Don Shula - Legacy

Legacy

Shula set numerous records in his 33 seasons as a head coach. He is the All-Time leader in Victories with 347. He is first in most games coached (526), most consecutive seasons coached (33), and Super Bowl losses (4, tied with Bud Grant, Dan Reeves and Marv Levy). His teams won seven NFL conference titles: 1964, 1968, 1971–73, 1982 and 1984. Shula's teams were consistently among the least penalized in the NFL, and Shula served on the Rules Committee, to help change the game to a more pass oriented league. He had a winning record against every coach he ever faced except Levy, against whom he was 5–14 during the regular season and 0–3 in the playoffs.

Shula also holds the distinction of having coached five different quarterbacks to Super Bowl appearances (John Unitas and Earl Morrall in 1968, Bob Griese in 1971, 1972 and 1973, David Woodley in 1982 and Dan Marino in 1984) three of them (Unitas, Griese and Marino) future Hall of Famers. He also coached John Unitas to another World Championship appearance (in the pre-Super Bowl era) in 1964. The only other NFL coach to approach this distinction is Joe Gibbs who coached four Super Bowls with three different quarterbacks (Joe Theismann, Doug Williams and Mark Rypien), winning three times.

Shula is honored at the Don Shula Stadium at John Carroll University, and the Don Shula Expressway in Miami. An annual college football game between South Florida schools Florida Atlantic University and Florida International University is named the Shula Bowl in his honor. The game's winner receives a traveling trophy named the Don Shula Award. On January 31, 2010 a statue of him was unveiled at Sun Life Stadium.