November 14, 2025 • 11 mins
Don Shula’s coaching story is more than just a tale of wins and losses—it’s the blueprint for sustained NFL greatness. Follow his journey from humble Ohio beginnings to breaking the all-time wins record as head coach of the Baltimore Colts and Miami Dolphins. Discover the discipline, innovation, and leadership that delivered the only perfect season in NFL history and created a legacy built on character and accountability. Featuring legendary players like Johnny Unitas, Larry Csonka, Bob Griese, and Dan Marino, and a coaching tree that shaped generations, this episode dives deep into what made Shula the NFL’s gold standard. Along the way, hear how his impact extended far beyond the field, inspiring leaders everywhere to chase greatness the right way
.
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#DonShula #NFLHistory #SportsLegend #PerfectSeason #MiamiDolphins #BaltimoreColts #GreatestCoach #Leadership #FootballHistory #SportsPodcast
Listen now! 👉 DailySportsHistory.com 📲 Follow for more daily sports history insights!
Email: dailysportshistory@gmail.com
YouTube: YouTube.com/@dailysportshistory
Twitter: twitter.com/dailysportshis
Facebook: facebook.com/profile.php?id=61551687917253&mibextid=ZbWKwL
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Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
On November fourteenth, nineteen ninety three, Don Shula took his
Miami Dolphins up to Philadelphia for a chance to cebmit
his immortality and become the all time winning hist head coach.
Going from his second stream to third string quarterback, he
was able to use his strategic know how to pull
out a win to give him three hundred and twenty
(00:20):
five wins on his career, passing the legend George Hollis
and becoming the all time winnings head coach who's often
forgot about on the list of greatest head coaches of
all time because he always struggled to win the big one,
but his longevity shows how his ability to adapt that
he learned from an early childhood allowed him to become
(00:40):
one of the greatest head coaches of all time. Joined
us today as we dive into the history of Don
Shula and how he became the winningest head coach of
all time today on Daily Sports History. Welcome to Daily
Sports History. I'm Ethan Reese, your guide because I once
(01:01):
coached a little league team to a win. So Don
Shula was an Ohio kid and was the son of
Hungarian immigrants, and he was born during the Great Depression,
and he was a skinny kid that loved sports. Him
by the age of fourteen, he actually forged his signature
(01:22):
just to play football on his high school team because
he loved the game that much. Although he wasn't a
great athlete, he wasn't big, he didn't really stand out,
but he used something that really makes great players his head.
He used his brain to have great success and that
got him into college at John Carroll University, where he
(01:43):
actually became a standout half back and he had some
standout performances. He ran for one hundred and seventy five
yards and two touchdowns versus Youngtown State and also ran
for over one hundred and twenty five yards over Syracuse University,
and this was enough to get him drafted by the
Cleveland Browns in the ninth round, So today he wouldn't
(02:04):
have even been drafted. And working under legendary coach Paul Brown,
who was the coach of the Browns at the time,
it really helped him see what a great coach was.
He played two years there, then go play three years
for the Baltimore Colts, and then finished his career with
the Washington Redskins and after he got done playing, he
(02:26):
did what a lot of former players do. He looked
for a chance to coach. And one way to do
that is to be an assistant anywhere you can go,
and there are lots of colleges looking for young assistants,
and that's what happened when he joined the University of
Virginia as an assistant in nineteen fifty eight as a
defensive backs coach. Then he would move to Kentucky in
(02:47):
the same role, and then the Detroit Lions in the
same role, and then would be promoted to the Lions
defensive coordinator in nineteen sixty one, and then he got
the break of a lifetime. Luckily, he had some class
with the Baltimore Colts who were looking for a new coach,
and he was able to wold them with his defensive prowess,
becoming the youngest head coach in NFL history at thirty
(03:12):
three years old in nineteen sixty three. And this is
the true reason why he holds the record for the
most wins in NFL history. He got started early. With
many of these career achievements, like the most games played,
the most points, the most touchdowns, the most fields. They
all revolve around having a long lasting career and starting
(03:33):
early is usually the best way to achieve this. And
it wasn't just that he started early, because there's a
lot of coaches that are first time head coaches that struggle,
but he did the opposite, and he got the Colts
really good, really fast, getting them all the way to
Super Bowl number three. But unfortunately there is another guy
named jump Ooh kind of stole the game and the
(03:58):
headlines for this. But even after this, he still had
a lot of success with the Baltimore Colts. Over seven
years that he was the head coach there, he had
seventy three wins and twenty six losses in four ties,
a great record. It also helped that he adapted his
team around a great quarterback in Johnny Unitas, and he
(04:19):
made Johnny into one of the best weapons in the NFL,
changing the position of quarterback, making the passing game more
than just a gimmick. It was now a weapon, and
he was having a lot of success, so much so
that in nineteen seventy the owner of the Miami Dolphins,
Joe Robbie, decided to make a bold move and after Shula,
(04:41):
who had just lost another Super Bowl in nineteen sixty nine,
offering him a seventy thousand dollars contract as well as
ten percent stake ownership in the AFL team. This contract
was unheard of and still is unheard of to this day,
and it was something that Don could not pass up.
