Shula Steps Away From Nfl Quits Competition Committee Post To Concentrate On Life After Football
When Don Shula walked away from coaching the Miami Dolphins two months ago, he wasn’t prepared for life in the National Football League to end.
Now it is over. At least for now.
“I was sitting in on a meeting,” Shula said Saturday, “and I asked myself: Why am I here? I really didn’t want to be there. And this is when I decided, the best thing for me to do now is step away for a year or so, and then decide what I want to do for the rest of my life.”
Even some of Shula’s closest friends were stunned Friday to read a league press release that said Shula had resigned from his position as co-chairman of the Competition Committee. Commissioner Paul Tagliabue (who wanted Shula to stay) gave the customary thanks for Shula’s contributions to the committee, but there were no quotes from Shula.
The Competition Committee had been meeting for days, and Shula had been co-chairing the meeting with old friend George Young, general manager of the New York Giants.
“It just didn’t feel the same as it has in the past,” said Shula. “It would be different if I still had a real affiliation with a team, but I really do not. I still own a piece of the Dolphins, and I’m ready to help (owner) Wayne (Huizenga) any time he wants, but it’s not the same.
“This committee work is very intense and involved. It is a big commitment. For the past 43 years I have been used to going to a football game every Sunday in the fall and for the past 20 years I had been used to working with the Competition Committee for three weeks every spring into the annual league meeting.
“Now, that won’t be happening anymore. I had a chance to coach in Baltimore with Art Modell. He asked me to coach. But I didn’t want to coach anymore. If I had, I would have stayed with the Dolphins. Then Art asked me to come to Baltimore and run the whole show. That appealed to me, and if I had taken that job, I would have stayed with the Competition Committee. But to take over the whole show in Baltimore would have meant making a 24-hour-a-day commitment, and when I thought it over, I really didn’t want to do that.
“Right now, I just feel like there are some things I want to do. I don’t know what they are yet, but I just feel like I want the time to have to do them. A year from now, it could be different. I might want to get back into football. But for now, the feeling just wasn’t the same.”
For decades, Tex Schramm, Shula, Paul Brown and Jim Finks dominated the Competition Committee, which is the most important committee in football for guiding the growth of the game on the field. Now, that link to history is gone. Green Bay’s Mike Holmgren was appointed to co-chair in place of Shula. But there is no one left on that committee that can reach back over 50 years, to the very roots of the NFL, the way Schramm, Shula, Brown and Finks could. Shula stepping away brings an end to an era.
A milestone was reached last week when the 100th black coach was hired in the NFL. It is an amazing development when you consider that in 1980, there were only 14 black coaches on 28 teams, or one for every two teams. By 1990, the number had reached 66, including one head coach, Art Shell of the Raiders. But when the 1996 season begins, there will be at least 100 black coaches (some teams are still hiring assistants), including three head coaches, Philadelphia’s Ray Rhodes - the coach of the year in the NFL Minnesota’s Dennis Green and Tampa Bay’s Tony Dungy. Dungy has hired five black assistants, giving the Bucs the greatest number of black coaches on any pro team at any time. “I think it is great,” said Dungy. “When I was playing in the league back in 1977, the (black) players didn’t even think much about coaching because there didn’t seem to be much of a chance. But when some of the guys got a chance, they proved what they can do, and hopefully more guys will get a chance because of this. A lot of what has happened came about when coaches came out of the college ranks and brought some (black) coaches with them. It really is all a matter of just getting the opportunity to do the job.” … Ron Erhardt, the Jets’ new offensive coordinator, on what they can expect from Neil O’Donnell, the free-agent quarterback who, like Erhardt, came over from Pittsburgh: “He’ll bring maturity and understanding to our offense right away. He knows what we want to do and how we want to do it. This is a great break when you are trying to implement a new system with a new team. Neil knows it all and can help us get the message across to the rest of the team. The players won’t have to keep coming to the coaches all the time, because if there’s a question, Neil knows the answer.” Erhardt says the acquisition of offensive linemen David Williams from Houston and Jumbo Elliott from the Giants will really help. “This gives us a pair of bookends at offensive tackle, which is very important,” said Erhardt. “Now we can take the guys who played tackle last year and see if they can help us at guard. Then in Dave Alexander we’ve got a veteran center who has been a solid player.” … Dolphins cornerback Troy Vincent signed an offer sheet with the Eagles, and the Dolphins decided not to match. Originally, they wanted to match for the purposes of trading Vincent for draft choices. Miami had discussions with Jacksonville and other teams about a Vincent deal, but apparently couldn’t get what it wanted. Dolphins coach Jimmy Johnson wants to rebuild his team with draft choices, much as he did in Dallas after the Herschel Walker deal. Johnson said two weeks ago that the free agents he wanted to keep for sure were Vincent and defensive end Marco Coleman, who signed an offer sheet with the Chargers. But he also said that Miami had a severe cap problem and would have a tough time matching offers. Philly made the big offer to Vincent but did not include a notrade clause, as the Chargers did with Coleman. So if Miami matches the Coleman offer, it can’t trade him… . Speaking of the Chargers, they showed a lot of guts by simply releasing Natrone Means. He was the means by which the Chargers rode to the Super Bowl two years ago, but last year he became a malcontent and a man-about-town. The Chargers decided not to deal with the problem and just get him out of town. Leslie O’Neal, their fine defensive end, also moved on, signing with the St. Louis Rams. The coaching staff reportedly was in favor of getting rid of both players. … Quiz Part I: Which of these talented coaches had the best winning percentage in the history of the National Football League: Shula, George Halas, John Madden, George Allen or Joe Gibbs? (Answer below) … The league lost one of its best coaches when Seahawks assistant Tom Catlin decided to retire this past week. Catlin had the longest original American Football League coach still in action during the 1995 season. He started out with Hank Stram on the first Dallas Texans coaching staff… . Quiz Part II: Who made the following statement last week? “It is ridiculous the way money is being thrown around. It can certainly fracture the esprit de corps of a team. The day of loyalty is over. They go play for the dollar.” (Answer below.)
Bills owner Ralph Wilson on losing veteran linebacker Cornelius Bennett to Atlanta in free agency: “We made him the best offer we possibly could because we wanted to keep him. He’s been with us for nine years. He’s been a great player and a great guy. I like him a lot. But I can’t blame him for going. If the difference had only been $100,000 between our offer and theirs, I think he would have stayed. But when the difference is in the hundreds of thousands, then he had to go. When I heard he left I got a little sentimental. Last year we lost Darryl Talley. I felt the same way, like losing part of your family. He didn’t want to go either. But that is the system we are working under.” … The University of Nebraska is trying to keep a tight lid on information, but word is that quarterback Tommie Frazier has another blood clot in his leg, a condition that caused him to miss most of the 1994 season. NFL sources say doctors are trying to figure out why the problem has recurred and whether it is something that will recur again. Even though he was the Heisman Trophy runner-up last season, Frazier is not considered a top quarterback prospect and is rated a third- to fourth-round pick as a running back… . First quiz answer: Madden. The top five are Madden (.731), Gibbs (.683), Allen (.681), Halas (.671) and Shula (.665). Second answer: Barry Switzer. Didn’t his Cowboys spend more than $60 million in bonuses alone last year?