. Beamer’s father, Frank, is the all-time winningest coach in Virginia Tech history, while Shula’s late father, Don, coached the Baltimore Colts and Miami Dolphins to six Super Bowls.
“(Mike Shula) had worked with Cam Newton in Carolina and then he had worked with Josh Allen most recently with the Buffalo Bills,” Beamer said. “And regardless of where coach Shula had been or who he had most recently worked with, I would have wanted to bring him on our staff, period. He was the head coach at Alabama when I was an assistant coach at Mississippi State and I have known him for a long time.
“Obviously, we’re both sons of coaches. No one has won more games in the NFL than his dad. So just an immense amount of respect for him as a coach in college and then him as a person.”
Former Alabama head coach Mike Shula, who spent the last two seasons as an assistant with the NFL's Buffalo Bills, is now an analyst at South Carolina. (AP Photo/Kyusung Gong)AP
The 59-year-old Shula played quarterback at Alabama in the mid-1980s, but has coached exclusively in the NFL other than his four-year tenure at his alma mater. Among other stops, he was offensive coordinator with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1996-99), Carolina Panthers (2013-17) and New York Giants (2018-19) and was senior offensive assistant in Buffalo the last two seasons.
Shula joins a South Carolina program that went 5-7 in 2023 and must break in redshirt sophomore quarterback LaNorris Sellers after two-year starter Spencer Rattler departed for the NFL. Beamer said he’s hoping Shula will have input into helping his young passer develop, particularly now that the NCAA has ruled that analysts can have on-field coaching roles in practice and games.
“You start talking about bringing (Shula) in and you look at his background and what he was able to do with Cam Newton and the Panthers when they went to the Super Bowl,” Beamer said, “[as well as] some of his work with Josh Allen and what Buffalo has done with Josh Allen being a big body that can run and throw both. He’s been great, been a guy that has helped (Gamecocks offensive coordinator) Dowell Loggains in our offensive staff room a lot.
“You’re talking about a guy that has called plays in the SEC and called plays in the NFL in his career. So he’s been a welcome addition to our staff and brings a lot of great ideas to the staff as well.”
South Carolina opens the 2024 season Aug. 31 at home vs. Old Dominion and will head to Tuscaloosa on October 12 to face the Crimson Tide.
You can watch AL.com’s video retrospective on Alabama’s Shula years below: