Actually, it really wasn't a bad article. Wilbon reported straight up and Shula is just trying to remain relevant as he fades off into the sunset.
Let's not forget (and I live in SoFla, so I remember it well) that Shula was basically forced into resigning so Wayne Huzienga could hire Jimmy Johnson.
Everyone understood, save for the old ball coach himself, that the game had passed him by. Long ago.
What makes anyone think that now, some 12 years after his de facto firing, he understands the game any better than he did when H. Wayne canned his arse?
Yes, Shula won 328 games, but he also coached for THIRTY-TWO SEASONS!
That's an average of 10.25 wins per season.
He was basically a .500 coach when it counted most (19-17 in the playoffs) and won two Super Bowls - in 1972 & 1973!
1973!
Nixon was president!
"Scarface" was still 7 years away! Al Pacino still thought "Dog Day Afternoon" was his best work!
(Did they wear leather helmets in '73?)
So, basically, Shula went 22 years without winning anything and somehow became an icon in South Florida, which goes to show you what Cubans know about football!
How did he keep his job for 22 years without winning anything?
DolFans are delusional and their owners (Joe Robbie & H. Wayne) pandered to them, to their own detriment, that's how!
Shula should have been fired many times between that last Super Bowl ring in '73, but most certainly in 1989 after he went 8-8, 8-7, 6-10 and 8-8 with teams that had Dan Marino, Mark Duper, Mark Clayton, Andra Franklin, John Offerdahl and Louis Oliver!
As a talent evaluator, this is the man who gave John Bosa and Eric Kumerow a chance to play in the NFL!
Belichick, in his 8 years with New England, has won 84 games, for an average of 10.50 wins a season.
If Belichick coaches 32 years like Shula, he will shatter Shula's all-time coaching record for wins.
And in the playoffs, when it really counts, Belichick makes Shula look like an embattled high school coach, going 13-3 in the postseason and winning three Super Bowls, the last of which was as recently as 2004. Look for a fourth this season.
And that doesn't even take into account his work as a defensive coordinator in leading the Giants to two Super Bowl wins.
So, if Shula wants to rant, let him be.
Of course, he's worried. Belichick and the Pats are set to take away the only thing Don ever did well in his life, which was go 17-0 way back in 1972.
I think we should all just leave old Don Shula alone and let him enjoy his Gold Digging wife and his over-priced, s h i t t y steakhouses.
If he wants to pop off every once in awhile about a game he really knows nothing about anymore, let's give the old gum-biter his time in the spotlight. It makes him feel connected or something. Why take that away.
When Don speaks, we should nod our heads and say "Keep coming back, Don."
Shula. A name synonymous with the $18 baked potato!