In reply to: My memory is not perfect, but it is better than most posted by ACross
There has always been speculation they would eventually split, but each time his contract came due Shula wound up signing on for another tour. The last time was in 1980, for three years. But they were an excruciatingly long time coming to terms. By then Shula had sold back to Robbie his 10% interest in the club. At one point it appeared Shula might even wind up at Notre Dame, the one college job he had coveted as a younger man. The pressure, he says, was on. "I played golf with Moose Krause [then the Notre Dame athletic director]. Moose said there was no hurry. He'd accept my decision after we finished the front nine."
(The article noted that Joe Robbie was also a big donor to ND.)
From a 1985 SI article not linked here, a Sports Illustrated source said there were four other top candidates for replacing Faust: former UCLA and Eagles coach Dick Vermeil, current UCLA coach Terry Donahue, Virginia's George Welsh and Maryland's Bobby Ross, but ND only talked to Holtz. There was no mention of Shula.
That said, to circle back to part of Across' original question, Shula would have been 67 years old for the 1997 season (Davie's first year) and I would have been quite surprised if he had moved north from southern Florida to take the job.