In college football, some coaches are master tacticians, while others are master builders. Tom Shea happened to be both.
When looking back at the golden eras of University of Mary football, the conversation inevitably circles back to the early-to-mid 1990s. From 1991 to 1996, Head Coach Tom Shea took a relatively young varsity program in Bismarck, North Dakota, and forged it into a perennial national powerhouse. But his legacy didn't start—or stop—at UMary. Across multiple universities and decades, Shea proved time and again that he was one of the premier program-builders in the game.
When Tom Shea arrived at the University of Mary in 1991, the Marauders football program was only in its fourth year of varsity existence. What followed over the next six seasons was nothing short of spectacular.
Shea compiled an incredible 46–15–1 record at UMary, turning the Marauders into a dominant, respected force in the North Dakota College Athletic Conference (NDCAC) and the NAIA national stage.
The absolute pinnacle of Shea’s tenure came in 1995. That squad cemented its place in university lore by putting together an overwhelming 11–2 record, shattering the previous school record for wins.
Featuring three All-Americans (Steve Clooten, Bryon Hoff, and Jeremy Polson) and multiple future UMary Hall of Famers, that 1995 team was inducted into the Marauders Hall of Fame in 2019—a lasting testament to the culture of excellence Shea built.
By the time he departed after the 1996 season, Shea had secured one NDCAC championship, multiple shared titles, three national playoff appearances, and a permanent national ranking for his teams.
Long before he arrived in Bismarck, and long after he left, Tom Shea was a proven winner. His coaching odyssey features milestone achievements at several other notable programs:
Before taking the UMary job, Shea was the head coach and athletic director at Peru State College in Nebraska (1986–1990). In 1990, he orchestrated one of the greatest seasons in school history. He led the Bobcats to a spectacular 12–0–1 record, culminating in the NAIA Division II National Championship. For his efforts, Shea was rightly named the NAIA National Coach of the Year.
Later in his career, Shea took on the massive challenge of leading the Upper Iowa University Peacocks as they transitioned into the incredibly brutal Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) in NCAA Division II.
Shea became the 15th head coach in UIU history and completely flipped the script for a historically struggling program. From 2013 to 2015, he achieved something that hadn’t been done at Upper Iowa in nearly 50 years: three consecutive winning seasons. Under his watch, the Peacocks secured historic, first-ever program wins over regional powerhouses like St. Cloud State, Winona State, and Sioux Falls.
Shea’s head coaching career actually began where his college playing days did—at Dakota State University. He served as their head coach and AD from 1981 to 1983, and later returned for a second stint from 2007 to 2008, helping steady the ship and build foundational success for the Trojans.
To this day, his name remains synonymous with the hard-nosed, winning tradition of University of Mary football.