Coaching at whatever level is and playing at whatever level is a is a stressful undertaking. To have that success over that amount of time. It's a testament to him and it's fortitude. People always love to start and we always love to finish. We cant ready start school. We get excited. We don't start school. Were graduated. We're getting excited. We're gonna graduate. What does that sustainability in the middle between starting it and finishing it that most people don't have.
So he is a measure above normal men. I feel good later on we're gonna do and what your student? This is Mr Perfect, the man who presides over the
only unbeaten team in NFL history. Mr Perfect. Indeed, Don Shula has passed away at the age of nine, and we are doing things different on this edition of the Drive Time Podcast and owed to the greatest coach in National Football League history, the winning is coach in National Football League history, the winner of two Super Bowl championships with your Miami Dolphins, Don Shula, at the age of ninety,
has passed away. We're gonna talk to Andy Cohen of Miami Dolphins dot Com, Armando Salgaro of the Miami Herald, and give you some details on Don Shula's life, both on the football field and off of it. Let's just go ahead and start here with his on field football accomplishments. First, he was a ninth round draft pick back in nineteen
fifty one. He played with the Browns, the Colts, and Washington up through the nineteen fifty seven season, then began his career as a coach, first with the Detroit Lions as the DC there from nineteen sixty to sixty two, took on the head coaching job with the Baltimore Colts, where he won an NFL championship in nineteen sixty eight, and then, of course we all know by now Miami Dolphins head coach from nineteen seventy through nineteen the two times Super Bowl champion, he was the four time a
p NFL Coach of the Year, the Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year in ninete. He was on the NFL one Anniversary All Time Team, the NFL's nineteen seventies All Decade Team, and of course your Miami Dolphins on a roll and a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He has the most regular season wins as a head coach with three eight, the most total wins as a head coach with three forty seven, and of course, was the only coach to ever go undefeated through an entire
regular season and playoffs. He also coached thirty three seasons in the NFL and had just two seasons that were not winning seasons, so thirty one out of thirty three times he was a winning coach, part of a winning football team. And my goodness, you talked to anybody around the National Football League, ex players, ex coaches, ex media members, they all say the same things about Don Hula, both on and off the field. The integrity, the intensity, the discipline,
but also a little bit of a sense of humor. Today, we're gonna detail two people that know Don Shula very well, and Andy Cohen and Armando Salgaro of Miami Dolphins dot
com and the Miami Herald. Tomorrow on the podcast, we'll get some sound clips from Bob Greasy, from Larry Sunka, Mercury Morris, plenty of the alumni that played for coach Shula, and we'll talk to those guys about their memories of coach and the great life that he lived both as a football man, a family man, a husband and just a good friend, a good person, a guy that did
things the right way every single time. Don Shula, Mr Football, himself, the patriarch of the Miami Dolphins organization, gone today May fourth, two thousand twenty. He was born January four, n thirty, at the age of ninety, has passed along. Let's go
ahead now and get to the interviews. I had the pleasure of conducting with both Andy Cohen and Armando sal garow on Don Shula, the greatest coach in NFL history, And joining me now on the Drive Time podcast is a forty year veteran of the Miami Dolphins a columnist, Andy Cohen, Andy, thank you so much for joining me today, sir. Pleasure to be with you, Travis. Unfortunately we have to have you on today for some for some some umber news.
Coach Shula passes away at the age of ninety. And who better to have a celebration of Sula's life and what his career in football, both on the field and off the field, and all the contributions he made to South Florida then yourself, and I want to just ask you off the top here, Andy, who was Don Shula to you? Wow? He was so many things to me. I when I first started to be the nineteen eighty
he was the most intimidating figure you can imagine. All I did was see him from Afar and the success he had and the perfect season and here I come in nineteen eighty uh, twenty four year old reporter um And I was intimidated at first, I have to admit. But as I grew to know Shula and developed a relationship with him, I began to understand that in order to gain his respect, you have to work at it, and you have to show him the type of person
you are and reporter you are. And if he can give the respect of you as a journalist, which it took time for me, but he did, then he gains respect for you as a person, and he slowly begins letting you in as he gains respect. If he doesn't gain respect for you, nothing you can do will allow you into his world. Uh. And he'll let you know it every day by the scowl on his face or by the way he'll respond to your question. But as the years passed and the respect gained, I grew to
not only admire and respect him, but love him. In many ways. He was just a classy person, a wonderful coach uh, somebody who cared deeply, somebody whose values were true to himself from family, mass and football UM. And now as I look back on it, I feel very
fortunate to have gotten to know him. I never took the friendship I developed with him for granted, and Travis, over the last fifteen years, whenever I saw him, there was always a warm embrace, a warm handshake, and he'd always look at me and say, one of the good guys, uh. And I would really be thrilled by that. And I passed that on to my son's and it's something I'll
truly never forget. Travis. We read a story earlier on on Monday Morning that Jeff Darlington mentioned a visit to Don Shula's house where there was pictures of Reagan and the Dalai Lama and all these world renowned figures. But Jeff said that Sula made him feel as if he was the most important person in the world at that time. And it sounds like you have a very similar experience
with coach. You know, I really did. And he didn't know a lot of famous people, and you know, it was it was funny sometimes because he was so focused, and he was so he had such tunnel vision on football that a lot of things. A lot of times you wonder if whether he's losing what's happening in the
world around owned him. And you know, and although he was old fashioned in many ways and really had trouble uh liking the new kind of music or liking the new kind of TV uh, he uh, he knew a lot of people, and he had the respect of a lot of people. And to sit in his office on Sunday afternoons and here and his secretary say, coach Shula, George Steinbrenner's on the line or coach Shula whatever. Uh, it was really remarkable to see the depth of the
people he knew in the relationships that he had. And he certainly carries that with him every day in his life since he was such a prominent figure in South Florida. And that became the case because of his on field football acumen, a guy that you know, the first day of training camp, you have to run. How how far was it they had to run? Andy? Well, there was there was the twelve minute run and it was it was okay for a lot of the players, but the
offensive and defensive lineman really had trouble with it. Fail it again. You have to keep running it until your try till you make it. And there were certain players that just couldn't do it, and Sula would let the unlike today's world, Sheila would let the writers on the field and we would stand in the big circle as the players ran around, and it was it was a remarkable thing. And the thing about Chula is when it was over, he ran the twelve minute run and we're
and when sprints were over. Every day after practice and these sprints went on and on. Shula sprinted every day after practice. It was really it was really amazing because there was nothing. It was very little. I should say that he asked of his players that he wouldn't do himself from a conditioning standpoint. Yeah, that to me just embodies leadership, right, because you can't ask someone to do
something that you're not willing to do yourself. And you have a certain level of respect for coach, and it seems like every single player that played for him shared that respect. Is that correct to say, you know? It's it's certainly it's certainly correct to say, you know, And as far as a reporter, covering a coach, Travis, he was the most accessible coach I have ever covered in my forty years. He would often have two, sometimes three practices a day, and he would make himself available at
the end of every practice. Then then at lunchtime at same timas University, he used to come from the coaches table, sit down at the media lunch table. We ate with the coaches and the players during it. During those times, Travis and he would sit down with us and answer every question we had. Then he would stand up and do live TV and then he would do TV shots answer every question they had. Then if you needed more time, and then he'd walked back through the parking lot to
his office with you to give you more time. It was incredible how he understood the job we had and what we needed to do to do it. Uh And from that story, from that standpoint, I really didn't realize how unusual he was until he left, and then you started other coaches covering other coaches, and then you get today's world where there really is very very limited availability. Uh. So he was remarkable not only to his players, Travis,
but to the media as well. Yeah, I was gonna say it sounds like you know, a man that's so well revered on the football field but also off of it as well, and the way he kind of cultivates and and nurtures those those relationships certainly was special. Andy. We really appreciate your time today and go check out Andy's piece on Miami Dolphins dot com. Tons of stories with Don Shulan himself. You knew the man for so many years, Andy, We really appreciate it. Gravis, always a pleasure.
So from one long time vet and Andy Cohen to another on the beat from the Palm Beach Post and now the Miami Heral, let's go ahead and talk to Armando sal Garrol on Coach Shula and joining me now on the Drivetime podcast is longtime Miami Dolphins columnists from the Miami Herald. He is Armando sal Garrol. Armando, how you doing today, sir? Well? Try was. It's not a great day, but all things considered, I guess we're all right.
