All Time Great Bill Belichick Won't Catch Don Shula As Winningest Coach In NFL History
The ink was barely dry on Bill Belichick's three-year deal to become the next head coach at the University of North Carolina when the same members of the media he sometimes treated like dirt were blaring that the "greatest coach of all time" was headed to Chapel Hill.
To the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Where he might lose to Clemson next season.
In all seriousness, congratulations to Belichick because what he's doing is noble. He's going back to a school where his father coached as an assistant in the 1950s. He's following the career path of the great Bill Walsh, who won Super Bowls in the NFL and then returned to the college game.
New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick signs autographs during his pro-am appearance with golfing great Greg Norman, golf star Lexi Thompson, former NFL quarterback and TV commentator Joe Theismann and musician Kenny G at the Honda Classic in 2012.
It's a cool story for one of the all-time greats.
But the greatest of all time? Nope.
Sorry, coach.
Sorry sycophant media who Belichick routinely mistreated.
The greatest NFL coach of all time is Don Shula.
(Full transparency: I covered Shula on a daily basis for six seasons with the Miami Dolphins. He joked with me at times. He put his arm around me once or twice as if he were my grandfather. And he mother-effed me once, too, when he didn't like that I wrote his fridge on the road was always stocked with beer. Long story.)
The point is my view is affected by our history.
MIAMI, FLORIDA - DECEMBER 16: Don Shula, Coach of the Miami Dolphins during the pre-game warm-ups of an NFL football game against the Baltimore Colts in the Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida, December 16, 1972. The Dolphins defeated the Colts 16-0 in the final game of their regular season which led to their 17-0 undefeated season with their win against the Washington Redskins in Super Bowl VII. (Photo by Ross Lewis/Getty Images)
But my eyes are wide open enough to see that had Belichick returned to the NFL and won 15 more games, he would have pushed his career tally from the current 333 wins to 348. And that would have made him the winningest coach of all time.
That would have made him the greatest coach of all time.
But, you see, that didn't happen.
And it's not going to happen because the 72-year-old Belichick isn't coming back to the NFL now. And if he couldn't get back after parting ways with the New England Patriots last season and couldn't see a path to doing it this year, he's certainly not going to do it three years from now, at age 75.
So, the NFL's all-time winningest coach will remain Shula with 347 wins. And that makes him the greatest coach of all time because, as he used to say, wins and losses are the ultimate measure of success.
"That's why they have standings that everybody looks at every Monday morning," he once told me.
More Than Wins And Losses
And this is where we get real because regardless of what we think about the Shula and Belichick records, there are some things that are simply inarguable. And we have to be fair to weigh those things to draw a fair comparison.
Shula took his teams to six Super Bowls. And he lost four of them.
He lost Super Bowl III with the Colts in the upset that Joe Namath guaranteed.
He lost Super Bowl VI against the Dallas Cowboys.
He lost Super Bowl XVII to the Washington Redskins.
And he lost Super Bowl XIX to the San Francisco 49ers.
So Shula was 2-4 in his six Super Bowl appearances.
Social media is on fire after news broke Bill Belichick is leaving the Patriots. See the best reactions on social media. (Credit: Getty Images)
Belichick took the Patriots to nine Super Bowls. Nine trips to the top of the mountain. And Belichick didn't often stumble when he reached the plateau.
His teams were 6-3 in the Super Bowl.
So, yes, Belichick was a more successful coach on Super Bowl Sunday than Shula was before him.
Is that why people say he's the greatest of all time? Because he won more Super Bowls than any other head coach? It's a fair argument to make.
But here's the argument-ender:
Don Shula, winner of more games than anyone else including Belichick, is also the only head coach in NFL history to author a perfect season.
LOS ANGELES, CA - JANUARY 14: Head Coach Don Shula of the Miami Dolphins gets carried off the field after defeating the Washington Redskins in Super Bowl VII at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles, California, January 14, 1973. The Dolphins won the Super Bowl 14-7. (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images)
Shula Only Coach To Lead Unbeaten Team
The 1972 Miami Dolphins were unbeaten and untied. They were unbeaten and untied in the regular season. And unbeaten and untied in the postseason, including a Super Bowl VII victory over the Redskins.
Those Dolphins are the only NFL team to ever have a perfect season, which must mean it's pretty difficult to do considering the league merged in 1970. No one did it before or since. Belichick obviously couldn't.
He tried in 2007 when his team made it to the Super Bowl with an 18-0 record. But then New England lost to the New York Giants in the Super Bowl, thus falling short of the unique feat Shula's team accomplished.
So, yeah, one assumes Belichick recognizes how difficult it is to do exactly what Shula did. And what Shula remains the only coach to ever do.
That feat and having more wins than anyone else is what makes Don Shula the greatest coach of all time. And leaves Belichick as one of the greats, to be sure – but not the greatest.