Shula, Shula Everywhere

The most famous coaching tree in football continues to branch out, thanks to former Dartmouth wide receiver (and Cincinnati Bengals head coach) David Shula '81 and wife Leslie '81. Their son Chris, a three-year letterwinner as a linebacker at Miami University, has been named a graduate assistant coach at Ball State.

Dan Shula '06, David and Leslie's oldest son, is an offensive assistant at Illinois State after serving as a grad assistant first at Alabama and later with the Miami Hurricanes. A former Dartmouth quarterback, Dan made David and Leslie grandparents with the birth of son Logan more than a year ago. (No word – yet – on where the newest Shula will end up coaching.)

While we're at it ...

David's brother Mike, the former head coach at Alabama, is the quarterbacks coach for the Jacksonville Jaguars. Oh, and David's son Matt is a former defensive lineman at Lafayette. No word yet on whether he's in the family business, and no, we're not talking about Shula's, the upscale steakhouses that David oversees.

The forefather of the Shula Coaching Tree of course is Don Shula, who has the most wins in NFL history at 347.

*

Today's Daily Dartmouth takes a look at workouts for Big Green football players who will be on campus for their sophomore summer.

*

The Daily Pennsylvanian has a story about the new George A. Weiss Pavilion at Franklin Field. The story is a reminder that the "Facilities Wars," never seem to stop. One Penn coach calls the new facility, "arguably the top weight room in the country." From the story:

With two running tracks spanning the entire room, state-of-the-art equipment — including 30 weightlifting racks, 40 LifeFitness machines and 18 heavy bags for kickboxing — and, most importantly, 18,600 square feet of space, the new weight room opens up a variety of training possibilities. ...

... The old weight room, located a floor above the new one, encompassed 4,500 square feet of space. With four times that in the new facility, multiple teams can work out at once so scheduling is no longer a “nightmare,” according to (Strength and Conditioning Manager Jim) Steel.

*

The link to Mike Shula's bio turned up another familiar name at Jacksonville. Turns out the linebacker coach for the Jaguars is none other than former Holy Cross (and Maryland) head coach Mark Duffner. At Holy Cross Duffner had a 60-5-1 record between 1986 and 1991. His worst record: 9-2.

*

Dartmouth baseball coach Bob Whalen does a fine job in a Dartmouth podcast talking about his team repeating as Ivy League champion, breaking the Big Green record for career wins and the importance of Red Rolfe Field at Biondi Park.

*

Plagiarism by an Ivy League valedictorian in his Class Day speech? Find a story in the Columbia Spectator.

*

The high school softball season is over for the Hanover varsity, but That Certain Hanover High Senior was invited by the junior varsity coach to coach third base today when the jayvees complete their schedule. I just hope she doesn't have one of the javvers try a delayed steal of home.

While she's in the coaching box That Certain Sophomore will be in the batter's box one field over as the jv baseball team wraps up the season with a doubleheader. He took a ball in the back of the helmet ducking a wayward pitch last time out and it will be interesting to see how he reacts to that first curve today. Hopefully he'll bounce back better than his old man, who was never the same hitter after taking a fastball to the ribs that resulted in a trip to the hospital.