His Ceaseless Will to Win : Don Shula’s Place in History Is Secure, but He Wants to Return to the Super Bowl

Don Shula has won Super Bowls and lost them. He has coached a team that won every game and a team that won only six. In 30 seasons of coaching, however, he has never known the extremes of agony and joy he has felt in the past 19 months.

In February of 1991, his wife of 32 years died of breast cancer. The high point of his life came a year later when his oldest son, David, became the head coach of the Cincinnati Bengals.

Shula says he has done what he does best--immerse himself in his all-encompassing duties as enlightened despot of the Miami Dolphins--to escape the sorrow of losing Dorothy. Meanwhile, he’ll jump at the chance to revel in the role of proud papa.

“It’s a great thrill for me, first of all to see David get the opportunity and second of all do so well in his first two games,” Shula said. “I’m just very proud and happy for him and happy for the Cincinnati Bengals.”

Seeing his son wear the head coach’s headphones does remind Shula, 62, that he has been around awhile, though.

“It makes you realize that,” he said, “and I worry and fret and pace and do all those things when his game is on and then I’ve got to go through it again when we play.”

When they face each other across the width of a football field someday, there will be a lot of mixed emotions on both sidelines.

“We’ve talked and we want to meet this year in the playoffs,” Shula said. “But whenever it happens, it will be a great experience, going on the field against your son, head coach against head coach.”

He has yet to beat any of his sons, but Shula’s Dolphins have ruined the day of just about every other coach around the league. Shula’s record--after seven years at the helm of the Baltimore Colts and 22 in charge at Miami--is 307-145-6, 17 victories short of George Halas’ NFL career record.

Sooner or later, Shula figures to break that record, but he’s hoping to do it in a flurry of victories over the next two seasons.

“Someday, I’d like to be able to have the opportunity to look back and take a lot of pride in saying I won the most games,” he said. “That would be a nice record to hold, but I would want it to come within the framework of the team doing well and winning seasons, playoff seasons, hopefully a Super Bowl season.

“The wins add up, that I’ve never worried about. You just do the best you can and try to win every year.”

Nobody does it with more consistency. Eighteen times, his teams have won 10 or more games in a season, and 10-victory seasons don’t come easy in the NFL. Just ask Chuck Knox, who will renew his rivalry with an old nemesis Sunday at Joe Robbie Stadium.

Knox, a distant second to Shula among the NFL’s winningest active coaches, has 179 victories. He also has 126 losses.

“Shula is a great football coach,” Knox said. “He always does an outstanding job. It’s a real tribute to him that he’s been able to endure there. It’s a tough business as a head coach.”

Don Shula, of course, is much, much more than just a head coach.

“He’s the king. Everyone else has to follow and be in servitude.”

--Former Dolphin cornerback Tim McKyer

McKyer, now with the Atlanta Falcons, learned the hard way that you don’t mess with the man who would be king. McKyer said he thought Shula had a big ego. Shortly thereafter, the Falcons ended up with a talented-if-outspoken cornerback and the Dolphins got a third-round draft pick.

In July, Shula signed a two-year contract extension worth a reported $3.7 million, once again making him the highest-paid head coach in the NFL. He works hard for the money, though. Where most teams have senior vice presidents and general managers and directors of player personnel, the Dolphins have the guy with the jaw.

How absolute is Shula’s power?

Assistant coaches point at his door and say, “You have to go through there to get anywhere.”

Shula says he always checks with owner Tim Robbie--and before him, Joe Robbie--before he makes a trade. But he also admits that neither ever protested a move.

The rest of the NFL keeps moving away from one-man rule. High-profile general managers are the new wave. But Shula, who has always wielded this kind of authority, is convinced it’s the only way to run a football franchise. To him, it’s a simple formula.

“I’ve been very fortunate in that I’ve only worked for two organizations and two owners who let me coach and make the decisions I feel important to put the best team on the field,” he says.

He’s no longer the same volcanic screamer who once terrorized legions of Colts and Dolphins, however. He has discovered how to get his point across with a well-aimed stare.

“I guess I have better control and I don’t do some of the foolish things I did earlier in my career,” he said. “I’m still very dedicated, I’m still very intense and I’m still very demanding. But I’d like to think that I’ve gotten a little bit smarter.

“You mature and you learn how to handle situations better. I think the biggest thing I’ve learned, and my late wife Dorothy helped me a great deal with this, is to listen. I was always ready to jump on any and all situations and now I think I sit back and listen and take more things into consideration.”

When he makes up his mind, it’s still a closed case. Pound the gavel.

“I guess he has mellowed a little bit,” said Dan Marino, “but mostly I don’t think he has changed much at all. That’s the thing Coach Shula brings to this team, consistency.”

Shula drafted Marino in 1983 and developed an offensive scheme that helped turn Marino into one of the most productive quarterbacks in NFL history, not to forget the highest paid.

“We’ve had pretty much the same system for a lot of years,” Marino said. “And for guys who’ve developed in it, I think that’s a real advantage.”

“Don Shula can take his’n and beat yer’n, and he could take yer’n and beat his’n.

--Former Houston Oiler Coach Bum Phillips

In 1965, with both his quarterbacks sidelined, Shula wrote out a simplified playbook on halfback Tom Matte’s wristband and the Baltimore Colts beat the Rams, 20-17, in Los Angeles on the final day of the season to make the playoffs.

In the three decades since he began his coaching career at Baltimore, few have doubted Shula’s ability to get the most out of a football team.

When he had Johnny Unitas, Raymond Berry and Lenny Moore in Baltimore, he ran a high-powered passing game. He took the Dolphins--led by Larry Csonka, Jim Kiick, Mercury Morris and a grind-it-out running game--to two Super Bowls in the ‘70s. Using a lot of rollout passing plays, Shula somehow managed to coax a team quarterbacked by David Woodley into Super Bowl XVII and then brought them back two years later with a very pure, drop-back passer named Marino.

With Shula, career highlights are almost too numerous to remember, but one year stands out. In 1972, the Dolphins became the only perfect team in NFL history with Shula’s first Super Bowl victory, a 14-7 triumph over Washington that capped a 17-0 season.

“Nobody’s done it before or since,” Shula said. “It was such a great year. You know, this year is the 20th anniversary. That’s hard to believe, but it is. And it’s a lot of really great memories.”

He doesn’t have much time to reminisce these days, though. He’s busy working on a brand new batch of great memories. He only thinks about retirement when somebody else brings it up.

“Every time my contract is up, I try to sit back and objectively analyze where I am in my profession and life and all those other things,” he said. “I’ve always enjoyed what I’m doing and I’ve been very fortunate health-wise.”

Marino’s continued good health could serve as a fountain of youth for Shula. Marino, 31, says he plans on playing for “a long time,” and, despite all the accolades and records, both men believe they still have something to prove.

“His goal is the same as mine,” Shula said, “to get back into a Super Bowl and win a Super Bowl.”

It has been decreed.