Rams assistant Chris Shula carving his own coaching legacy among rich family history
There are times when Chris Shula will watch Los Angeles Rams star cornerback Jalen Ramsey attack the ball at the team’s facility in Thousand Oaks, California, and he will quickly think back on his days as a young boy, watching talented athletes at Cincinnati Bengals training camp practices.
He would spend weeks at the team’s dormitory, joking with players and acting as a ball boy while his dad, Dave, led the summer sessions. It was unbeknownst to him at the moment but those experiences left an indelible mark on his quick rise in coaching.
Chris, 36, the son of Dave and grandson of legendary Dolphins coach Don Shula, will coach in the Super Bowl as Rams linebackers coach this weekend, continuing a rich family legacy.
“I think growing up, I didn’t appreciate it as much as I do now,” Chris said of growing up in a football family. “All those experiences and all that stuff, I think that shapes who you are now and I’m just thankful for all that.”
While Chris’ focus when he was younger was solely on playing football — he starred at Fort Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas before heading to Miami University in Ohio — Dave, who spent time four seasons with the Bengals and now coaches receivers at Dartmouth, calls his son becoming a coach a “no-brainer.”
“From the time he was a little guy, he just loved being around [Bengals practices] ... and he just couldn’t get enough of that,” said Dave, whose brother Mike has two decades of NFL coaching experience and was quarterbacks coach for the Denver Broncos last season.
It was during Chris’ time as a four-year player at Miami University, where he was teammates with Rams coach Sean McVay, that he began to open his mind to coaching.
“A lot of people would say it to me,” Chris said. “I was the middle linebacker. I made all the calls on defense. I kind of always was the one doing the extra stuff ... I really appreciated playing different positions on the defense and knowing all the defense and just loved the game. I kind of always knew I’d be a part of it, someway, somehow, if I could have my way in the future.”
After graduating, Chris spent one season as a compliance assistant at the University of Oklahoma, which Dave said reinforced Chris’ intention on being a coach. After one season as a graduate assistant with Ball State, he joined the coaching staff as an assistant linebackers coach. He bounced from a grad assistant job with Indiana to being defensive coordinator at John Caroll before entering the NFL ranks, where he started as a defensive quality control coach for the then-San Diego Chargers.
When McVay was named head coach of the Rams in 2017, Chris joined his staff as assistant linebackers coach. He spent two years in that role and then another two coaching outside linebackers before being promoted to coach the entire position group this season.
As the Rams under McVay have made their second run to the championship game, which will be played at their own SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Chris has also had to work with and assimilate former Super Bowl MVP Von Miller, who was acquired in a midseason trade.
“He’s got an energy and aura about him where he just brings others with him,” Chris said. “You just feel good when you talk to Von. You feel like you can be yourself. He gets along with everybody. That’s really the first thing I think of even before the type of player he is and how amazing he is on the field.”
Chris called his father, an “early morning, disciplined man” his biggest coaching influence, and reminisced on the various stories players told him about his grandfather, a “harda--” who over time “morphed into a goofy, lovable type of grandpa.” He treasures the day-long talks he would have with Don, who died May 2020, about football and life but has taken bits and pieces of Dave and Don’s personalities while trying to put his own personal spin on it as a coach.
But more than anything, Chris has tried to embrace and enjoy the rarity of a championship run. As Dave noted, his father’s first two trips to the Super Bowl ended in defeat before a pair of victories en route to a Hall of Fame career.
“[Chris] is a phenomenal coach,” McVay said. “He truly sees the game through an all-22 perspective, knowing the defense but also the offensive side of the ball, how are teams trying to really attack the different coverage contours, front structures in the run game. I’ve been just so grateful to work side by side with Chris since we got here.
“I lean heavily on him. He’s a really great coach. He’s been an instrumental part of our defensive success with [defensive coordinator] Raheem Morris and so many other great coaches we have on the defensive side of the ball. I think what we’ve seen from the inside linebackers is a great reflection of him and also those guys delivering. [He] certainly is in a long line of great Shula coaches [and] another one we can add to the list. It’s a special family.”
This story was originally published February 11, 2022 at 6:03 PM.
