Don Shula - # 227

Former Miami Dolphins Head Coach Don Shula Dies at 90

He was number 227 on the list.


The Miami Dolphins announced Monday that former head coach Don Shula died Monday morning at the age of 90:
Miami Dolphins @MiamiDolphins

The Miami Dolphins are saddened to announce that Head Coach Don Shula passed away peacefully at his home this morning.
Miami Dolphins @MiamiDolphins

The Greatest. Thank you for everything, Coach Shula. https://t.co/7eXY4ZOKn6

One of his children confirmed the news to Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald.

Shula is the winningest coach in NFL history, earning 328 regular-season victories in 33 years with the Dolphins and Baltimore Colts.

The news resulted in an outpouring of support from the NFL community:
Brian McCarthy @NFLprguy

Sad day for the NFL and sports https://t.co/tu4Oy5ikEG
Tom Garfinkel @TomGarfinkel

Today is a sad day. Coach Shula was the rare man who exemplified true greatness in every aspect of his life. He will be so missed by so many but his legacy of character and excellence will endure. All my best to Mary Anne and the Shula family. https://t.co/PLoIhyPGrl
Jim Irsay @JimIrsay

We will miss you, Don Shula. One of the last of the all-time greats from an incredible era.
Jason La Canfora @JasonLaCanfora

Don Shula's legacy is etched into the fiber of the NFL. You cannot tell the story of this league without a chapter on the winningest coach of all time who spanned generations and spawned the only perfect season

Adam Beasley @AdamHBeasley

Don Shula was a titan. Two-time Super Bowl champion. Four-time Coach of the Year. Most regular season wins (328) and total wins (347) in NFL history. The Perfect Season. And an absolute legend in South Florida. RIP.

Chris Tomasson @christomasson

Sad news on the passing of Don Shula. I had a chance to talk to him a few times in person and several times on the phone when covering the Dolphins from 2011-13. Was always a class act. RIP to a coaching legend.

Armando Salguero @ArmandoSalguero

Don Shula was the face (and jaw) of a franchise throughout the 1970s, 80's and into the mid-1990s. He raised two Lombardi Trophies in Miami. And, oh yes, his team in 1972 was perfect -- a feat never equaled before or since.

Kenyan Drake™ @KDx32

“One thing I never want to be accused of is not working.” RIP Coach Don Shula.

Cameron Wolfe @CameronWolfe

Glad Don Shula and the 1972 Dolphins were honored as the greatest at halftime of Miami’s home finale in December. It was fun to watch fans sing happy birthday to him. They also had a champagne toast on the field. A lot of smiles that day and love for a legend. https://t.co/VuD2ksin6L

Jeff Darlington @JeffDarlington

My most treasured day as a sports reporter: On the day before Don Shula’s 80th birthday, he invited me to his house. We spent hours on his veranda, overlooking Biscayne Bay, as he told story after story, treating me not like a reporter but like a grandson. I will never forget it.

Shula began his time in the NFL with a seven-season playing career as a defensive back, including the inaugural Colts season in 1953. Just six years after retiring in 1957, he was a 33-year-old head coach in the NFL for Baltimore in 1963.

The seven-year run for the Colts included three NFL Coach of the Year awards and a trip to the Super Bowl in 1968.

He joined the Dolphins in 1970 and quickly turned that franchise into a winner, winning back-to-back Super Bowl titles in the 1972 and 1973 seasons. The 1972 squad finished 14-0 and remains the only undefeated champion in NFL history.

His career with Miami spanned 26 seasons and featured only two losing records, and he made the playoffs more than any other coach, appearing in 19 different postseasons.

Shula finished his coaching career in 1995, ranking second to only George Halas with 490 games coached, and his prowess on the sidelines helped him earn induction into the Football Hall of Fame in 1997.

Shula was drafted out of John Carroll University in the 1951 NFL Draft, and he played professionally as a defensive back for the Cleveland Browns, Baltimore Colts, and Washington Redskins. He has co-authored three books: The Winning Edge (1973) with Lou Sahadi ISBN 0-525-23500-0, Everyone's a Coach (1995) ISBN 0-310-20815-7, and The Little Black Book of Coaching: Motivating People to be Winners (2001); ISBN 0-06-662103-8, both with Ken Blanchard (author of The One Minute Manager).

Shula set numerous records in his 33 seasons as a head coach. He is the all-time leader in victories with 347. He is first in most games coached (526), most consecutive seasons coached (33), and Super Bowl losses (four, tied with Bud Grant, Dan Reeves, and Marv Levy). His teams won seven NFL conference titles: 1964, 1968, 1971–73, 1982, and 1984. Shula's teams were consistently among the least penalized in the NFL, and Shula served on the Rules Committee, to help change the game to a more pass-oriented league. He had a winning record against almost every coach he faced, with several exceptions: Levy, against whom he was 5–14 during the regular season and 0–3 in the playoffs; John Madden, against whom he was 2–2 in the regular season and 1–2 in the playoffs for a total of 3–4; and Bill Cowher, against whom Shula was 1–2 late in his career. Don Shula also had losing records against Tom Flores (1–6) Raymond Berry (3–8), Walt Michaels (5–7–1), and Vince Lombardi (5–8).

