Longtime Miami Dolphins head coach Don Shula passed away on Monday at the age of 90. He was the winningest head coach in National Football League history with 347 victories. He won 328 regular season games and 19 playoff contests. He was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1997.
Shula was the head coach of the Miami Dolphins for 26 seasons from 1970 until 1995. He led the club to their only Super Bowl championships in franchise history. Shula also got them to capture 11 AFC East Divsion titles. He had only two losing seasons in 33 years head coaching in the NFL.
The Dolphins became the first team to go undefeated with a perfect 17-0 record and defeated the Washington Redskins 14-7 in Super Bowl VII at Los Angeles. They repeated as champions with a 24-7 victory over the Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl VIII at Houston.
The Dolphins won five AFC Championships while he was at the helm. The Fins lost in Super Bowl VI to the Dallas Cowboys 24-3, Super Bowl XVII to the Washington Redskins 27-17 and Super Bowl XIX to the San Francisco 49ers 38-16.
The Dolphins franchise has not been to a Super Bowl in 35 years and to the AFC championship game since 1992. Miami has won just two division titles since he retired in 1995.
One of the biggest honors bestowed to him by Miami-Dade County was a road called the Don Shula Expressway. The annual college football game between Florida Atlantic University and Florida International University was named the Shula Bowl.
Shula was a head coach of the Baltimore Colts from 1963 to 1969 prior to his arrival in Miami. He guided the Colts to an NFL championship in 1968 and then were upset by the New York Jets 16-7 in Super Bowl III at the Orange Bowl in Miami. They also made it to the NFL championship contest in 1964 and fell to the Cleveland Browns.
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