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Winningest coach in NFL history
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00:00...was an authentic blend of conviction, character, and intelligence.
00:04Over 33 years with Baltimore and Miami, Don Shula won more games than any head coach in NFL history.
00:11He did it with substance and style, and two unspoken words that commanded, follow me.
00:18Yes, sir.
00:22Shula has the greatest command presence of any coach I've ever known.
00:28You felt Shula was there.
00:31When he walked into our meeting room, everybody just hushed up.
00:35The presence was the jaw, and his determination.
00:38He was into the game with every bit of emotion that he had.
00:43He saw in red cash in that.
00:45Horace was holding the ball, and the holding occurred before he put it.
00:50I wrote a whole story about the Shula stare.
00:53We don't really need missile defense.
00:55We need to just, like, have Don go out there, and if anybody shoots missiles at us, you can just
00:59go look at them.
01:00I've never seen anybody get so intense, so concentrated on an objective.
01:06He becomes possessed.
01:07The guy might have misplaced the ball, maybe somewhere like this.
01:12You placed the ball wrong.
01:13That ball was right there.
01:14You weren't looking where you were placing it.
01:16This is my life.
01:19He told him he choked.
01:20Did you see that?
01:22That's the way he was.
01:23He just loved football.
01:25Instead of a brain, he might have had little footballs running around there.
01:32In 1963, Giants owner Wellington Mara suggested that perhaps Don Shula did not have the disposition to succeed as a
01:40head coach in the NFL.
01:41A little scary with his temper.
01:44When I was dating, the guys did not want to come to my house to pick me up.
01:48They'd say, can you meet me at 7-11?
01:51It's almost like an approaching thunderstorm.
01:54Really?
01:55Is he's Don and his daughter's named Donna?
02:00He was coming, there'd be thunder and lightning, and he just had to get through it.
02:04I wear my feelings on my sleeve, and there's no camouflage, and I think in some ways that might intimidate
02:10me.
02:11Whether it's you, the player, or you, the opposing player, or you, the referee.
02:16He was a lunatic a lot of times.
02:18And we're playing the walk off the field, seeing stars, and he's over me.
02:24Overlined.
02:31And they can't knock off.
02:32Just the voice, the eyes, the way it could snap back, and it could make you feel real small.
02:39And I'm not talking about just me.
02:41I'm talking about, you know, other NFL coaches, commissioners.
02:47There was a banquet one time, and Robbie made a mistake of getting in Shula's face.
02:52And I reacted, I said, don't talk to me like that, or I'll knock you on your whatever.
02:57I saw them pretty much both red in the face, and Shula ready to kick Robbie's ass.
03:02His first year of being a head coach from Baltimore, and I said, you've got to be careful about your
03:07temper.
03:08He understood, but he also knew that he liked the players that weren't going to be intimidated by his temper,
03:15too.
03:15He almost felt like if you didn't stand up to him, he would maybe think less of you, or certainly
03:21challenge you.
03:22And my first game, my rookie year, Larry Little came up to me, and he says, I'm going to give
03:26you this piece of advice.
03:28You better yell back at him, because if not, he'll walk all over you the rest of your career.
03:34If Shula's volatility was not always appreciated, he was widely respected among players and the media for his clear, forthright
03:41manner.
03:42He'd let you know exactly what you needed to do to either stay with the team, get better with the
03:47team, or possibly get out of here.
03:49He's the most honest, straightforward guy that there is.
03:54I mean, he's the guy that if he says something, that's what it is.
03:57Don Shula wouldn't lie.
03:59He has a fetish about fairness.
04:02The worst creep people on the beat would get just as good stuff as I got, or anybody else got
04:11that liked Shula.
04:12He could get in your face, and you can get so mad you might want to hit that chin of
04:18his.
04:18But when it was over, he always forgot it.
04:22He would never hold a grudge.
04:25One of the things that he could do better than most coaches in the NFL is read his team and
04:30read his players.
04:31We had a fullback on our team, Jerry Hill.
04:33If you yelled at him, he'd crumble.
04:36And Shula would go up and say, listen, this is your kind of game.
04:39Watch how they're blitzing here.
04:40You can handle this.
04:42Some people need to be motivated in a way that they need to get their ass kicked, and some need
04:47to be pampered.
04:48And I think Shula knew the difference.
04:52Above all, however, Shula was a highly disciplined teacher who got the best out of his players.
04:58If we made a mistake in practice, Don Shula would stop right on the spot and have that mistake corrected.
05:07Every single mistake was talked over, why it was made, what we did, what the situation was, minute detail.
05:14I found him to be the most organized, the most repetitious individual you'll ever run into.
05:21And I think that's the key to success, is that he continually does the same thing and perfect it.
05:26We always went into a game feeling we were completely prepared on anything they could throw at us.
05:32I can't recall a time when someone came into a game and really threw something at us that really confused
05:36us.
05:36And if he did, he had some way to handle that.
05:38If you talk to him long enough, you realize that he just thought he was the best.
05:44And that he had things figured out in a way that always gave his teams an edge.
05:52It was fourth and a footer.
05:55And Shula said, and the punting you.
05:57So John, you know.
05:59Six Super Bowl appearances.
06:01And in 1972, the only perfect season in NFL history.
06:06In 33 years as a head coach, Shula had just two losing campaigns.
06:11One reason for his enduring success, adaptability.
06:15The player in 1974, if you said, run into that wall, button up his 10-strap, he tried to run
06:22through that wall.
06:24Well, in 1984, you get a Mark Duper, Mark Clayton coming in here.
06:27You said, run in that wall.
06:28And they look at it and say, well, why can't I run around that wall?
06:31So you have to adapt to that athlete.
06:35We had five young children.
06:37And it helped me realize that some of my younger players had to go through those same, you know, trials
06:43and tribulations.
06:44So that helped me understand the problems that young people had.
06:48He laughed and giggled with us.
06:50He had gone and had a beer with us.
06:51The thing that made him so good was that he was a player.
06:54He understood the player's problems.
06:57For all his dictatorial authoritarian style, he was playful.
07:02And it was an element of his leadership in that he had this ability to measure when there was a
07:09time for levity.
07:12Manny Fernandez, defensive tackle on the team, caught an alligator.
07:16Some of us had a bright idea to put it in Shula's shower because we knew that he'd go in
07:20and have his private shower.
07:21He came in and he said, all right, I want to know who put the alligator in my shower stall.
07:28And Zonka said, well, the team voted as to whether or not we were going to tape the alligator's mouth
07:32or not.
07:32And you won by one vote and we taped it.
07:35He broke up after that and we loosened up the whole group.
07:39Zonka and I had a lot of fun.
07:41Some of the weight trips may be too much fun, according to Coach Shula.
07:44But, you know, he allowed us that person out.
07:47Perfect example was the Marv Fleming earring.
07:51When Marv confronted the coach, he said, Coach, what do you see?
07:54And Coach looked at him and he said, you're missing an earring.
07:57What difference did it make if Marv Fleming wore an earring?
08:00You know, it didn't affect what was going on in the field.
08:05On the team, caught an alligator.
08:07Some of us had a bright idea to put it in Shula's shower because we knew that he'd go in
08:11and have his private shower.
08:12He came in and he said, all right, I want to know who put the alligator in my shower stall.
08:19And Zonka said, well, the team voted as to whether or not we were going to tape the alligator's mouth
08:23or not.
08:24And you won by one vote and we taped it.
08:26He broke up after that and we loosened up the whole group.
08:30Zonka and I had a lot of fun.
08:32Some of the weight trips may be too much fun, according to Coach Shula.
08:35But, you know, he allowed us that person out.
08:39Perfect example was the Marv Fleming earring.
08:42When Marv confronted the coach, he said, Coach, what do you see?
08:46And Coach looked at him and he said, you're missing an earring.
08:48What difference did it make if Marv Fleming wore an earring?
08:51You know, it didn't affect what was going on in the field.
08:56Blessed with three outstanding quarterbacks with distinctly different styles,
09:00Johnny Unitas, Bob Greasy, and Dan Marino,
09:04Shula adapted his strategy to fit the man.
09:07Most coaches look to do just the opposite.
09:10They look to bring some guys in.
09:13I've got a plan.
09:14If those guys fit this plan, then we'll be successful.
09:17He's able to walk that fine line between not wavering when you shouldn't
09:23and realizing when change is taking place and you should.
09:29You're talking about two of the hardest-knowsed people I've ever been around.
09:33And also two of the smartest people I've ever been around.
09:36John was not high-tempered, nor was he loud.
09:41And when Don lost his temper, he was both high-tempered and loud.
09:46In 1963, their first year together,
09:49Unitas led the league in passing with a career-best 3,481 yards
09:54and over the next two seasons achieved his highest passing ratings
09:57as the Colts went 22-5-1.
10:01Despite the success of their partnership,
10:04the fiercely independent field commander sometimes chafed when Shula tightened the reins.
10:09There were times he didn't agree with me in some of the things that I wanted to do,
10:13but, you know, he lined up and played and competed.
10:16What John probably resented more than anything with Shula
10:19was the fact that Shula had a tendency to override John
10:23and maybe even, in some cases, second-guessing.
10:25One of our first games, it was fourth and a footer,
10:29and Shula sat in the punting unit.
10:32So John, Unitas, motioned him off the field,
10:36and Don didn't go for that.
