Mike Shula (born June 3, 1965) is an American football coach who is the offensive coordinator for the South Carolina Gamecocks.
Despite a lack of overwhelming athletic ability or a particularly strong arm, Shula was known for his gutsy performances in big games.
[2] Shula has served in assistant coaching positions in the NFL, twice with the Miami Dolphins[3] plus stints with the Chicago Bears and the Buccaneers, where he was offensive coordinator from 1996 to 1999.
In that year, the program had been hammered by NCAA sanctions, and lost Dennis Franchione to Texas A&M,[7] and subsequently fired Mike Price due to his off-field actions.
[5] 2003 – With the loss of several players from the 2002 team, and an offense that was not fully installed due to time constraints, Alabama suffered through a 4–9 season in 2003.
However, against Western Carolina, star quarterback Brodie Croyle tore his right ACL on a pass attempt, ending his season.
Alabama lost the game after the third-string quarterback Spencer Pennington sailed a pass over the head of Tyrone Prothro, who was open in the back of the endzone, and failed to convert on a 4th-and-5.
Despite a catastrophic leg injury suffered by star wide receiver Tyrone Prothro, Alabama went 10–2 with a victory in the 2006 Cotton Bowl Classic over the Mike Leach-led Texas Tech Red Raiders.
The team suffered two consecutive losses to the Arkansas Razorbacks and, the eventual national champion, Florida Gators.
The Tide struggled the rest of the year, as the offense could not consistently move the ball once inside the red zone, and the defense played below previous standards.
However, on January 19, 2007, the Miami Dolphins announced that Cam Cameron, then offensive coordinator of the San Diego Chargers, had been appointed to the job.
In Shula's first year with the Jaguars, Garrard ranked third in the NFL with a 102.2 passer rating – an almost 23-point improvement from the previous season – threw an NFL-low three interceptions and established a team record with a 64.0 completion percentage.
In 2012, under Shula's tutelage, Newton improved on his Rookie-of-the-Year quarterback rating from 2011 with an 86.2 mark while rushing for more than 700 yards for a second straight season.
On January 18, 2013, the Panthers named Shula their offensive coordinator[15] replacing Rob Chudzinski, who had been hired as the Cleveland Browns' head coach.
[19] On January 28, 2020, Shula was hired by the Denver Broncos as quarterbacks coach and working again with offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur.