Don Shula Quotes (40 Quotes)

I think what coaching is all about, is taking players and analyzing there ability, put them in a position where they can excel within the framework of the team winning. And I hope that I've done that in my 33 years as a head coach.

Peyton Manning is doing things that I think no other quarterback in the history of the league has done at the line of scrimmage... I just think they are a team right now that's got a real chance to run the table.

It's a special place, and he has an appreciation for the tradition.

I have no magic formula. The only way I know to win is through hard work.

We had him rated right behind (John) Elway and ahead of (Jim) Kelly, ... But we never dreamed we'd have a shot at Dan.

No other league has had labor peace for so long. Tagliabue has managed to keep the two sides together, and they've kept playing.

I wouldn't use them both at the same time, ... I'd alternate them, keep them fresh. It's a long season, and you're going to need the talent of both of those guys.

Invariably, the morning after the game, one of them was waiting outside my office to complain that he was not getting the ball enough, ... I never kept them happy. One was always complaining he wasn't in the game enough.

He wants to be his own man and be recognized for what he's done. He's not asking for anything because of his name. That was a tough situation to go into at Alabama, but he probably wouldn't have been given the job if the situation would have been different.

Now he's got the parts to make it all work.

I coached against Dave the last couple of years, and I was very proud to be the first time a father ever coached against his son. He beat me for 30 minutes the first time and 59 and a half minutes the second time.

And my rookie contract, my first rookie contract was for $5,000.

Obviously the Dolphins are 0-4 and not happy about that. They haven't been able to put together any drives offensively. If they can get something together offensively, with the great defense they play, they've got a chance to win some games this year, and they've got a chance against New England.

He didn't walk into a great situation. Mike's worked hard to get the program where it is now. I couldn't be more proud.

And this year is going to be the 25th anniversary of the 17-0 team, the only undefeated season.

And I coached against Mike when he was an assistant with the Bears and they won that football game.

Anybody that's a Dolphins fan feels they're headed in the right direction.

Lots of leaders want to be popular. I never cared about that. I want to be respected.

And then to end up with a total of 347 wins, averaging 10 regular season wins for 33 years and the best winning percentage, and I'm very proud of this, of any professional team from 1970 to 1996.

He didn't like any play-action, ... He liked to drop back and go downfield. Of course, we didn't have much of a running game in those years.

If you're going to take gambles, you must have one thing self-confidence.

Sure, luck means a lot in football. Not having a good quarterback is bad luck.

What I learned from that loss, and also another loss that I'm going to talk about later, was that when you're there, it's not good enough to be there, when you're there, you better walk away with that ring.

He was a great competitor and what Dan wanted to do was win, ... and as long as he felt he was getting the right help from the sideline, he certainly appreciated that. I coached him 13 years of his 17-year career and we put up big numbers.

His delivery was kind of chest-high, ... The ball would leave his hand and just explode.

You know it's only 50 miles from Grand River to Canton, but it took me 67 years to travel that distance.

Then somewhere along the line and it couldn't have been until late in the season we realized we had a chance to do something no one else had done To win all the games. That became important, but if we had to lose, we wanted to make sure that it wasn't in the Super Bowl. If we ended 16-1, the season would have been a failure.

Success is not forever and failure isn't fatal.

I don't want a player that's content with not playing... But we wanted to play the guys that got us here.

He is (happy). He likes Tuscaloosa. They enjoy it there. He's got two young girls and they've got a third on the way, they just found out it's another girl, so that will be three girls. He likes everything about the job.

One thing I never want to be accused of is not working.

When we got them together for the first time on the field, ... and had Woodley throwing on one side to a group of receivers and Marino on the other, it was so evident the ability Dan had throwing the football. Woodley was an athlete playing quarterback and Marino was a quarterback playing quarterback. You could just look at it and see, even in the simplest passing drills, that Marino had that great skill.

Because, they're only thinking about one team when that game's over. Before the game, they're talking about two football teams. When the game's over, there's only one winner.

Learn from everyone, copy no one.

The superior man blames himself. The inferior man blames others.

I don't know any other way to lead but by example.

He took over a program that was going through a lot of problems and he's trying to get it turned around, ... This would be a big step for him. (A win) would show they are headed in the right direction . . . That's a big job he's got, following Bear Bryant at the University of Alabama, 83,000 people. . . . College football is just very exciting. The fans are so loyal.

I got up and displayed some anger. I was sort of upset. Wouldn't you be.

Dan didn't like play-action we didn't have a running game, so consequently we didn't have play action. Most of the stuff we did was drop-back passing or the shotgun, and Dan always was looking down field. He could sense where the pressure was coming from and quickly get the ball off.

The one thing that I know is that you win with good people.