April 14th, 2025

By Stephen Juza

As we continue our blog series that looks at coaching wins leaders to start their career, we pick up where we left off yesterday. After Paul Brown’s historic run with the Browns came to an end and a sluggish start to his career several years later with the Cincinnati Bengals, Brown was surpassed in wins by Don Shula. After a strong start to his career in Baltimore, Shula continued his career in Miami and surpassed Brown’s win total 220 games into his career.

Shula is the total career wins leader for coaches, and after a strong decade, nabbed the top spot from his former head coach, Brown. So, in today’s article, let us look at Shula’s NFL start through his 268 wins - when he was briefly caught as the wins leader to start a career.

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Shula’s NFL Beginning

Before Shula was an NFL coach, he was a player. After he graduated from college, the Cleveland Browns, coached by Paul Brown, drafted Shula in the ninth round, who would make the team as one of only two rookies for the team that year. Shula played in all twelve games his rookie year, including one start, en route to an NFL championship game appearance.

However, his next season did not start as planned. The following year, he was called up to active military duty as a member of the Ohio Army National Guard and served briefly in Ohio and Louisiana until he returned to Cleveland in November. With five games left in the season, he returned to the team as a full-time starter for the injury-riddled team, with the season ending in another championship game loss.

In 1953, he was traded to the newest franchise in the NFL, the Baltimore Colts where he played until the 1956 season. After two back-to-back championship appearances with the Browns, Shula’s remaining career was far less successful. In his four seasons in Baltimore, the team was never able to achieve a winning record. Shula finished his NFL career with one more season in Washington, another losing record, before finally retiring from the NFL.

After his playing career ended, Shula entered the coaching ranks, first in college, before moving on to the NFL. After several years as an NFL assistant, he had his first opportunity to lead a team - his former team, the Baltimore Colts.

Baltimore Colts

In 1963, Shula began his hall of fame career in Baltimore, but he did not burst on to the season in his inaugural season like his former coach. His first year, the team went 8-6, good for third in the conference. However, his second season was far more successful, and a sign of what could come. 1964 saw the team finish with a record of 12-2, winning the NFL West division, but falling short of a championship with a loss against his former team, the Browns.

Throughout the sixties, he continued to build the Colts into a championship-contending squad. By the 1969 season, his final in Baltimore, the team had finished first in the NFL four times, and second three other times. His best year in Baltimore was 1968, an impressive 13-1 season where the team won the NFL championship but fell to Joe Namath and the AFL Champion New York Jets.

After the 1969 season, Shula left the Colts after receiving a lucrative offer from the Miami Dolphins, a wide-ranging deal that included the role of general manager and an equity stake in the franchise. However, due to the process the Dolphins went through, they were penalized by the NFL for tampering with Shula, and the team lost their first-round draft pick the following season. However, it was a trade the team was happy to make.

Miami Dolphins

While he finished his Colts career with an impressive winning percentage over 75%, along with countless championship appearances, it was in Miami where Shula’s career went from great to legendary. Entering his first season in Miami, he had the fourth-most wins through ninety-eight games to start a career, thirteen behind Brown. It took Shula most of the decade to catch his former mentor, which he did with his 161st win. But it was a wildly successful decade to get there.

The Dolphins 1972 season was one for the record books. Shula’s third season in Florida saw the team complete a perfect 14-0 regular season, en route to Shula’s first Super Bowl victory in his career. In addition to winning every single game, the team led the league in points scored on offense, and fewest points allowed on defense. Overall, this team was ranked #1 on the NFL’s list of greatest teams for the league's 100th anniversary.

The team followed up a perfect season with another spectacular season, 12-2 with Shula’s second Super Bowl victory. While that would be the last Super Bowl victory of his career, consistent success was a mark of the years to follow. In 1978, Shula caught up to Brown on the Wins through X Games chart.

In this cart above, each column represents the “Ones” digit, while each row represents the “Tens” digit into a coach's career.

For more than 150 games, Shula held the record despite the dropping win percentage. During the 11-year run at the top, his win percentage was more than ten percentage points below his career average (74% compared to 63.5%). However, it took a historic run from another coach and dynasty to surpass Shula, however briefly.

We will profile this coach in Part 4 of our series.

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