Don Shula: A Biography of the Winningest Coach in NFL History

by Carlo DeVito

In Don A Biography of the Winningest Coach in NFL History, acclaimed sports historian Carlo DeVito captures the story of one of the greatest coaches in sports history. First distinguishing himself as a player with the Cleveland Browns (under the great Paul Brown), Baltimore Colts, and Washington Redskins, Donald Francis Shula went on to be the boy wonder of the NFL as a coach. After serving for three seasons as the defensive coordinator for the Detroit Lions, where he oversaw one of the NFL’s toughest units, Shula was named the youngest head coach in NFL history when he took over the Baltimore Colts in 1963. But after public feuding with star quarterback Johnny Unitas and owner Carroll Rosenbloom, and despite leading the team to two NFL championship games, Shula accepted the job as head coach of the perennial doormat Miami Dolphins in 1970. Within a few seasons, he took the Dolphins to three straight Super Bowls, winning twice, including the only undefeated Super Bowl championship season in 1972 behind a bruising running attack led by two 1,000 yard rushers, Larry Csonka and Mercury Morris, as well as the unheralded “No-Name Defense.” Shula won more games (328) than any other coach in NFL history, led his teams to six Super Bowls, and only posted a losing record twice in thirty-three seasons on the sideline. He was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1997. Don Shula chronicles the life of one of the greatest minds ever to be involved with the game, from the dawn of modern football to the close of the twentieth century.

Genres: Football

426 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 16, 2018

About the author

Carlo DeVito is a long time wine lover, and author of books and magazine articles. He is the author of Wineries of the East Coast. He has traveled to wine regions in California, Canada, up and down the east coast, France, Spain and Chile. He was also a publisher at Running Press Book Publishers, where he published books from Wine Spectator, as well as books with Greg Moore (of Moore Bros.), Matt Kramer, Howard Goldberg, and many other wine writers. He is currently VP, Editorial Director of Sterling Epicure where his authors also include Kevin Zraly, Oz Clarke, Tom Stevenson, Terry Walters, The Fabulous Beekman Boys, and the Edible Communities cookbook program.

Mr. DeVito has also been the editor of many successful traditional trade books, including Strange Fruit by David Margolick, On the Shoulders of Giants by Stephen Hawking, and three titles by Malachy McCourt. Other authors include John and Mary Gribbin, Thomas Hoving, Philip Caputo, E. O. Wilson, Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., John Edgar Wideman, Stanley Crouch, Dan Rather, Dee Brown, Susie Bright, and Eleanor Clift.

He is also the author of more than 15 books, including his highly acclaimed biographies of D. Wayne Lukas, Wellington Mara, Yogi Berra, and Phil Rizzuto.

He lives with his wife, pet publisher Dominique DeVito, and their two sons, on their farm, the Hudson-Chatham Winery in Ghent, NY.

Reviews

[John P · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having witnessed, via TV, the exciting games of the Dolphins' undefeated season, I enjoyed reading about Shula's life and times. There is plenty of detail included - enough to satisfy a die-hard fan.

But, content aside, the writing style leaves something to be desired. The writer does a good job of reviewing the score-by-score action of some of the critical games during Shula's long career but too often reveals the outcome before halftime. Maybe he assumed readers would be familiar with most of the games from earlier decades, but this reader was disappointed and would rather have been left in suspense until the game end.

Annoyingly, the work is poorly edited and the proofreaders missed a lot of mistakes, including spelling errors, repeated words or phrases within sentences, and more.

Lat, while certainly relevant to Shula himself are the careers of his sons, one could argue the wisdom of including as many details of them as there are in this work. It was tedious to plow through the ups and downs of the sons' careers to reach more interesting (to me) information about the dad.

A small but interesting photo section is included.

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good review of Don Shula's long and successful career.

Shula had a successful career but there were high and lows, particularly in the early parts.

Interesting to see how Shula adapted and changed his tactics to suit the people he had on the team. He originally had 3 strong running backs and creating the team around this, he changed when he drafted Dan Marino. This was key to continued success, adapting to the strengths of the people on the team.

Adaptability to law changes and personal changes lead to continued success over many decades.

[Brian Depaola · Rating 5 out of 5]

Becoming a Phin fan in '78 at 8yo, and watching him as the coach until I was 25, hadn't realized how much of an impression that was made on me, especially after meeting him a few times over the years during my youth and young man days. Greatest asset for the Dolphins ever while it lasted.

[Doug · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book about Shula, his life, his teams and his players. There are some factual and punctuation errors in the book. Overall a great book for any Shula fan or football historian.

[Michael Battista · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shula!

Didn't care for him as I was a kid when he
was coaching in his prime but knowledge and time can change opinions.
Classic book!