RedHawks Then, Rams Now, Friends Always

It didn't take long for Sean McVay '08 and Chris Shula '09 to hit it off.

When the Miami Football freshmen moved into the dorms ahead of the 2004 season, McVay, a wide receiver, and Shula, a linebacker, connected right away.

"It was the first day," Shula said. "One of those guys you meet and you just feel like you've been friends for a long time. I think Sean makes a lot of people feel like that…we've pretty much been best friends ever since."

Fast forward to the present, and not only are the former teammates still good friends, but they also work together. McVay is in his fifth season as the head coach of the Los Angeles Rams, and Shula has been an assistant on McVay's staff that entire time, currently serving as the franchise's linebackers coach.

Through it all, the two men have remained close. (How close? Shula spent the 2017 NFL season living in a room in McVay's house…and last summer, Sean met up with Chris and Chris's new bride Jennifer on the Shulas' honeymoon in Greece!)

Both RedHawks-turned-Rams came from similar backgrounds, with football families that spanned several generations. McVay's grandfather, John, also played for the Red and White in the 1950s, going on to coach the New York Giants and then work in the San Francisco 49ers front office. Mention Miami Football to Sean McVay, and the 'Cradle of Coaches' and his family connections are the first things he brings up. "It's just a great tradition," McVay said.

Chris Shula's grandfather, Don, was an NFL Hall of Fame coach, most notably leading the Miami Dolphins to a pair of Super Bowl championships, including an undefeated 'perfect season' in 1972. Don Shula's sons Dave (Chris's father) and Mike also went into the family profession; Dave, who is now the wide receivers coach at Dartmouth, was the Bengals head coach from 1992-1996, and Mike served as the University of Alabama's head coach from 2003-06 (he is now the Broncos' quarterbacks coach).

In fact, according to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, three of the 10 youngest head coaches in modern NFL history have the last name Shula or McVay. Dave Shula was 32 when he got the Bengals job, while Don Shula turned 33 the week he started coaching the Baltimore Colts. Sean McVay tops the list, as he was only 30 years old when the Rams introduced him as their head coach five years ago.

"We definitely had a connection with our family histories," Chris Shula said. "[Sean and I] were always the two guys that, maybe on spring break we were still going out and hanging out with everybody, but then we might get up and run sprints on the beach in the morning."

"We were always wired a little different in that sense."

McVay and Shula not only had football in common during their Miami careers, but academics as well. Both student-athletes majored in sports studies, so they had many of their classes together. The two teammates also lived near each other for their entire time in Oxford, either in the same building or right next door.

"We had an awesome time, an awesome experience going to school and playing football…a group of guys that are still really close to this day," said Shula.

"All of the times just hanging out with them…the friends from [Miami] is something that we'll have forever."

Both coaches credit their time at Miami with shaping who they are on the sidelines today. "Hard work pays off," said McVay. "Consistency and a commitment to a philosophy and a way of doing things: I learned that really from Coach Hoeppner from the jump."

Shula agreed. "As a coach, you're just a product of your past experiences, so you're really drawing on your experiences in everything…try and surround yourself with the smartest people possible, never stop learning, and never stop evolving.

"That's really the kind of culture that Sean's built here."

McVay and Shula were part of a championship team with the RedHawks, playing on the 2007 MAC East co-champion squad. They've also enjoyed watching their alma mater from afar as Miami continues to chase league titles on the gridiron. "We follow it every year, every week," Shula said. "Those weekday games are always on while we're in the office. Excited where Coach Martin has it going; when they won the MAC title [in 2019, we were] all fired up about it."

Rams coach Sean McVay — McVay, now in his fifth season with the Rams,
is making his second Super Bowl appearance

Now the two friends are trying to capture another championship of their own, this time on the NFL's biggest stage. The Rams will face off with the Bengals Sunday in Super Bowl LVI with the Lombardi Trophy on the line, and McVay and Shula hope the night ends with blue and gold confetti falling at SoFi Stadium.

Storylines abound as Super Bowl week ramps up. Los Angeles will become just the second team in league history to play a Super Bowl in its own building, after the Tampa Bay Buccaneers did the same thing 12 months earlier. "It's pretty cool," said Shula. "A lot of the same rhythm and flow to what we've been doing – that gets to stay the same."

And for Shula, who spent five years growing up in Ohio as the son of the Bengals head coach, taking on Cincinnati is obviously a unique full-circle moment.

"All I have is great feelings toward that city and toward the Bengals," he said. "I spent a ton of my life there, whether at Miami or Cincinnati, and still have a bunch of friends from growing up or from Miami that are huge Bengals fans. Zac Taylor [the Bengals coach and former Rams QB coach] is a good friend…

"But when it comes to the game, there's really no difference. It doesn't matter who you're playing."

L.A. is back in the Super Bowl after a disappointing 13-3 loss to New England three years ago, and the Rams are looking to bounce back with a better showing en route to a different result this time around.

"It's really hard to win a game, and this is obviously the hardest one to win," said Shula. "We're going to put everything we have into it and hopefully come out on top."

Find more Front Row Features at MiamiRedHawks.com/FrontRowFeatures.

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