So he went down to South Beach and took over
(05:03):
the Miami Dolphins, and it didn't look good at first.
That first year they went three and ten with one tie,
and the next year is when he made his mark,
they would go ten to four and make it to
the Super Bowl and fall again. So now it looks
like John is just a loser for the Super Bowls.
He can get you wins and he can get you
to the game, but he can't win it. Then nineteen
(05:25):
seventy two came and he had his team in place.
As he had team control, he could get everyone he
wanted and after three seasons there in Miami, his team
was ready to go next level despite the fact losing
early Bob Greasy, their starting quarterback, Earl Morle took over
the team and did something the NFL has not seen since.
(05:47):
They had a perfect season seventeen and zero and that
includes a victory over the Washington Redskins, giving Dantu his
first Super Bowl championship and the last team to go
undefeated in history. And guess what would happen the next year?
They would come back and win again, beating the Minnesota Vikings.
(06:07):
The following year after going twelve and two, they may
not been undefeated, but they again had a great season,
and over ten seasons with Miami, he would rack up
nine double digit win seasons, really skyrocketing him up the
leader board. Then, after the seventies came and allowed that
undefeated team sort of retire and to leave to go
(06:29):
other places, the team started to have a little bit
of a downside after in nineteen eighty they would go
five hundred, finishing third in the AFC East. But they
would bounce up a little bit with eleven wins in
eighty one, seven, and eighty two in a shortened season
where they actually made it to the Super Bowl again
but lost to the Washington Redskins. And then in nineteen
(06:51):
eighty three, he made another decision that would likely why
he was able to get the record for the most
wins of all time, selecting Dan Marino with the twenty
seventh pick in the draft, changing the quarterback game again,
just like he did with Johnny Unitis, but even more
so would Dan Marino. Da Marino played quarterback like we
see today, passing the ball all over the field, setting
(07:13):
records for the most touchdowns, the most passing yards, and
records that would stand for years and years until other
Hall of Fame quarterbacks came to break them down. The
only problem was in nineteen eighty four, after Marino's historic
five thousand yards forty eight touchdown season, they made it
to the Super Bowl and Don Trudeau lost again. Yes,
(07:34):
he was two and four in Super Bowls and this
would be his last Super Bowl appearance, but he was
consistent continuously. Him and de Marino created a bond that
likes we would not see again till Belichick and Brady.
They were joined at the hip and created one of
the most dynamic duos in NFL history. And if day
Marino had stayed healthy throughout his whole career, it's likely
(07:56):
he would have had another Super Bowl and many minute
more wins. But he didn't get that chance. But on
November fourteenth, nineteen ninety three, Miami Dolphins were playing the
Philadelphia Eagles for the record of six and two. They
came into a game missing their star quarterback who had
just torn his achilles and his backup, Scott Mitchell, was
(08:18):
only able to play in the first half. Their third
spring quarterback, a guy named Doug Peterson, who would later
win a Super Bowl as a coach as well, would
lead them to victory, winning his three hundred and twenty
fifth game, passing George hallis one of the creators and
legends in the NFL for coaching. They would win the
game nineteen to fourteen as the Dolphins defense shut down
(08:41):
the Eagles the last two minute drive, forcing a fumble
and sealing the win, making Don Shula the all time
winning its head coach in NFL history, being carried off
on the field in an iconic moment. Now Shula wasn't done.
He would coach another two more years, making the playoffs
in the last two years of his career, finishing with
(09:02):
three hundred and forty seven wins, a number that will
likely never be broken because it requires consistency in a
game that has become completely different from when he first
started coaching. Now, super Bowl winning coaches are fired within
a couple of years. You're fired for any misconduct that
might happen or even things you might say in an email,
(09:25):
it's a different world of coaching. Despite the fact that
Bill Belichick is only twelve wins behind him, it looks
like he is settled in coaching college and no one
wanted to hire him after he got let go by
the Patriots, So it seems that Don Shula's record is safe,
as no one will ever be able to put together
(09:45):
a career like his. It's a legendary career and he
should always be mentioned in the best coaches of all
time because what made him great was his ability to adapt.
