“I urge you to set goals high and give yourself a chance to succeed,” Don Shula, who won back-to-back Super Bowls during his 15 years as head coach of the Miami Dolphins, tells NEIT grads.

The Providence Journal / Kris Craig

PROVIDENCE — Don Shula, the winningest coach in the history of the National Football League, touched down yesterday at the Rhode Island Convention Center, where he urged more than 1,000 graduates of New England Institute of Technology to strive for excellence.

“I urge you to set goals high and give yourself a chance to succeed,” he said. “It’s tougher to stay on top than it is to get to the top.”

Shula, best known as the legendary head coach of the Miami Dolphins for 15 years where he won back-to-back Super Bowl Championships, seemed genuinely pleased to have the chance to speak at a college graduation. In a folksy, disarming manner, Shula joked about being invited to speak in the backyard of the New England Patriots — the Dolphins’ longtime nemesis.

“Getting an opportunity up here in New England is kind of strange to me,” he said. He talked about his Dolphin teams staying in a hotel in Providence and “hoping to get out of there alive,” after hard-fought contests for supremacy of the Eastern Division of the American Football Conference.

“But, all the competitions were great competitions,” he said.

In addressing the graduates, Shula talked about his journey from John Carroll University, in Ohio, to a career as an NFL player and later climbing the coaching ladder that led him to 347 career victories and a spot in the NFL Hall of Fame, in Canton, Ohio.

Shula graduated from John Carroll in 1951 and he weighed two potential job options: a teacher/coach at a salary of $3,750, or a chance to make the Cleveland Browns and earn $5,000 a year. He decided to give pro football a shot because he didn’t want to regret later in life that he had never tried.

Shula, a running back in college, made the Browns, the only rookie on the team. He later played for the Baltimore Colts and the Washington Redskins. He played cornerback where he had 21 career interceptions for 247 yards over seven seasons.

After his playing career ended, Shula moved into coaching. He worked as an assistant coach for the University of Virginia, University of Kentucky and the Detroit Lions. In 1969, as head coach, he led the Baltimore Colts to the Super Bowl, where they were upset by quarterback Joe Namath and the New York Jets.

As a coach, Shula was known as a taskmaster who hired talented assistants and gave them a wide range of responsibilities. He used that same philosophy to be a successful restaurateur, best-selling author and motivational speaker. He has also been deeply involved in charities such as the American Cancer Society, the March of Dimes and the American Red Cross.

He also formed the Don Shula Foundation, to assist breast cancer research, a tribute to his late wife, Dorothy.

After a loss on the football field, Shula said, he would analyze the game and see what could be learned from the team’s failures. The same approach, he said, is helpful in life.

“Failure isn’t fatal,” he said. “You can pick yourself up off the floor. When the game’s over, you can’t change the score.”

Shula, as well as Michael F. Ryan, president of National Grid, were awarded honorary doctoral degrees.

Ryan joined the former Narragansett Electric Co. in 1994 after eight years as director of the Rhode Island offices of the late U.S. Senator John H. Chafee.

Democratic U.S. Rep. James R. Langevin also addressed the graduates and read a congratulatory letter from President Bush and his wife, Laura Bush. Langevin put partisan differences aside for a few minutes.

“President Bush and I don’t agree on a whole lot of things these days,” he said. “But, we both are very proud of you.”

To view a list of graduates, go to www.neit.edu.

bmalinow@projo.com