We are moving forward now as coach Shula, at the age of ninety, has passed on, but he left us a great legacy and plenty of great stories, and Armando, you were They're up close and personal for much of that earlier in your career, and I just want to get a sense of who was coach Shula to you, Wow, that's a that's a good question, Travis. So to me, he was a guy that, you know, being a resident of Miami from childhood. Um, I grew up watching him
on television. I grew up watching him raised Lombardi trophies and um, you know, get on referees on the sideline and congratulate his players. I grew up wanting to, you know, think that which was twelve blocks from my house was kind of his house, and so we were in the
same neighborhood. And then all of a sudden, I'm working for, um, you know, a couple of newspapers down here, first the Palm Beach Posts and then the Miami Herald, and lo and behold, I'm interviewing Don Shula and covering Don Shula. And you know, I was in my twenties at the time, and it was quickly a education in how to have your facts right, how to be on your game right away, and how to have respect and be respected because that's how he worked. He respected everyone who you know, deserved
it and gave him respect back. And that's why I think we've got along pretty good. And it was definitely a different era of media and of covering sports back in those days where there was not so many restrictions around, you know, certain coach and player availability, so you kind of developed a closer relationship with the coach, isn't the players.
What was it like for you personally with coach Ula? Yeah, So the way it would work once the Dolphins moved from St. Thomas to Davey, Uh well, let me let me back up at St. Thomas. You gotta understand, the lunch hall was open to the media and we would as reporters eat every day and then at one point Shula would get up and come over to the writer's table and just talk with the writers. And sometimes when you needed something extra, you just walked back to his
office with Shula. I remember walking back with him and him telling me, Yeah, we've got this linebacker that no one knows about that we're really excited about. You're gonna see him do some good things here. Uh this year or next year. That guy's name was Brian cox Um. He had fourteen and a half sacks I think his first or second year, So Sula knew that he had
something special brewing. Once we were in Davy. He liked to run every day with Stuart Weinstein, who was this security guy, and I knew that every day at noon he was gonna go for his run. So I would come up to Davy and they had to steal bench just outside the locker room, and I would sit myself at the bench. Uh. There was really no gated security or anything like that or the cameras that they got. Now.
I would sit there and after Shula's run, he would come over and sit down and we talked football and he would tell me what he was thinking about the team, and I would shut up. That's how the relationship went. Uh. So you know, Don Hula is talking, I think I'll just be quiet, um. And he appreciated that because I recognized that, Mmm, do I know more than him or does he know more than me? I think he knows more than me. I just I'm gonna write um. And
that's how it went. And it was great because you get to know a lot about the Miami Dolphins when Don Shula is comfortable and sweaty and he just came off the field after a forty minute run. Yeah, that's probably the best time to get ahold from there when maybe he said as most honest, but I am curious to ask you because we talked about how, you know, modern day football and what it was back then has
changed quite a bit. But Shula was kind of the face of the organization and kind of the guy you mentioned Brian Cox and the evaluation and getting a guy like that ready to play at such a young age. He was kind of the entire operation, wasn't he He was the first word and the final word. And you know, obviously he had people that helped them. I think that the quality of those people had a lot to do
with what kind of success he had on the field. Obviously, when it was amazing great quality, like when Joe Thomas and Bobby Bethard were we're, you know, putting Pro Bowl players on the roster, Shulo was taking Pro Bowl players and turning him into Hall of famers. When others would get alid good players often turned them into Pro Bowl players. But you know, it was a matter of that guy, the talent. He he was gonna win big, and he
knew how to do it. He knew he knew how to turn um negatives into positive and at the very least high the negatives, and that was that was one of his talents. And he also wasn't too you know, egotistical about how he got things done. We have to remember, Travis, that Don Shula won back to back Super Bowls doing what running the football and playing great defense with a no name defense. Years later, this guy with you know, floppy hair happened along and he could throw the football
a little bit. Don Shula had been to the to the Super Bowl the year before, and then all of a sudden he sees David Woodley on the practice field and he's got Dan Marino on the practice field. And it wasn't long before Dan Marino was throwing the football. The Miami Dolphins were throwing the football, and they ushered in a new era really in the NFL, of throwing the football. And that's what the NFL has developed into today.
You know, forty eight touchdown passes in a year. Forty four touchdown passes in a year's still pretty great today, although not the record back then, it was unheard of. It was spectacular. And the fact that the Dolphins were the team that did that, the running, the running Dolphins, the three yards and a cloud of dust Dolphins. They're doing this. Yeah, that was Don Shula deciding this is what I got, this is what we're gonna go with.