He adapted his team to win around Johnny Unitis, and
then when you went to Miami, he adapted his team
into a run heavy, grinded team that would go perfect
(10:07):
in nineteen seventy two, and then in the nineteen eighties
he would adapt his team again to one of the
craziest air raid offenses that we had ever seen at
the time, making Dan Marino a Hall of Famer and
getting him even more wins to end his career. Don
Shula is a legend, and unfortunately he passed away on
May fourth, twenty twenty at the age of ninety, but
(10:29):
he will never be forgotten for what he meant for
the league and coaches forever. My question to you is
who is the best coach to ever grace the sidelines
of the NFL. I want to thank you for listening
to today's Daily Sports History. If you like this, please
share it on your social media's. There's a little share button,
(10:52):
a little square thingy wherever you're listening. Press that button
and share it to wherever you like to go, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook,
wherever we're on there. We would love to see it.
Tag us if you want, and just send it out
and say, hey, check out this great sports history podcast
and we'll see you on the next one.
On November fourteenth, nineteen ninety three, Don Shula took his
Miami Dolphins up to Philadelphia for a chance to cebmit
his immortality and become the all time winning hist head coach.
Going from his second stream to third string quarterback, he
was able to use his strategic know how to pull
out a win to give him three hundred and twenty
(00:20):
five wins on his career, passing the legend George Hollis
and becoming the all time winnings head coach who's often
forgot about on the list of greatest head coaches of
all time because he always struggled to win the big one,
but his longevity shows how his ability to adapt that
he learned from an early childhood allowed him to become
(00:40):
one of the greatest head coaches of all time. Joined
us today as we dive into the history of Don
Shula and how he became the winningest head coach of
all time today on Daily Sports History. Welcome to Daily
Sports History. I'm Ethan Reese, your guide because I once
(01:01):
coached a little league team to a win. So Don
Shula was an Ohio kid and was the son of
Hungarian immigrants, and he was born during the Great Depression,
and he was a skinny kid that loved sports. Him
by the age of fourteen, he actually forged his signature
(01:22):
just to play football on his high school team because
he loved the game that much. Although he wasn't a
great athlete, he wasn't big, he didn't really stand out,
but he used something that really makes great players his head.
He used his brain to have great success and that
got him into college at John Carroll University, where he
(01:43):
actually became a standout half back and he had some
standout performances. He ran for one hundred and seventy five
yards and two touchdowns versus Youngtown State and also ran
for over one hundred and twenty five yards over Syracuse University,
and this was enough to get him drafted by the
Cleveland Browns in the ninth round, So today he wouldn't
(02:04):
have even been drafted. And working under legendary coach Paul Brown,
who was the coach of the Browns at the time,
it really helped him see what a great coach was.
He played two years there, then go play three years
for the Baltimore Colts, and then finished his career with
the Washington Redskins and after he got done playing, he
(02:26):
did what a lot of former players do. He looked
for a chance to coach. And one way to do
that is to be an assistant anywhere you can go,
and there are lots of colleges looking for young assistants,
and that's what happened when he joined the University of
Virginia as an assistant in nineteen fifty eight as a
defensive backs coach. Then he would move to Kentucky in
(02:47):
the same role, and then the Detroit Lions in the
same role, and then would be promoted to the Lions
defensive coordinator in nineteen sixty one, and then he got
the break of a lifetime. Luckily, he had some class
with the Baltimore Colts who were looking for a new coach,
and he was able to wold them with his defensive prowess,
becoming the youngest head coach in NFL history at thirty
(03:12):
three years old in nineteen sixty three. And this is
the true reason why he holds the record for the
most wins in NFL history. He got started early. With
many of these career achievements, like the most games played,
the most points, the most touchdowns, the most fields. They
all revolve around having a long lasting career and starting
(03:33):
early is usually the best way to achieve this. And
it wasn't just that he started early, because there's a
lot of coaches that are first time head coaches that struggle,
but he did the opposite, and he got the Colts
really good, really fast, getting them all the way to
Super Bowl number three. But unfortunately there is another guy
named jump Ooh kind of stole the game and the
(03:58):
headlines for this. But even after this, he still had
a lot of success with the Baltimore Colts. Over seven
years that he was the head coach there, he had
seventy three wins and twenty six losses in four ties,
a great record. It also helped that he adapted his
team around a great quarterback in Johnny Unitas, and he
(04:19):
made Johnny into one of the best weapons in the NFL,
changing the position of quarterback, making the passing game more
than just a gimmick. It was now a weapon, and
he was having a lot of success, so much so
that in nineteen seventy the owner of the Miami Dolphins,
Joe Robbie, decided to make a bold move and after Shula,
(04:41):
who had just lost another Super Bowl in nineteen sixty nine,
offering him a seventy thousand dollars contract as well as
ten percent stake ownership in the AFL team. This contract
was unheard of and still is unheard of to this day,
and it was something that Don could not pass up.
So he went down to South Beach and took over
(05:03):
the Miami Dolphins, and it didn't look good at first.
That first year they went three and ten with one tie,
and the next year is when he made his mark,
they would go ten to four and make it to
the Super Bowl and fall again. So now it looks
like John is just a loser for the Super Bowls.
