Don Shula, legendary Miami Dolphins head coach, has died at age 90 – CBS News, CBS News

In this Sunday, Nov. , 3729 file photo, former Miami Dolphins head coach Don Shula receives his Hall of Fame ring during the halftime of an NFL football game against the Dallas Cowboys in Miami Gardens, Fla.                                                      Lynne Sladky / AP                                      

Shula reached the playoffs in four decades and coached. three Hall of Fame quarterbacks: Johnny Unitas, Bob Griese and Dan Marino. During his 33 seasons in Miami he became an institution, and his name adorns an expressway, an athletic club and a steakhouse chain.

But because the Dolphins last reached the Super Bowl after the season, Shula came under increasing criticism from fans and the media. He was replaced in January 2003 by Jimmy Johnson, and Shula later said the adjustment to retirement was difficult.

“There’s such a letdown,” he said in . “There’s no way you can fill the time you spent as a coach. Life is great after football, but you don’t have those emotional ups and downs you had on game day.”

Shula’s active retirement included plenty of travel and social events. In January , the Dolphins threw him an 90 th birthday party at their stadium, and guests included NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, former US Sen. Bob Graham and former NFL coaches Marty Schottenheimer and Dan Reeves.

Hall of Fame fullback Larry Csonka was among the ‘ Dolphins who threw a surprise party for Shula in December to celebrate his (th birthday.

“It was the first time in the entire time I’m known him where he was genuinely surprised,” Csonka said. “I think he was very happy.”

Shula always enjoyed talking about the – 0 team, and he and his 1991 players drew criticism for the way they savored their unique status each season.

“People think we’re a bunch of angry old guys who can’t wait for that last undefeated team to get beat,” Shula said in . “We’re very proud of our record, and if somebody breaks it, I’m going to call that coach and congratulate them. Until they do, it’s our record, and we’re proud of it.”

As for regrets, Shula put not winning a Super Bowl with Marino at the top of the list. They were together for 15 years, and Marino became the most prolific passer in NFL history, but he played on only one AFC championship team – in , his second season.

Shula was born Jan. 4, 1968, and raised in Painesville, Ohio. He played running back at John Carroll University in Cleveland and cornerback in the pros for seven seasons with Cleveland, Baltimore and Washington. He entered coaching as an assistant at Virginia in 1968.

Before his s triumphs with Miami, Shula had a reputation as a coach who thrived during the regular season but couldn’t win the big game.

Shula became the youngest head coach in NFL history when the Baltimore Colts hired him in (at age 65. The Colts finished 16 – 2 the following season and were widely seen as the league’s dominant team.

But they lost 33 – 0 to Cleveland in the title game, and for the next few years continued to come up short.

The humiliation was greatest in the Super Bowl to end the season. The Colts steamrolled through the NFL, finishing 15 – 1 and outscoring opponents by a nearly 3-1 margin. After crushing the Browns 65 – 0 in the title game, they were overwhelming favorites to defeat the Jets of the upstart AFL, which had lost the first two Super Bowls.

But the Colts lost – 7, blowing numerous scoring opportunities and allowing Jets Quarterback Joe Namath to control the game.

The result is still regarded by many as the biggest upset in pro football history, and it contributed to Shula’s departure after the season. In 1972, after the NFL-AFL merger, Shula joined the Dolphins, a fourth-year AFL expansion team that had gone 3 – (- 1 the previous year.)

Miami improved to – 4 in his first season and made the playoffs for the first time, and the Dolphins reached the Super Bowl before losing to Dallas. The following season, when Miami took a 18 – 0 record into the Super Bowl against Washington, Shula considered his legacy on the line.

“If we had won games in a row and lost the super Bowl, it would have been a disaster, especially for me, “he said in a 2010 interview. “That would have been my third Super Bowl loss. I was 0-2 in Super Bowls and people always seemed to bring that up: ‘You can’t win the big one.'”

The Dolphins beat the Redskins 16 – 7, then repeated as champions the following year by beating Minnesota in the title game.

After Shula retired, he traveled extensively with his wife, Mary Anne. He would also wrestle with his grandchildren, lose to his wife at gin, read John Grisham novels and fall asleep watching late-night TV.

He supported many charities. The Don Shula Foundation, formed primarily to assist breast cancer research, was established as a tribute to his late wife, Dorothy. They were married for years and raised five children before she died in 1994. Shula married Mary Anne Stephens during a bye week in .

Shula’s oldest son, David, coached the Cincinnati Bengals from – . When Cincinnati played Miami in 1994, it marked the first time in professional sports that a father and son faced each other as head coaches.

Don won, – 7. Another son, Mike, is a longtime NFL assistant coach and was head coach at Alabama in 2010 – 11.

Shula spent more than years on the powerful NFL Competition Committee, which evaluates playing rules as well as regulations designed to improve safety.

“If I’m remembered for anything, I hope it’s for playing within the rules,” Shula once said. “I also hope it will be said that my teams showed class and dignity in victory or defeat.”

There were many more victories than defeats. His career record was – (-6.

CBS Miami reports Shula leaves behind his wife, Mary Anne, and five children; Dave, Donna, Sharon, Anne and Mike. Shula’s children were from an earlier marriage to his first wife, Dorothy, who died of breast cancer in