Features
The coach
Don Shula applies lessons learned in the NFL to his Shula Steak Houses business.
By Daniel G. Jacobs
Smart Business Broward/Palm Beach | February 2005
Don Shula will be forever remembered as the winningest coach in the National Football League. His 347 victories, back-to-back Super Bowl championships and the perfect season make great fodder for sports enthusiasts who love to debate football minutiae.
And although he retired from the game nine years ago, Shula hasn't left the limelight. In the years since, he's authored books and appeared on television and in a movie -- Ace Ventura Pet Detective, with Jim Carrey.
"I was only in it for one scene," Shula says. "I told them I would do it if it could be done in under an hour and could be done at 7 o'clock in the morning on the way to work. So they had everything set up in the neighborhood with the mailbox. I think in two takes, I was out of there."
Though Shula wasn't bitten by the acting bug, he has taken a bite of his own -- out of steak. Shula, along with his son, David, also a former NFL player and coach, opened the Shula's Steak House family of restaurants -- Shula's Steak House, Shula's Steak 2 and Shula's on the Beach -- with more than 20 locations in 10 states, Washington, D.C., and Panama City, Panama
"When we started the partnership, the vision was to make it the best steak house in South Florida," Shula says. "We've certainly done that, and exceeded it by being a national chain.
"We've had some great ratings, and we feel real good about what we're doing. We want to make sure every customer has an enjoyable dining experience. We think word of mouth is the best advertisement that you could have."
The leap from football to restaurants isn't as great as it might seem, although Shula has no desire to return to the field.
"I've been out of it nine years," Shula says. "I (turned) 75 years old in January. I coached for 33 straight years in the NFL. Coaching completely consumes you; it takes your life away. Morning, noon and night, you're consumed by your dedication to the job. If you're not, somebody that is, is going to beat you.
"For 33 years I did that, and now, being away from it, we're enjoying life. We're enjoying our kids and our grandkids. We're traveling and we're making up for some of the things that we both sacrificed when we were working hard to get to where we are."
Smart Business spoke with Shula about how those lessons he learned in the NFL apply to the world of business.
Is it more difficult to run a restaurant or an NFL football team?
Actually, there are a lot of similarities. As a head coach, you're responsible for a lot of people, and as a restaurant owner, you're responsible for a lot of people. The bottom line is, you have to have performance; you have to beat the opposition.
What can you take from the field into the restaurant?
The vision that I had as a coach was having the best team, doing things the right way, a vision of perfection. And then when I got into the restaurant business, that was my vision in the restaurant business. I wanted our patrons, our customers, to have the perfect dining experience -- the best food, the best atmosphere and the best service that money can buy.
We buy the best beef and try to prepare it to perfection. We want our customers to go out raving fans of the dining experience.
Which is more difficult -- coaching with or against your son?
There's no way you could describe the experience of coaching against your son. People just wouldn't understand. When it happened (in 1994 and 1995), it was a situation you think about and realize the only time it's happened is when we coached against each other, when Dave was head coach of Cincinnati.
That week, my family came up and said, 'I hope you understand, dad, but we're going to be rooting for Dave.' They felt he needed the win a lot more than I did. From that standpoint, I understand what they were saying. I was an established coach with a good resume, and David was trying to make one for himself with the Cincinnati Bengals.
In the two games, he was ahead at half time in one ball game and was ahead with seconds to go in the second ball game. We scored on the last play to beat them. In both ball games, his team was well-prepared, well-coached and very competitive. It's a family thing. He went out and had to do it on his own. My young son, Mike, is now head coach at the University of Alabama.
When you're coaching a game, you have all these responsibilities. When the ball is kicked off, your thought process is, 'What do we do next?' and anticipating what you want to get done in the course of a ball game. When you're a parent in the stands, you're just up there hoping and praying that things go well. You have no control over it.
What's it like working with your son in business?
He's the president of our restaurant company. I don't know where we'd be without him. He takes a lot of his motivational and organizational skills to being president. He knows every aspect of every job that we have in the restaurant business.
He's done them all at one time or another because he wanted to learn them from Day One. He does a great job; he's the reason our restaurants are as successful as they are and why we get the recognition that we get. He's the guy; he's the head coach.
What's next for the Shula Steak House family of restaurants?
We are going to continue to expand as long we feel it's intelligent expansion, we can handle it and we feel it's a good fit. We don't ever want to get to the point where we can't control what's going on in our restaurants. When we expand, we're very capable of handling the expansion.
From my standpoint, I want to be aware of what's going on, but I also realize the people are the ones that get the job done for you -- starting with Dave as the president, the people that are under Dave, the front office and the ones that are out there in the restaurants that are doing the work.
Have you ever eaten the 48-ounce steak served at your restaurant?
No, I haven't. That 24-ounce porterhouse is more to my liking. I can handle that, whereas the 48-ouncer, I don't think that I'd be able to handle. That was set up to be more of a conversation piece. Every once in a while, somebody would order one. I think we've sold over 20,000 in the 48-ounce club.
(Those who finish it) get their name on a plaque. It goes on our Web site. We've had one individual that has eaten over 100.
What's the most important thing you've done in your life?
Try to be the best that you could be no matter what the undertaking is. Whether you're at home as a dad, a husband or on the job, doing the best job that you can. (Being) charitable -- things you can do to help people -- or motivational -- giving a good example for people that are looking for a good example.
What is the biggest challenge you've faced?
Realizing whether you are coaching or whether you're in the restaurant business, how good the competition is and how good you have to be to be better than the competition. You can have a lot of hard workers, but if they don't have the right team and the right vision, the hard work won't bring results.
Hard work is important, but you have to have vision; you have to surround yourself with the best people and you have to execute.
Why did you write the book, "Everyone's a Coach?"
I was approached to write a book, and I thought they were talking about an Xs and Os football book. And I said, 'No, there are so many of those out there. I'm not interested in doing that.' I was introduced to Ken Blanchard, and we talked about a book that would be about success that would pertain to everybody, whether you were head of the household, in the community, on the job or involved in any type of athletics.
Whatever decision you want your life to take, the book would be helpful in all these different areas. That's why I feel so good about the book and the experience of doing it.
Why is it so important to lead by example?
You're not going to be an effective leader unless you're giving off good vibes, unless you're presenting yourself as an example of what you want to be able to accomplish.
Will anybody ever beat 347 wins in the NFL?
I guess you never say never. When George Halas set the record, nobody ever thought that that would ever be beat. And then I had the opportunity to do it.
Right now, I think it's going to be tough for somebody to stay in coaching as long as I stayed in coaching. In order to stay in coaching, you've got to win early and often. I was fortunate to win early and often and to be able to stay with only two teams for 33 years -- seven with the (Baltimore) Colts and 26 with the (Miami) Dolphins.
Who was the greatest football player you ever coached?
That's a tough question because I coached so many Hall of Famers. You take the quarterback position -- Johnny Unitas and (Bob) Griese and (Dan) Marino, a soon-to-be Hall of Famer. You take the toughness of a Larry Czonka and the skills of some of the Baltimore players I coached -- Lenny Moore and Gino Marketi, along with Unitas -- so many great players.
What's next for Don Shula?
As far as the restaurant business goes, we're proud of where we are, but we want to continue to expand and to get better, as long as it's done with good planning. Personally, I'm in retirement. I'm enjoying that phase of my life.
My wife Mary Anne and I do a lot of traveling; we're involved in charitable activities as much as we can, and just try to enjoy life.
HOW TO REACH: Shula Steak house, www.donshula.com or (800) 24-SHULA
