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Alumnus John Offerdahl – May 4, 2020 Download PDF version

Monday, May 4, 2020

Former Dolphins LB John Offerdahl

(It seems like a lot of Dolphins players have a story to tell on their first encounter with Don Shula. Whether it was over the phone, during the draft or in person, there was some sort of impact that it made. What do you remember about your first encounter with Don Shula?) – “Coach Shula was already a legend by the time I came around in 1986 to 1993. But in ’86, coming from Western Michigan, I got drafted in the second round. Flying down for training camp and having my first opportunity to meet Coach Shula, he was already the undefeated perfect season coach of the 1972 team. Also in the ‘80s, they went to the Super Bowl, they had Dan Marino. This was the team to be on. My first impression, it was overwhelming, quite honestly. He said hi to me and basically told me I better get nervous. That was kind of the way he geared a player up, was to expect excellence immediately, and he was looking for me to be the leader of the defense and gave me every opportunity to do that and expected the most out of us.”

(I remember you telling a story about Don Shula yelling at you on the sidelines and you said ‘I can’t take it anymore,’ and you demanded a meeting with him about cursing and everything and he had no idea. Do you remember that story and can you fill in if I’m missing the gap in my memory of it?) – “Coach Shula demanded so much from us and there was a game in Cleveland. That was his home state as you know. We were in a Monday Night Football game my rookie year. I was playing hurt all of the time and I had got through the whole game and right before the end, went to the X-ray room, got diagnosed and just had a terrible contusion on my arm. After the game, after our defeat, I went back to Coach Shula with the doctor and he just was so frustrated. He took out a little bit of that frustration on me, and coming from Wisconsin, I didn’t swear. I heard a lot of it in sports, and Coach Shula had a little bit of frustration in him that day and shared it with me. It  bothered me. It not only motivated you, but it would also challenge you. Later on that week, Bob Baumhower was my locker mate and he would encourage me to just chill out, but I had to get it off my chest, and I went into Coach Shula’s office that week and shared with him that I never wanted to be sworn at again. The story goes beyond that, but needless to say, Coach Shula respected my wishes. He certainly had ways of communicating with you. It didn’t have to be in the form of a swear word. He would definitely rile you up and get you prepared. One of the things I will never forget, and we all have moments of this; but in my life, that moment lasted eight years. He demanded the most out of his players and many of his players couldn’t deal with that, including myself at times. But what happened is that we preformed beyond our wildest imagination. When a player can look in the mirror and say that wasn’t me, but someone else’s expectation of my performance that overcame my own limitations, that is an amazing aspect of a great coach. It’s not easy in the moment, but in retrospect, every player that played for Coach Shula looks back and says he got me to do more out of my body, out of my performance, than I could have ever done on my own. A mentor, a coach, a great leader can take a team of people like that and make them great. That’s what he did year in and year out for those years he coached for the Miami Dolphins, and beyond quite honestly. He lives in every one of our dreams and sometimes nightmares to this day and beyond. (laughter)”

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