He can get you wins and he can get you
to the game, but he can't win it. Then nineteen
(05:25):
seventy two came and he had his team in place.
As he had team control, he could get everyone he
wanted and after three seasons there in Miami, his team
was ready to go next level despite the fact losing
early Bob Greasy, their starting quarterback, Earl Morle took over
the team and did something the NFL has not seen since.
(05:47):
They had a perfect season seventeen and zero and that
includes a victory over the Washington Redskins, giving Dantu his
first Super Bowl championship and the last team to go
undefeated in history. And guess what would happen the next year?
They would come back and win again, beating the Minnesota Vikings.
(06:07):
The following year after going twelve and two, they may
not been undefeated, but they again had a great season,
and over ten seasons with Miami, he would rack up
nine double digit win seasons, really skyrocketing him up the
leader board. Then, after the seventies came and allowed that
undefeated team sort of retire and to leave to go
(06:29):
other places, the team started to have a little bit
of a downside after in nineteen eighty they would go
five hundred, finishing third in the AFC East. But they
would bounce up a little bit with eleven wins in
eighty one, seven, and eighty two in a shortened season
where they actually made it to the Super Bowl again
but lost to the Washington Redskins. And then in nineteen
(06:51):
eighty three, he made another decision that would likely why
he was able to get the record for the most
wins of all time, selecting Dan Marino with the twenty
seventh pick in the draft, changing the quarterback game again,
just like he did with Johnny Unitis, but even more
so would Dan Marino. Da Marino played quarterback like we
see today, passing the ball all over the field, setting
(07:13):
records for the most touchdowns, the most passing yards, and
records that would stand for years and years until other
Hall of Fame quarterbacks came to break them down. The
only problem was in nineteen eighty four, after Marino's historic
five thousand yards forty eight touchdown season, they made it
to the Super Bowl and Don Trudeau lost again. Yes,
(07:34):
he was two and four in Super Bowls and this
would be his last Super Bowl appearance, but he was
consistent continuously. Him and de Marino created a bond that
likes we would not see again till Belichick and Brady.
They were joined at the hip and created one of
the most dynamic duos in NFL history. And if day
Marino had stayed healthy throughout his whole career, it's likely
(07:56):
he would have had another Super Bowl and many minute
more wins. But he didn't get that chance. But on
November fourteenth, nineteen ninety three, Miami Dolphins were playing the
Philadelphia Eagles for the record of six and two. They
came into a game missing their star quarterback who had
just torn his achilles and his backup, Scott Mitchell, was
(08:18):
only able to play in the first half. Their third
spring quarterback, a guy named Doug Peterson, who would later
win a Super Bowl as a coach as well, would
lead them to victory, winning his three hundred and twenty
fifth game, passing George hallis one of the creators and
legends in the NFL for coaching. They would win the
game nineteen to fourteen as the Dolphins defense shut down
(08:41):
the Eagles the last two minute drive, forcing a fumble
and sealing the win, making Don Shula the all time
winning its head coach in NFL history, being carried off
on the field in an iconic moment. Now Shula wasn't done.
He would coach another two more years, making the playoffs
in the last two years of his career, finishing with
(09:02):
three hundred and forty seven wins, a number that will
likely never be broken because it requires consistency in a
game that has become completely different from when he first
started coaching. Now, super Bowl winning coaches are fired within
a couple of years. You're fired for any misconduct that
might happen or even things you might say in an email,
(09:25):
it's a different world of coaching. Despite the fact that
Bill Belichick is only twelve wins behind him, it looks
like he is settled in coaching college and no one
wanted to hire him after he got let go by
the Patriots, So it seems that Don Shula's record is safe,
as no one will ever be able to put together
(09:45):
a career like his. It's a legendary career and he
should always be mentioned in the best coaches of all
time because what made him great was his ability to adapt.
He adapted his team to win around Johnny Unitis, and
then when you went to Miami, he adapted his team
into a run heavy, grinded team that would go perfect
(10:07):
in nineteen seventy two, and then in the nineteen eighties
he would adapt his team again to one of the
craziest air raid offenses that we had ever seen at
the time, making Dan Marino a Hall of Famer and
getting him even more wins to end his career. Don
Shula is a legend, and unfortunately he passed away on
May fourth, twenty twenty at the age of ninety, but
(10:29):
he will never be forgotten for what he meant for
the league and coaches forever. My question to you is
who is the best coach to ever grace the sidelines
of the NFL. I want to thank you for listening
to today's Daily Sports History. If you like this, please
share it on your social media's. There's a little share button,
(10:52):
a little square thingy wherever you're listening. Press that button
and share it to wherever you like to go, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook,
wherever we're on there. We would love to see it.
Tag us if you want, and just send it out
and say, hey, check out this great sports history podcast
and we'll see you on the next one.
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