Don Shula: Quintessence American Football Coach Dies

Don Shula, the epitome of a Football coach, dies at the age of 90. His NFL legendary wins & successes will keep inspiring many generations ahead. 

General Introduction:

The Dolphins Hall of Fame coach, Don Shula once quoted that, “You ever talk to me like that again, I’ll kick your ass” ~ he said to his boss Joe Robbie. You can understand the man’s personality and his approach towards whatever he does, by analyzing this statement. 

Shula was an American professional football coach and player. He is particularly known for his long term career being the coach of Miami Dolphins. The legend’s stories of leading the Miami Dolphins to two Super Bowl victories are among the most popular ones. He was the most victorious & undefeated coach so far in the history of the National Football League (NFL). As the head coach of the Baltimore Colts and led them to win the 1968 NFL Championship. 

The Sports Illustrated also named Shule, “the sportsman of the year” in 1993. In his 33-years of a career as NFL coach, he only lost only two seasons. This notoriously demanding gentleman as a coach made his Dolphins team practice four times a day and that too without water. Though health made his presence almost vanishing the grand legacy of his Football career he has left behind will never be forgotten. 

Don Shula Death:

Don Shula, the person epitomizing Football coaching, left behind an ever-inspiring Football coaching legacy. He died at the age of 90 on 4th May 2020. He relinquished the longest, richest, and the most satisfying Football coaching career ever in history. Throughout the history of America's gladiator game, Shula is the first-ever coach whose eulogy is all about his wins, his leadership, and about Plethora of successful conquests (that has ever been made). It’s about the story that Shula himself has scripted with his own life. 

It is going to take years to break the records he had made through his career. He began his first NFL head-coaching job in the time of President John F. Kennedy. And, when he retired, there was Bill Clinton leading the country with his first term. Too many changes both around the world & the game took place during his long career of 33 years. For Shula, it was always my-way-or-highway, and for that matter, he was almost always right. He was absolutely rare, both as a person and as a professional ~ surprisingly people around him respected his decisions even when they did not like it. He was a unique mix of fire & fierceness. His genuine personality spoke for him - and he said only what he meant. 

The Brilliant Inning of the Legend’s Career:

He won & won & won…his team won 347 games! The winning game was not it...it was his persistently transforming styles & approach that made these winning innings remarkably interesting. 

To his name, Shula has a row of some interesting records in the history of the NFL - he is the only one to have led his team to win as a coach, he is the only one to have coached most games in the NFL, and he owns the only perfect season of the league. For his stupendous years as a coach, in 1997, he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He led a disciplined and prepared team. 

In an interview with The New York Times in 2016, he said that “I always said there was no such thing as a small mistake or insignificant error, If it happened in a critical part of the game, it could be part of the outcome of the game.”  He always set the standards so high for his players that required them to prepare as thoroughly to be able to adapt to any situation. 

Over a few decades or maybe a two, these records may be broken, but Shula’s adaptability to change, the kind of trust he had in the assistant coaches irrespective of anything and the imprints he has had left on the modern-day games can take even a hundred years to be broken.