10:38And he says, I'm the coach of this team.
10:40What I say goes.
10:42But he did not take the play calling away from Unitas.
10:46John, Unitas continued to call his own plays.
10:48This is a classic case of a coach understanding how to use his personnel.
10:56Shula wanted Baltimore on the arm and savvy of Unitas.
10:59But when the coach moved to Miami in 1970,
11:03he adapted to the strengths of his new quarterback
11:05by devising an offense that used short, surgically precise passes
11:09to set up a devastating three-pronged running game
11:12of Larry Zonka, Jim Kick, and Mercury Morris.
11:16They had a great Hall of Fame quarterback, Bob Grazie.
11:21But he wasn't a guy who could complete 30 passes a game.
11:24Bob was very studious, very intelligent, took great notes,
11:28and really knew what he had to do.
11:36I would destroy him if I didn't let him do that.
11:38He provided me with the tools and the car,
11:42and I was going to take care of this car.
11:44I knew the strengths and weaknesses of our operation.
11:47In the 1972 and 1973 seasons, Miami won back-to-back.
11:52The strengths was you handing it off to the great players on the team.
11:58Super Bowls with a combined record of 32-2.
12:01In the second championship victory, Greasy threw only seven passes.
12:06A decade later, when Shula hooked up with Marino,
12:09a quick-draw artist with laser accuracy,
12:12the coach knew how to deal with his rookie's gambling instincts.
12:15I give him a lot of credit for my early development as a quarterback
12:20and being able to step in and basically start after my fourth game.
12:24The trust that you saw in Bob Greasy was the same for Dan Marino.
12:29The difference was that Danny relied a little bit more on Don
12:33doing the game than Greasy did.
12:36Coach Shula caught all the plays, but he always trusted his quarterback.
12:40If I felt I wanted to change the play, I was allowed to change the play.
12:47He gambled and he audibled a lot, and he just let it fly.
12:51Pick a guy and let it fly.
12:53Marino throwing for Duper.
12:56I'm on the other side, and Duper's supposed to run a squarehead.
13:00Marino throws a bomb for a touchdown.
13:02I'm over there wondering, okay, well, did I make a mistake?
13:05Come back two series later?
13:06Boom, another bomb to Duper for a touchdown.
13:09So finally, I asked Duper, I said, what's going on?
13:12You were supposed to run a corner route.
13:13You ran another street.
13:15He said, well, Marino and I got this new thing.
13:17If he looks at me twice that side, that means go deep.
13:20So they start playing Sandlot.
13:23Now, what does Coach Shula do?
13:25Nothing.
13:26You don't want to mess with success.
13:28Shula maximized Marino's talents by designing one of the most effective passing offenses in NFL history.
13:34And he minimized it by not getting him any run game.
13:38And in January of 1985, the Dolphins reached the Super Bowl.
13:42It was Shula's sixth big show.
13:45Move forward to when he breaks George Halas' record.
13:49Dan Marino's gone down.
13:50Scott Mitchell has gone down.
13:52Steve DeBerg was brought in.
13:54He's hurt.
13:55He can't play.
13:56It's Doug Peterson, fourth guy on your depth chart, that comes in, is prepared enough, is ready enough to win
14:04a football game.
14:05Even the Philadelphia crowd giving a nice ovation to the winningest coach of all time.
14:11Of all the qualities that Don Shula had, and there were so many good ones,
14:17adaptability and preparedness of everybody on a roster, I think, was numero uno.
14:24We had a tackle of about 260.
14:30I had a great childhood.
14:32My dad came over from the old country.
14:34He was born in Hungary.
14:36Met my mom over here.
14:38And they were just simple, hardworking people.
14:43Don Shula was born the fourth of seven children on January 4, 1930, in Grand River, Ohio, a fishing village
14:50on Lake Erie.
14:51His father had aspirations of running his own floral nursery, but faced with supporting such a large family,
14:58Dan Shula looked offshore for his livelihood.
15:02When we were born, he had to get a higher-paying job than when he went fishing, commercial fishing in
15:08Lake Erie.
15:09Don went to work with him every single morning.
15:12And the fish and the waves always made him sick.
15:17And he always went out the very next morning with my dad.
15:20He never stopped.
15:21What I felt my father instilled in me was a work ethic, practicing hard and working hard,
15:28and realizing that if you did, that you would be rewarded.
15:32What I remember growing up is just a very disciplined household.
15:36And it was clockwork, everything was on schedule.
15:40My mom was the charge.
15:42She was the one that ran the household.
15:44She always would be making different decisions on how to do things.
15:49And she had more of a temper than my dad.
15:52She was competitive.
15:53She loved to play cards, pinochle, bingo games.