Shula also holds the distinction of having coached five different quarterbacks to Super Bowl appearances (Johnny Unitas and Earl Morrall in 1968, Bob Griese in 1971, 1972, and 1973, David Woodley in 1982, and Dan Marino in 1984), three of them (Unitas, Griese, and Marino) future Hall of Famers. He also coached Johnny Unitas to another World Championship appearance (in the pre-Super Bowl era) in 1964. The only other NFL coach to approach this distinction is Joe Gibbs, who coached four Super Bowls with three different quarterbacks (Joe Theismann, Doug Williams, and Mark Rypien), winning three times.

Shula is honored at the Don Shula Stadium at John Carroll University, and the Don Shula Expressway in Miami. An annual college football game between South Florida schools Florida Atlantic and FIU is named the Shula Bowl in his honor. The game's winner receives a traveling trophy named the Don Shula Award. On January 31, 2010, a statue of him was unveiled at Hard Rock Stadium.

Shula married Painesville native Dorothy Bartish on July 19, 1958. They had five children: Dave Shula (b. May 28, 1959), Donna (b. April 28, 1961), Sharon (b. June 30, 1962), Anne (b. May 7, 1964), and Mike Shula (b. June 3, 1965). Dorothy died of breast cancer on February 25, 1991. That same year, the Don Shula Foundation for Breast Cancer Research was founded.

He married Mary Anne Stephens on October 16, 1993. On November 25, 1996, he was added to the Miami Dolphin Honor Roll. In 2007, ads for NutriSystem geared for people age 60 and older featuring the Shulas aired. They resided in Indian Creek, Florida, in the home Mary Anne received in her divorce settlement from her third husband, investment banker Jackson Stephens.

Shula was deeply religious throughout his life. He said in 1974, at the peak of his coaching career, that he attended Mass every morning. Shula once considered becoming a Catholic priest, but decided he could not commit to being both priest and coach.

In retirement, Shula lent his name to a chain of steakhouses, Shula's Steakhouse, and a line of condiments. He appeared in NutriSystem commercials with Dan Marino and other former NFL players.

Shula also had a hotel in Miami Lakes, Florida, which is home to the Original Shula's Steak House, The Senator Course at Shula's Golf Club, The Spa at Shula's, and Shula's Athletic Club. The hotel has 205 guest rooms and specializes in college and professional sport travel.

Shula's Miami teams were known for great offensive lines (led by Larry Little, Jim Langer, and Bob Kuechenberg), strong running games (featuring Larry Csonka, Jim Kiick, and Mercury Morris), solid quarterbacking (by Bob Griese and Earl Morrall), excellent receivers (in Paul Warfield, Howard Twilley, and TE Jim Mandich) and a defense that worked well as a cohesive unit. The Dolphins were known as "The No-Name Defense", though they had a number of great players, including DT Manny Fernandez and MLB Nick Buoniconti.

Shula graduated in 1951 as a sociology major with a minor in mathematics, and was offered a job teaching and coaching at Canton Lincoln High School in Canton, Ohio for $3,750 a year ($36,938 in 2020). The Cleveland Browns of the National Football League, however, had selected him in the ninth round of the 1951 draft that January. Cleveland had won the NFL championship the previous year behind a staunch defense and an offense led by quarterback Otto Graham, fullback Marion Motley and end Dante Lavelli. Shula was joined in the Browns' training camp by John Carroll teammate Carl Taseff, whom Cleveland coach Paul Brown selected in the 22nd round. Brown made the selections in part because John Carroll coach Herb Eisele attended his coaching clinics and used similar schemes and terminology as Brown did. Shula and Taseff both made the team and were its only two rookies in 1951. Shula signed a $5,000-a-year contract and played as a defensive back alongside Warren Lahr and Tommy James.

Shula played in all 12 of Cleveland's games in 1951, making his first appearance as a starter in October, and recorded four interceptions. The Browns, meanwhile, finished with an 11–1 record and advanced to the championship game for a second straight year. The team lost the game 24–17 to the Los Angeles Rams in Los Angeles.

He made an appearance in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective with Jim Carrey.

Other players of note who played for Shula were:

Trace Armstrong, Glenn Blackwood, Lyle Blackwood, Mark Duper, Mark Clayton, Bobby Boyd, Mike Curtis, Ron Davenport, A. J. Duhe, Tony Franklin, Irving Fryar, Andra Franklin, Hugh Green, Keith Jackson, Jim Langer, Bernie Kosar, Larry Little, Gino Marchetti, Tony Martin, Lenny Moore, Mercury Morris, Nat Moore, Bernie Parmalee, Tony Paige, Reggie Roby, Jake Scott, Bubba Smith, Garo Yepremian, Richmond Webb, Dwight Stephenson, Uwe von Schamann, Roy Foster, Woody Bennett, Ed Newman and Tom Thayer. Joe Robbie owned the Dolphins for most of Shula's tenure there. His son David Shula served as his assistant.