Football . December 17, 2024

Mike Shula Named Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks Coach

Mike Shula has been promoted to offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach, University of South Carolina head football coach Shane Beamer announced today. Shula replaced Dowell Loggains, who was recently named the head coach at Appalachian State University.

Shula joined the Gamecocks’ staff as an offensive analyst on March 18, 2024, as spring camp opened. He was named senior offensive assistant coach prior to the start of the 2024 fall camp and worked with the Carolina quarterbacks. He helped redshirt freshman signal-caller LaNorris Sellers earn third-team All-SEC honors and SEC Freshman of the Year accolades in 2024.

Shula has a three-year contract that will take him through the 2027 season. The other nine on-field assistant coaches had contract extensions approved by the University’s Board of Trustees, with Joe DeCamillis, Shawn Elliott, Torrian Gray and Clayton White extended through 2027 and Marquel Blackwell, Mike Furrey, Sterling Lucas, Travian Robertson and Lonnie Teasley extended through 2026. Furrey was also given the additional title of Passing Game Coordinator.

Shula, who played quarterback at Alabama and served as the school’s head coach from 2003-06, most recently served as the senior offensive assistant for the Buffalo Bills for the 2022 and 2023 seasons.

Other than his four-year stretch as the head coach of the Crimson Tide, Shula has spent nearly his entire coaching career in the NFL. He began his coaching career as an offensive assistant with Tampa Bay (1988-90), before spending two years as an assistant with Miami (1991-92) and three in Chicago as the Bears’ tight ends coach (1993-95).

Shula’s first stint as an offensive coordinator came on Tony Dungy’s staff in Tampa Bay from 1996-99. He returned to Miami as the Dolphins quarterbacks coach from 2000-02 before becoming the Crimson Tide’s head coach in 2003. At the time, he was the second-youngest coach in Division I-A football at age 38.

Shula returned to the NFL in 2007, beginning a four-year stint as the quarterbacks coach in Jacksonville.

He joined the Carolina Panthers in 2011 and served as the Panthers’ quarterbacks coach for two seasons before being promoted to offensive coordinator, a position he held from 2013-17. In 2011, he helped quarterback Cam Newton earn AP Offensive Rookie of the Year after passing for over 4,000 yards and accounting for 35 touchdowns. Under Shula’s tutelage, Newton broke the record for most passing yards in a player’s first two seasons, held by Peyton Manning. Shula was named Offensive Coordinator of the Year by Pro Football Focus during the 2015 NFL season after Newton won the NFL MVP award and the Panthers reached the Super Bowl.

Shula served as the New York Giants offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach from 2018-19, then spent the 2020 and 2021 seasons in Denver as the Broncos’ quarterbacks coach before his two-year run in Buffalo with quarterback Josh Allen.

Born June 3, 1965, in Baltimore, Md., he is the son of the late Don Shula, the NFL’s all-time winningest coach. He graduated from the University of Alabama in 1987 with a degree in labor relations. As the Tide’s starting quarterback from 1984-86, he logged a 24-11-1 mark over three seasons and was selected in the 12th round of the 1987 draft by Tampa Bay.

He has three grown daughters, Samantha, Brooke and Ryan.

SOUTH CAROLINA FOOTBALL COACHING STAFF

Shane Beamer, Head Coach

Marquel Blackwell, Running Backs Coach

Joe DeCamillis, Associate Head Coach/Special Teams Coordinator

Shawn Elliott, Run Game Coordinator/Tight Ends Coach

Mike Furrey, Passing Game Coordinator/Wide Receivers Coach

Torrian Gray, Defensive Backs Coach

Sterling Lucas, Outside Linebackers/Defensive Ends Coach

Travian Robertson, Defensive Line Coach

Mike Shula, Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks Coach

Lonnie Teasley, Offensive Line Coach