15:56And she'd come home and tell us, I won $500.
15:59The combination of neatness, rules, and a passion for winning fused in Don's personality.
16:07If we would be working on like a math column of problems, you know, he'd say, come on, let's
16:13see who can finish first.
16:15And he'd stand there with his watch and time us.
16:18It was just always that competitive edge that permeated every aspect of his life.
16:24After a high school game, we got beat.
16:27He cried like a baby.
16:29He didn't think that he should ever be beaten.
16:33He and I would play hearts with my grandmother and grandfather.
16:36And if he wasn't winning, sometimes he'd get really upset.
16:39They found him underneath the porch crying over a card game.
16:44He cannot stand to lose.
16:45The perfectionism, I think, is just ingrained in his being.
16:50Braced by competitiveness and perfectionism, Shula competed in football, basketball, baseball,
16:56and track.
16:56I gravitated to football because of my love of contact, of collision sports.
17:05You can't allow yourself to be pushed around.
17:08You've got to be standing tough.
17:10And you are tough.
17:12In 1947, Shula's toughness earned him a football scholarship to John Carroll University in a
17:18nearby Cleveland suburb.
17:19As an offensive and defensive back with the Blue Streak, Shula already was possessed with
17:24a take-charge nature.
17:26When he was playing, we called him coach because he was always coming up with suggestions.
17:31Sometimes we'd get in the huddle if things didn't go right.
17:33He was very boisterous.
17:36And if you didn't do your job, you heard about it.
17:40I just thought about doing it the right way.
17:42And I wasn't afraid of the consequences.
17:45And sometimes, you know, they appreciated it.
17:47And other times, they didn't.
17:49When you see his jaw jutting out, you knew there was going to be hell to pay.
17:53We had a tackle of about 260 pounds.
17:56They got in a little scrap in the locker room and down flat in one punch.
18:01It was never premeditated.
18:02But it was just being so competitive that, you know, when something would happen that
18:07thoroughly disturbed me, then I'd just let loose.
18:15After graduating from college, Shula was drafted by Cleveland in the ninth round.
18:20From 1951 to 57, he intercepted 21 passes as a defensive back for the Browns, Colts, and Redskins.
18:28I'd never seen a player that come into the National League with the intensity that he had.
18:35Even though he didn't have the greatest ability, but he was so much smarter than anybody else.
18:41He was always telling me about receivers that he covered and things they did.
18:46I really was not prepared by my college background.
18:49Donald Shula really helped me bridge that gap.
18:52I thought so much of Shula's ability that I wrote in the press guide that his future was
18:57no doubt already been determined that he's going to become an outstanding football coach.
19:03I made what I felt was the right decision.
19:06I've been second-guessed, and I second-guessed myself for not having put John in earlier.
19:12You think I should hire.
19:15And I didn't wait two seconds.
19:17I said, I'd take Don Shula in two minutes.
19:19He said, you're 33 years old.
19:21You feel that you're ready to be a head coach.
19:24And I said, without thinking a lot about it, I said,
19:27the only way that you're going to know is if you hire me.
19:30And he liked that answer, and he hired me.
19:32I don't think anybody paid any attention to his age.
19:35But all of us that were still there on the team knew him and had a lot of respect for
19:42him.
19:43When he first came in, he tried to be a little bit of a hard-nose, which was expected,
19:47because he wanted to get that respect that was needed as a head coach in the NFL.
19:51And, you know, he did.
19:53He did right away.
19:54I think everybody just sort of fell in line.
19:56In the 1968 season, Shula garnered his second Coach of the Year award
20:01as the Colts reached Super Bowl III.
20:03With Baltimore favored by 19 over the Jets,
20:06the big question was whether Shula would start the injured Johnny Unitas
20:10or league MVP Earl Morrow, who had led the Colts to a 13-1 regular season.
20:16I think a healthy Morrow was better than a damaged Unitas.
20:21Before that game, Shula went to him and said, look, Earl got us here,
20:26so I'm going to start him.
20:28But I want you to be ready if things don't go right.
20:30And John said, I understand that.
20:32That's the second interception for him.
20:35The Colts just made one mistake after another on offense,
20:38and it wasn't really all Earl's fault.
20:40We came up with a lot of mistakes that we had never made before.
20:43Freak plays that were happening out there that just went against us.
20:47I didn't see Jimmy Orr opening the end zone.
20:49I guess that was a big thing.
20:51Pass.
20:51Back to Morrow.
20:52All alone is Jimmy Orr.
20:54But they hit down the middle to Matty.
20:56Intercepted.
20:56It would have been a tie game at halftime then if I'd have seen him,
21:00because he was open in the end zone, waving his hands frantically.
21:05When all of this stuff started to happen,
21:09let's get him out of there and put the real deal in.
