MUSKEGON, Mich. — The NFL announced on Wednesday night that Muskegon High School Head Football Coach Shane Fairfield was named the 2023 NFC Don Shula High School Coach of the Year.
Fairfield got the news on Jan. 12 and had to keep it under wraps for a few weeks.
"It was a little tough," Fairfield said.
Part of the reason it was so challenging is that the award will do so much for the Big Reds football program.
The school will receive a $15,000 grant and Fairfield earned a $10,000 cash prize. The money will help the Muskegon student-athletes get to college campuses on recruiting visits and will minimize the costs for their parents.
"I am just excited for our program," Fairfield said. "I am excited for the school, the kids, the coaches, everyone that has come through this program. I truly believe this is a program award."
Fairfield believes it goes beyond the program, but extends throughout the entire Muskegon community.
"This is a huge award for every single Muskegon Big Red, for Big Reds throughout the country and the world that support this program, for everybody that believes in it and sponsors us and is committed to our young student athletes," Fairfield said. "I am fortunate to be here right now as the recipient of this award and recognition but it is definitely a Muskegon High School, Muskegon Public Schools, Muskegon County, city of Muskegon. Here we are and I just can't thank all of those people enough who put me in the position I am today."
Muskegon earns the honor after the Big Reds won yet another state championship in the fall, and as the Big Reds earned career victory No. 900, which is the most by any program in the state.
"The continued success we have had here just solidifying where we belong," Fairfield said.
Fairfield will represent Muskegon at the Pro Bowl games, the Super Bowl and at the NFL Honors where he will get to meet football legends like Peyton Manning and Tony Dungy.
Fairfield knows the pomp and circumstance of going to a Super Bowl is certainly special, but what makes it better is he learned the news of this honor on his late mother Terri Lee's birthday.
"She always wanted me to go to a Super Bowl," Fairfield said. "She thought that I can make it to a Super Bowl someday. To find out I won the award on her birthday was a true blessing."
Fairfield was also named the Detroit Lions coach of the year in 2023.
He also thinks it is special that the award is named after Don Shula, who coached legendary Muskegon Big Red Earl Morrall during the Miami Dolphins historic undefeated Super Bowl run in 1972.
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