raphy 1974 p.366-369DON SHULA’S UNDEFEATED SEASON SCULPED A TEAM EXCELLENCE YET TO BE MATCHED.The 1972 Miami Dolphins. 17-0. Super Bowl VII champions. When the name Don Shula is mentioned, these things come up. But what about the rest of the “things” Shula accomplished. No other coach in history won 100 games in their first decade of coaching. Not even Vince Lombardi could compare to that. Shula won an unprecedented six Coach of the Year awards. Not only could he coach, but he could win. He won with not one team, but two. He took the Baltimore Colts and Miami to the Super Bowl, and almost won with both. Coach Shula produced the first back-to-back champions since the Packers.And what about the man behind the coach? “…if you lose, Shula goes crazy,” one of his players once stated. Shula, so precise in direction, would hold four workouts in a day; two before lunch, one after, and another in the late afternoon. Don Shula’s strive for perfection made him into a leader. It also produced one of the NFL’s leased penalized teams in the Dolphins. No one remembers every little feat a person produces. I guess it will always be that Don Shula is most famous for orchestrating an undefeated season with the Dolphins. Maybe that’s how he wants to be remembered. Maybe that’s why every year, when the last unbeaten team in the NFL has lost, Shula pops open a bottle of champagne and celebrates.4. Bill Walshhttp://www.speakers.com/bwalsh.com10. Bradley, Michael and Johnson, Paul. “Go West” Sport (Jan 1997 v88 n1) p. 46BILL WALSH’S “WEST COAST OFFENSE” CHANGED THE STYLE OF OFFENSE IN THE NFL.Bill Walsh entered the San Francisco Forty-niners with high expectations. His plan was to convert the Niners into a winning team. He brought with him ideas of teamwork, selfless play, discipline, and the hopes of exploring new boundaries. He also brought a new aerial attack now known...
