Don Shula, legendary Miami Dolphins head coach, has died at age 90

[IceWizard]

Don Shula, legendary 

Miami Dolphins head coach, 

has died at age 90


UPDATED ON: MAY 5, 2020 / 3:08 PM / CBS/AP


Measuring Don Shula by wins and losses, no NFL coach had 

a better year. Or career.

He looked the part, thanks to a jutting jaw and glare that 

would intimidate 150-pound sports writers and 300-pound 

linemen alike. He led the Miami Dolphins to the only perfect 

season in NFL history, set a league record with 347 victories 

and coached in six Super Bowls.

Near the end of his career, Shula's biography in the Dolphins' 

media guide began with a quote from former NFL coach 

Bum Phillips: "Don Shula can take his'n and beat you'n, and 

he could take you'n and beat his'n."

Shula died Monday at his home across Biscayne Bay from 

downtown Miami, the team said. He was 90.

"If there were a Mount Rushmore for the NFL, Don Shula 

certainly would be chiseled into the granite," Dolphins 

owner Stephen Ross said in a statement.

Shula surpassed George Halas' league-record 324 victories 

in 1993 and retired following the 1995 season, his 33rd as an 

NFL head coach. He entered the Pro Football Hall of Fame 

in 1997, and the induction ceremony took place at Canton, Ohio, 

70 miles from his native Grand River.


Miami Dolphins coach Don Shula has his say to an 

official during a 1972 game. AP

Shula became the only coach to guide an NFL team through 

a perfect season when the Dolphins went 17-0 in 1972. They 

also won the Super Bowl the following season, finishing 15-2.

The 2007 Patriots flirted with matching the perfection of 

the '72 Dolphins but lost to the Giants in the Super Bowl 

and finished 18-1.

Legendary Patriots head coach Bill Belichick, who has won 

291 career games, would have to average 11 wins for another 

five years in order to catch Shula, who retired at age 65. On 

Monday, Belichick released a statement lauding Shula as 

"the standard of consistency and leadership in the NFL."

When asked in 1997 if he was the greatest coach in 

NFL history, Shula said he didn't know how to measure that, 

but added, "I always thought that's why they keep statistics 

and wins and losses."


In this Sunday, November 22, 2015 file photo, former Miami Dolphins head coach 

Don Shula receives his Hall of Fame ring during the halftime of an NFL football 

game against the Dallas Cowboys in Miami Gardens, Fla.AP

Shula reached the playoffs in four decades and coached 

three Hall of Fame quarterbacks: Johnny Unitas, Bob Griese 

and Dan Marino. During his 26 seasons in Miami he became 

an institution, and his name adorns an expressway, an 

athletic club and a steakhouse chain.

But because the Dolphins last reached the Super Bowl 

after the 1984 season, Shula came under increasing criticism 

from fans and the media. He was replaced in January 1996 

by Jimmy Johnson, and Shula later said the adjustment 

to retirement was difficult.

"There's such a letdown," he said in 2010. "There's no 

way you can fill the time you spent as a coach. Life is 

great after football, but you don't have those emotional 

ups and downs you had on game day."

Shula's active retirement included plenty of travel and 

social events. In January 2010, the Dolphins threw him 

an 80th birthday party at their stadium, and guests 

included NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, former 

U.S. Sen. Bob Graham and former NFL coaches 

Marty Schottenheimer and Dan Reeves.

Hall of Fame fullback Larry Csonka was among the 

'72 Dolphins who threw a surprise party for Shula in 

December to celebrate his 90th birthday.

"It was the first time in the entire time I'm known him 

where he was genuinely surprised," 

Csonka said. "I think he was very happy."

Shula always enjoyed talking about the 17-0 team, 

and he and his 1972 players drew criticism for the 

way they savored their unique status each season.

"People think we're a bunch of angry old guys who can't 

wait for that last undefeated team to get beat," 

Shula said in 2010. "We're very proud of our record, 

and if somebody breaks it, I'm going to call that coach 

and congratulate them. Until they do, it's our record, 

and we're proud of it."