21:16Trailing 7-0 at halftime, Shula considered his options.
21:20It's going to give John the opportunity to lead us in the second half,
21:24but I wanted to give Earl one more shot.
21:26Morrow gives the ball to Matty.
21:28And Matty fumbles.
21:29And it's a New York recovery.
21:33As Shula and Unitas looked on,
21:36the Jets sandwiched two field goals around a Colts punt.
21:39With four minutes left in the third quarter
21:41and Baltimore trailing 13-0,
21:43the coach released number 19 into the game.
21:46And Unitas, good day.
21:48Well, almost a standing ovation here, which he's got.
21:51There wasn't a question mark whether Don should have put Johnny
21:54at the start of the second half,
21:55but he wasn't really Johnny U of old at that time,
21:59because his arm was really bothering him.
22:01There's Unitas.
22:03And it is intercepted.
22:06Once we saw him try to throw the ball,
22:07we knew that, hey, you know, he's not the man that he used to be.
22:11Less than he was,
22:13Unitas directed the Colts to their only scoring drive.
22:16But it was too little, too late.
22:18True to Joe Namath's word,
22:20Eubanks' Jets had broken the NFL's hold on pro football supremacy, 16-7.
22:25The game is over.
22:26The New York Jets have upset the Baltimore Colts
22:29and beat him handily here today.
22:32I made what I felt was the right decision.
22:34I've been second-guessed, and I second-guessed myself
22:37for not having put Johnny in earlier.
22:39It wouldn't have made any difference if they brought him in earlier.
22:42Shula was criticized for that,
22:43but I think the criticism was unjustified.
22:46All I remember about that is later that night back at the hotel,
22:50you know, just my mom just grabbing us all and saying,
22:52leave your father alone, you know, give him a lot of space.
22:55The lost kid killed him.
22:57He was through here, his first Rosenblum was done.
23:01There was a lot of pressure put on by Carol Rosenblum
23:03and on Don Shula,
23:06and he didn't fulfill all of Carol Rosenblum's dreams.
23:14Overseas when this happened,
23:15so Shula had received permission to talk to the Dolphins
23:18from his son, Steve, the Colts' president.
23:20Upon his return, Rosenblum filed a tampering complaint with the league,
23:24and the Dolphins had to give the Colts a first-round draft pick.
23:30We had only won three games the year before in 69,
23:33but there was an awful lot of talent on that team.
23:36I mean, there were guys who were just chomping at the bit for discipline.
23:40The biggest difference in 1970
23:42was the fact that every minute of every day was planned,
23:46and there was a purpose.
23:48We were there to be a team.
23:49This team had a segregated policy of rooming
23:52when we first came here.
23:53He integrated this football team.
23:55He roomed Paul Warfield and Bob Greasy together,
23:58which was a tremendously great thing to do
24:02to show that that part of it has no real relevance
24:05as far as the football team's concerned.
24:07In Shula's first year at the helm,
24:09the Dolphins made the playoffs with a 10-4 record.
24:11In his second season, they reached the Super Bowl.
24:13He would never integrate winners with losers.
24:19So losers got cut.
24:22But we're crushed by Dallas 24-3.
24:25When we came back, he made us watch ourselves get beat by the Cowboys.
24:29And it was a sickening feeling.
24:30So he turns off the projector.
24:32He says,
24:32Now, you see how sick you feel?
24:35Well, just think of how sick and sore you're going to be
24:37if you don't go back and redeem yourselves for what you did last year.
24:42His motivation, his intensity spurred on the back that he wanted to be the best.
24:46There was no second.
24:49Shula's plan included a new offensive strategy.
24:51To utilize the speed and athleticism of his underused back, Mercury Morris,
24:56he designed a multifaceted ground game.
24:59Don found a way to make it work so that I could play,
25:02so that Jim could play, so that Larry could play,
25:05and we could all play together.
25:06That produced the greatest rushing team at that time in the history of the game.
25:11Everyone functioned in that running attack,
25:13but it was a head coach who got all of us to understand
25:16that we could succeed at the highest level
25:19if we were willing to make those sacrifices.
25:22Paul Warfield.
25:24Here's a guy that's probably one of the greatest receivers that ever played the game.
25:28We didn't have to throw the football, but Paul never complained.
25:32It wasn't individuals.
25:33It wasn't statistics.
25:34It was winning football games.
25:36That the Dolphins led the NFL in total offense was only half the story.
25:40Their high-precision defense forced the most turnovers
25:44and allowed an average of 12 points per game, fewest in the league.
25:47That's Don Shuler for you.
25:49He just put Mumford in there.
25:51They had a defense.
25:52They called it the no-name defense, but they played so well together.
