Don Shula
1930 - 2020
Pro Football Hall of Fame Coach Don Shula died yesterday at the age of 90. Shula's football life and his passing are noteworthy, to me at least, for a number of reasons.
- His 328 victories as a head coach with the Baltimore Colts and Miami Dolphins are the most in NFL history. Let me restate that, more wins as an NFL head coach than ANYONE ELSE IN HISTORY.
- HIs 1972 Dolphins are the only undefeated team in NFL history.
- Six of his teams went to the Super Bowl, winning two of them.
- Two of his sons became head coaches, David with the Cincinnati Bengals and Mike at the University of Alabama. Neither met with the same successes as their Dad.
- He coached three Hall of Fame quarterbacks - Johnny Unitas, Bob Griese, and Dan Marino.
- In 1969, he recommended to Art and Dan Rooney of the Steelers that they hire one of his young assistants, Chuck Noll, to be their new Head Coach. The rest, as they say, is history.
And here's one more little factoid, courtesy of pal Matthew Algeo....
George Halas coached in the NFL's first season the NFL in 1920. Bill Belichick will be coaching in the NFL in 2020. Don Shula coached against BOTH of them, and Shula (328), Halas (318), and Belichick (273) rank 1-2-3 in all time NFL coaching wins.
RIP Don Shula.
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