As for regrets, Shula put not winning a Super Bowl 

with Marino at the top of the list. They were together 

for 13 years, and Marino became the most prolific passer 

in NFL history, but he played on only one 

AFC championship team - in 1984, his second season.

Shula was born Jan. 4, 1930, and raised in 

Painesville, Ohio. He played running back at 

John Carroll University in Cleveland and cornerback 

in the pros for seven seasons with Cleveland, Baltimore 

and Washington. He entered coaching as an 

assistant at Virginia in 1958.

Before his 1970s triumphs with Miami, Shula had a 

reputation as a coach who thrived during the regular 

season but couldn't win the big game.

Shula became the youngest head coach in NFL history 

when the Baltimore Colts hired him in 1963 at age 33. 

The Colts finished 12-2 the following season and 

were widely seen as the league's dominant team.

But they lost 27-0 to Cleveland in the title game, and 

for the next few years continued to come up short.

The humiliation was greatest in the Super Bowl to 

end the 1968 season. The Colts steamrolled through 

the NFL, finishing 13-1 and outscoring opponents by a 

nearly 3-1 margin. After crushing the Browns 34-0 

in the title game, they were overwhelming favorites to 

defeat the Jets of the upstart AFL, which had lost 

the first two Super Bowls.

But the Colts lost 16-7, blowing numerous scoring 

opportunities and allowing Jets quarterback 

Joe Namath to control the game.

The result is still regarded by many as the biggest 

upset in pro football history, and it contributed to Shula's 

departure after the 1969 season. In 1970, after the 

NFL-AFL merger, Shula joined the Dolphins, a 

fourth-year AFL expansion team that had gone 

3-10-1 the previous year.

Miami improved to 10-4 in his first season and made 

the playoffs for the first time, and the 1971 Dolphins 

reached the Super Bowl before losing to Dallas. 

The following season, when Miami took a 16-0 

record into the Super Bowl against Washington, 

     Shula considered his legacy on the line.

"If we had won 16 games in a row and lost he 

Super Bowl, it would have been a disaster, especially 

for me," he said in a 2007 interview. "That would 

have been my third Super Bowl loss. I was 0-2 in 

Super Bowls and people always seemed to bring 

that up: 'You can't win the big one.'"

The Dolphins beat the Redskins 14-7, then repeated 

as champions the following year by beating 

Minnesota in the title game.

After Shula retired, he traveled extensively with his wife, 

Mary Anne. He would also wrestle with his grandchildren, 

lose to his wife at gin, read John Grisham novels and 

fall asleep watching late-night TV.

He supported many charities. The Don Shula Foundation, 

formed primarily to assist breast cancer research, was 

established as a tribute to his late wife, Dorothy. 

They were married for 32 years and raised five children 

before she died in 1991. Shula married Mary Anne Stephens 

during a bye week in 1993.

Shula's oldest son, David, coached the Cincinnati Bengals 

from 1992-96. When Cincinnati played Miami in 1994, 

it marked the first time in professional sports that a father 

and son faced each other as head coaches.

Don won, 23-7. Another son, Mike, is a longtime NFL 

assistant coach and was head coach at Alabama in 2003-06.

Shula spent more than 20 years on the powerful NFL 

Competition Committee, which evaluates playing rules as 

well as regulations designed to improve safety.

"If I'm remembered for anything, I hope it's for playing 

within the rules," Shula once said. "I also hope it will be 

said that my teams showed class and dignity in victory or defeat."

There were many more victories than defeats. 
His career record was 347-173-6.

CBS Miami reports Shula leaves behind his wife, 

Mary Anne, and five children; Dave, Donna, Sharon, 

Anne and Mike. Shula's children were from an earlier 

marriage to his first wife, Dorothy, who died of 

breast cancer in 1991.

First published on May 4, 2020 / 10:36 AM





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The Associated Press contributed to this report.