25:55It's like no individual got the credit.
25:58The team got the credit.
25:59The defense got the credit, and I mean, that's good coaching.
26:03His teams were so good on defense and so advanced on defense
26:07that if you ever got something, you never went back there
26:11because you know that it wasn't going to be there again.
26:15Our defense in 1972 made 13 mistakes totally the entire year as a defense.
26:2213 mistakes.
26:23And that is how you win football games.
26:26After a 4-0 start, quarterback Bob Greasy suffered a broken leg
26:30and dislocated ankle in game five.
26:33But Shuler had another weapon that was tried and true.
26:38Don Shuler had the vision to secure Earl Marle to bring him in
26:43to be a part of this plan for success for us.
26:46The beauty of having Earl there was the fact that he had been in big games
26:51and the guys believed in him.
26:52Earl drops the throw.
26:54He sets.
26:54He is firing the near side.
26:56Fully open.
26:57Touchdown!
26:59They pound you with that football.
27:01Throw the pass where they had to.
27:03It was precision.
27:04You just cut you apart little by little.
27:06Here's the handoff to Mercury.
27:07Sweep for the right.
27:08Catch back to his left.
27:0815, catch five.
27:09Nice goal!
27:16Didn't matter how they lined up.
27:18We would line up and let them know we're coming your way.
27:21Now, stop it.
27:22Joe Willey drops the throw.
27:23He fires.
27:24It is picked off.
27:25All right, the Dolphins up the 33-yard line.
27:32Miami became the first team to go 14-0 in the regular season.
27:38But even after beating Cleveland and Pittsburgh to win their second straight conference title,
27:43the Dolphins did not get their fair share of respect.
27:47Here we are, a team that won 16 games in a row in the Super Bowl for the second straight
27:54game.
27:54We were underdogs.
27:56Every article you pick up was that Shula could have won the big game.
27:59Shula had lost two Super Bowls.
28:01Shula did this.
28:01Shula did that.
28:02That really burned me because, you know, that's the last thing that you want said about you
28:07is that you can't win the big game when you're coaching.
28:09As we're sitting on the bus and we're going to Super Bowl VII, I'm sitting where Jake's
28:15got, and he's just picking on everybody.
28:18And Coach Shula turned and snapped at him.
28:20I think Coach was a little bit tight.
28:22And Jake came right back at him and said, Coach, what are you worried about?
28:27That you're going to be the losingest coach in Super Bowl history?
28:30I had to be the most pressure in my coaching career because I certainly didn't want to be
28:35zero and three in Super Bowls.
28:39Tracy, to the corner to Terry, he's got him!
28:42Terry, touchdown!
28:43We weren't looking to be the first team to go undefeated in the league.
28:48We wanted to win a Super Bowl.
28:50Going through, Asuka, the 40, 30, just belted one man out of the way.
28:56This goal was to do just what we did.
29:00The best ever.
29:07I just remember the joy in the locker room, seeing him crying.
29:11And the relief that I know he felt to get that monkey off his back.
29:17This is the letter that says you don't win the big ones, except for my Rosenblum.
29:22Finally winning the Super Bowl in the perfect season.
29:25You know, that was something that took me off the hook.
29:28So that was a pretty important game in my career.
29:3117-0 says it all!
29:33The 1973 Dolphins finished 12-2 and rolled like Patton's tanks through the playoffs, winning their second straight Super Bowl
29:4124-7 over Minnesota.
29:43And with a resounding and overwhelming victory, the Miami Dolphins have made it two in a row.
29:49Shula, like Vince Lombardi before him, had the makings of a dynasty.
29:54But free enterprise intervened.
29:57In April of 1974, the new World Football League signed three pillars of Shula's mighty offense.
30:04Paul Warfield, Larry Zonka, and Jim Kick.
30:07They would play for Miami in 1974, then leave for Memphis.
30:11It really personified what he's all about.
30:15You know, control the things that you can control.
30:17He was determined that we were all going to come back together one more time to pull off something that's
30:23even more historic than the 17-0.
30:26Unfortunately, it didn't quite happen.
30:28He lost the playoff game out in Oakland.
30:35The ride from the airport that day after the loss was like nothing I've ever experienced in the sense that
30:43this specialness that we had would never have it like that again.
30:49The season's all over, and this is what you realize when it's over and done with.
30:54Oakland had what it took in the last couple of minutes of the ballgame.
30:58I hated to leave Shula.
31:00I hated to leave the Dolphins.
31:01But it was professional sports.
31:03It certainly hurt my feelings, and it hurt my career.
31:07We could have been much better with those three guys for the years that they missed.
31:11He won too fast.
31:13He won too early.
31:15After that, everybody expected the world.
31:20Shula continued to win eight division titles and two championships over the next 11 seasons.
