Don Shula
Don Shula
Donald Francis Shulais a former professional American football coach and player who is best known as the head coach of the Miami Dolphins, the team he led to two Super Bowl victories, and to the only perfect season in the history of the National Football League. He was previously the head coach of the Baltimore Colts, with whom he won the 1968 NFL Championship. Shula was drafted out of John Carroll University in the 1951 NFL Draft, and he played...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionCoach
Date of Birth4 January 1930
CityGrand River, OH
CountryUnited States of America
When we got them together for the first time on the field, ... and had Woodley throwing on one side to a group of receivers and Marino on the other, it was so evident the ability Dan had throwing the football. Woodley was an athlete playing quarterback and Marino was a quarterback playing quarterback. You could just look at it and see, even in the simplest passing drills, that Marino had that great skill.
We're depicted as being happy about somebody's misfortune.
We had him rated right behind (John) Elway and ahead of (Jim) Kelly, ... But we never dreamed we'd have a shot at Dan.
You try to shut the criticism out, but it's pretty hard to do. You see people on the street, friends, people that you know are in your corner, and they come and tell you how bad they feel, and that's not the kind of conversation you want. I don't want anyone to feel bad for me.
You can't play enough golf or do any of those other things that fill that kind of excitement that coaching gave me in the big games.
The 347 wins is the thing I'm most proud of. Nobody's even close to it.
You try to get the most out of the talent. Make 'em work and let 'em play.
We didn't have any champagne to toast each other. But we did have some Diet Cokes up there. We lifted the Diet Cokes.
It was the win that everybody had been waiting for, the one that he needed. Hopefully this will be the one that puts him over the top and they'll go on from here.
He took over a tough situation. They were on probation, and the scholarships were down. He had to get that turned around. He's done a good job. They are going in the right direction, but he's got Florida coming up, LSU coming up and Tennessee and Auburn coming up. He's got his work cut out for him.
He took over a program that was going through a lot of problems and he's trying to get it turned around, ... This would be a big step for him. (A win) would show they are headed in the right direction . . . That's a big job he's got, following Bear Bryant at the University of Alabama, 83,000 people. . . . College football is just very exciting. The fans are so loyal.
Invariably, the morning after the game, one of them was waiting outside my office to complain that he was not getting the ball enough, ... I never kept them happy. One was always complaining he wasn't in the game enough.
His delivery was kind of chest-high, ... The ball would leave his hand and just explode.
As long as they stay healthy, I think they've got a great shot at it.