I think the second most touchdown passes that year Marino had forty eight was thirty two, if I'm not mistaken, And I think that's the perfect measure of what kind of coach he was. Armando was a guy that could take in his and beat yours or whatever. The famous quote was. I know I butchered it just now, but that's I mean, that's the sense you get from people
to talk about coach pretty much unanimously. I had not more on this podcast not that long ago, and he talked about beating the Bears in because they attacked the forty six defense in a way that was different than
anybody else had attacked it before that. So I'm curious to get your sense because you cover so many different characters and so many different coaches and players over the years, Armando, what was the general consensus from people you've talked to the new coach about what kind of person he was
and what kind of coach he was. Integrity. That's the one word that pops up over and over and over, and that was the one thing that don Chula strive for right up there with success and winning, because to him, it wasn't enough to win. It had to be you have to win with integrity. You have to win and feel good about yourself as a person when you've done it. You're not going to cheat, You're not going to take
advantage of loopholes. You're not going to do things that will come I can be smirch you and soil your reputation. You're going to do it with class. You're going to do it so that it holds up over history and when the historians look back, they say, oh my gosh, that was amazing and it was done in an amazing way. And that's what don Shula really was about, and not just by the way on the football field. I think that's that's preached to his kids. That was what he
was about his entire life. He wanted to do things in that people would remember him. And now we're going to start remembering him, obviously because he's past, but they wanted he wanted that they remember him the right way. We're gonna remember a lot of coaches and players in NFL history. Some of those have histories that you know, yeah, but you understand what I'm saying. It's the yeah, but they did this other thing when you're talking about Don Shula, Um,
I don't think there are any. Yeah, but certainly not especially we talk about the level of integrity and intensity that he coached with. And speaking of the intensity, Armando, I'd be remissed if I didn't ask you this on the way out. I know you're a great Joe Green story about standing up to Joe Green, I gotta ask you, do you have any run ins with coach that might
get a little bit of a chuckle out of us? Yeah? Yeah, So the Joe Green story was Joe Green and I are going back and forth and you know whatever, Joe Green, don Shula. You don't stand up to Don Shula, Okay. And so that was a little different. And Joe Green, by the way, is way bigger and way more intimidating physically than Don Shula. But the reputation, the reputation of
Don Shula supersedes everything. And so one time I wrote a story about the dolphins on the road, and part of that story included a passage of what the dolphins put in Don Shula sweet, um, you know for the night that he is there, and it included the fact that he gets a case of beer put in his sweet refrigerator for his you know, assistance or any visitors that might come around. And so I wrote it no big deal, right, I mean, are you offended that Don
Shula had beard as refrigerator. I don't know that anyone really would be yet Don Shula I show up to one of those uh noon run things and I'm sitting there and he storms over and he's like, you made me look like a leap in the paper today, and I'm like what, And and there was about three minutes of dressing down by Don Shula because in his opinion, I had made him look like he was like some sort of alcoholic, which obviously he was not. And so uh that that conversation and included me doing my best
Ralph krammed them impersonation you're too young. But there was a show called The Honeymooners and the main guy, Jackie Gleeson was Ralph Kramdon And when he didn't have an answer for something, it was Hamana Hama, hamamama, hamana. That was his answer. And that was Armando going, but coach, I'm gonna hammna Hamma hammna hana how gonna um? So don Shula you know, took me out that day, um and undressed me and left me on the field right there crying, and uh. You know the funny thing about
what it is. The next day he he calls and he goes, hey, and I'm like, oh, pit, here we go again. And I'm like yes, and he goes, I'm running at one today, not noon. Okay, I'll be there, okay, click, And you know, I thought he was gonna be still be angry, and he wasn't. And it was cool always well because he had gotten his say, he had made his point and we're moving on. And that just de finds the type of leadership that he exuded every day, right. It defined the type of person that he was, that's
for sure, beyond football. And that's yeah, that that's that's the best part about it, aren't there? Armando. We really appreciate your time. You guys know who he is. Armando sell Girrel of the Miami Herald. Armando, thank you for your time today, my pleasure, and away he goes. Some fantastic stories there from Andy and Armando alike. Let's go
ahead and leave this podcast on the greatest quote. I think that describes Don Shula and what you heard both Armando and Andy talked about in terms of how he was able to adapt and adjust on the fly in an era where teams and coaches just didn't do that. This from bum Phillips who said, quote he can take his in and beat Yourn, and take Yourn and beat
his and end quote. That's just about it. Because Sula took his roster, took his team, and evolved it into what the game asked for, into what his personnel asked for. And that's how you wind up. The winning is coach in NFL history, Don Shula nineteen thirty to twenty twenty. Don Shula, he will be missed, fins up coach