31:25But by the late 1980s, critics began to question his ability to capture a Super Bowl with Dan Marino.
31:32Everybody got caught up into the Dan Marino syndrome, and there really wasn't the necessity to emphasize other areas of
31:41the game.
31:42On the defensive side of the ball, they were constantly trying to find their one or two or three or
31:46four stars, but it wasn't built on a foundation of depth.
31:50If you have to throw it every down to win, that's how I would do it.
31:53And that's how I felt.
31:54I think that's how Coach Shula felt, too.
31:56He was our weapon, and we didn't have anything else.
31:59So, you know, we just kept using that weapon as best we could.
32:03Offensive lineman, we thought we could run the ball, and also we're calling pass plays.
32:06You know, you understood it, but it still bothered you a little bit, because, you know, we could have got
32:11these three yards if we ran.
32:12He used what he had.
32:14In the end, that was part of his undoing.
32:19He put so much faith in Marino, and one passer cannot win a Super Bowl anymore.
32:28I was always looking for the running back that we needed in order to help our defense and to help
32:33Dan get the most out of his ability.
32:35You know, I failed in that regard, and, you know, we just weren't able to get back into a Super
32:41Bowl and win a Super Bowl.
32:45They were tired of 10 and 6 and 9 and 7.
32:48Perfectly respectable anyway.
32:49Could make it better.
32:50He's been very supportive.
32:52He loves his family.
32:54Sometimes in ways that you don't really realize at first.
32:57But, uh, uh, because he wants the best for all of us.
33:03In 1958, Don Shula married Dorothy Bartish, and they had five children over the next seven years.
33:08The two boys, David and Mike, were groomed by their father to become coaches.
33:14We saw a lot more of them, um, because we were involved in football.
33:17We'd go out over the course of the summer.
33:19We'd spend training camps out there.
33:21We'd be his roommate.
33:22After games, we'd ride home together in a car, and I would read the statistics,
33:26and that's one of the ways I learned how to read.
33:29It was easier for him to relate to the boys, but he always made an effort to get into whatever
33:33the girls were doing at the time.
33:35I, um, would train for the presidential every year, and my worst event was the softball throw.
33:41He'd say, you throw it like a girl.
33:42So, he would take me out, like, two months before and just start working with me.
33:49I'd like to think that I was a good father, but my job was so demanding.
33:53My wife, Dorothy, was just a wonderful woman and did a tremendous job of raising our children.
33:58She fiercely cared about her children and pretty much revolved her whole life around her five kids and being the
34:07supportive wife for my dad.
34:12There's a reason Home Depot...
34:13It was Dorothy who kept the fiery coach firmly grounded.
34:17I never saw anyone else affect Don Shula like Dorothy did.
34:21She had walked right up and just walked right into the gates of hell there in his wrath,
34:26and he'd just soften right up and talk to her.
34:29They had something special.
34:30Here's this tough, demanding guy who, uh, chews up every player and every referee in the league,
34:36but was very much dependent upon Dorothy.
34:38I saw them in an airport, and Don was exhausted.
34:43And Dorothy's walking, you know, through the airports, practically dragging him.
34:47And she was still at that time.
34:50She was the type of woman who just wouldn't let the illness get the best of her.
34:55Dorothy Shula had breast cancer, and my wife had breast cancer.
34:58And we walked into the hospital to get treatments, and Mrs. Shula walked in, and she saw my wife and
35:09started crying.
35:10And she said,
35:13Not you.
35:14Not you.
35:15She felt bad for my wife when she was dying herself.
35:18Well, that was, you know, certainly had to be one of the toughest things of my lifetime.
35:23After the treatment, you would have hope, and then that hope would be diminished,
35:27and then you'd have hope again, and then it would be diminished until the end.
35:34In 1991, after a six-year battle with breast cancer, Dorothy Shula succumbed.
35:41I saw him cry for, I think, only the second time in my life.
35:45He became much more sensitive and in tune with what was going on with us.
35:52He knew he had to be there more for us, and helped us to deal with our own emotions when
35:59he was going through such a hard time himself.
36:02One of the family's biggest regrets is that Dorothy didn't live to see David and Don make history
36:08as the first father and son in major professional sports to coach against each other.
36:14It happened in October.
36:15David Shula was a terrible pro coach.
36:18Walking out and knowing the opposing coach was your son, that's very special.
36:26I knew where everyone in our family, who they were rooting for, and it wasn't my dad.
36:32That's five turnovers in the game.
36:34I hope that he coached well and played well, but I hope that we won.
36:38Dave and his team hung tough.
36:41They're not going to win this game tonight, but they weren't embarrassed.
36:43We joke now about bragging rights, and, you know, that's something I'm going to have to deal with now until
36:48eternity.
36:52After losing by a point at San Diego in a 1994 AFC Divisional Playoff game,
36:57many fans felt 1995 would be the year for Shula and Marino to win their first Super Bowl together.
37:04With 19 former first-round draft choices, the Dolphins were long on talent,
37:09but short on what had always been a Shula trademark, discipline.
37:13There were players that I picked up with a hope that I could turn their career around,
37:17and as it turns out, I didn't.
37:19They didn't learn to work hard under Shula.
37:23They were brought in from other places, and he had a harder time controlling them.
37:27Shula expected them to conduct themselves like adults and dedicated professionals.
37:35The times had changed.
37:36He adapted to that, and to be honest with you, I didn't like what I saw in the end.
37:40I didn't like seeing a coach that, where a player would make a mistake and he would come over and
37:45put his arm around him.
37:46It just wasn't what made him Don Shula.
37:49Something going on that's strange about this team.
37:51People yelling and screaming and barking.
37:53This game is a team game, and this guy, he knows it better than anyone else.
37:58It's not a Don Shula type of demeanor.
38:00The biggest difference I saw was the sensitivity to criticism, and how nasty the criticism was.
38:09And it stung, and he didn't understand it.
38:13Never, never has he spent a week like this one.
38:16The fans and the press here in South Florida have marinated and barbecued Shula.
38:20That was a tough year, because I never objected to honest criticism.
38:25But when the criticism is mean and vindictive, that's hard to handle.
38:30Jimmy Johnson, you know, he had thrown the chum in the water.
38:34He had bloodied up the water a little bit.
38:36Obviously, he wanted this job down here.
38:39He planted stories before the season that he was already in negotiations with Wayne Huizinga.
38:44He went on air and said he thought the Dolphins were, you know, clearly the team to beat,
38:49which obviously put more and more pressure on Shula to succeed.
38:57Success did not come easily.
38:59The Dolphins gained a wild card berth with a 9-7 record.
39:03After an embarrassing 37-22 loss to the Bills,
39:06Shula insisted that he would be back to honor the final year of his contract.
39:11Three days later, he met with owner Wayne Huizinga.
39:15We weren't able to put the things together in order to get to the big game at the end of
39:19the year.
39:20And the fact that I had tried unsuccessfully to do that for a number of years
39:25then led me to make the decision that maybe somebody else could come in and do a better job.
39:32Huizinga is tremendously competent in dealing with people.
39:35And I think he probably convinced Don that it would be in his best interest to quit coaching.
39:44They were tired of 10-6 and 9-7, perfectly respectable anywhere else,
39:48but 20 years without a championship, today's sports fan, they had soured.
39:59It was time for Shula to adapt, only this time it was to life without football.
40:05His second wife, Marianne, whom he had married in 1993, stepped in.
40:09When you're a workaholic for so many years and then all of a sudden it's over
40:14and you can only golf so much.
40:17And she's made his life after football very nice and still very fun and stimulating.
40:22When I mentioned things like, well, we were in an art gallery last night
40:26and Don bought impressionist painting, you know, people are so shocked.
40:31He has learned to relax as a grandfather
40:35and enjoy the accomplishments of his grandchildren.
40:38Fireball!
40:39Whoa!
40:41Way to go!
40:41There are days where you wish you were back on the sideline, the big games,
40:45but I don't miss the long days and the endless nights
40:48and the constant pressure that I had for 33 years as a head coach in the NFL.
40:54And I felt that I've paid my dues.
40:59Larry Zonko once said,
41:01when it was all about football, Shula was the best.
41:05When it became all about money, he wasn't necessarily the best anymore.
41:11The way he went out wasn't on players' shoulders.
41:15After a championship, you know, they'd had several years where people wanted more.
41:19And the memories of those years have evaporated
41:25and everybody now remembers the perfect season, the Super Bowl wins,
41:29and that legacy of his will always be lasting.
41:32I hope that I'm going to be remembered as, you know,
41:35the coach that won the most games, the perfect season certainly,
41:38and then also for trying to do things the right way.
41:41What Don Shula gave the game is something that very few people would even come close to giving it.
41:48I mean, he's given it dignity and class.
41:56Even after he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1997,
42:00Don Shula demonstrated publicly that his coaching days were not over
42:04when a young man approached him for an autograph.
42:07His wife, Mary Ann, was surprised to hear Shula turn him down
42:10until she noticed the obscenity written across the fan's T-shirt.
42:14Shula told the fan that he would gladly give him an autograph
42:17if he would go home and change.
42:20When the fan returned wearing a different shirt,
42:22Shula, good to his word, signed it.
42:25For SportsCentury, I'm Chris Fountain.
42:27Man of his word.
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