Don Shula

The Miami Dolphins unveiled their new logo Wednesday, part of a redesign to give the team a fresh look next season. The Dolphins have also designed new uniforms, but those won't be unveiled until April 25. The new logo features a more realistic looking Dolphin, and he's not wearing a helmet anymore. (That was the best part of the old logo.) PHOTOS: Super Bowl logos through the years However, probably the two biggest names in Dolphins history tweeted their approval of the new look.

The Miami Dolphins unveiled their new logo Wednesday, part of a redesign to give the team a fresh look next season. The Dolphins have also designed new uniforms, but those won't be unveiled until April 25. The new logo features a more realistic looking Dolphin, and he's not wearing a helmet anymore. (That was the best part of the old logo.) PHOTOS: Super Bowl logos through the years However, probably the two biggest names in Dolphins history tweeted their approval of the new look.

Miami Dolphin Coach Don Shula, bothered recently by a sore right knee, underwent successful arthroscopic surgery Tuesday to repair torn cartilage. The Dolphins had the day off after their 23-10 victory Monday night over Pittsburgh. Shula recuperated at home after surgery and was expected back at practice Wednesday. The procedure was the second in less than a year for Shula, 65, who underwent surgery to repair a ruptured right Achilles' tendon last December.

Don Shula used softer language Thursday but stuck by his belief the New England Patriots' success this season is diminished by the spying scandal that prompted stiff punishment from the NFL in September. In an interview with the Associated Press, Shula laughed when asked whether the Patriots deserve an asterisk if they finish 19-0. "That's not for me to say," the Pro Football Hall of Fame coach said. "They were penalized, after the first game, wasn't it? They had a No.

Halas and Shula. Their names are linked for a pro football eternity, each the winner of more games than any coach in history. More than Bear Bryant. More than Amos Alonzo Stagg. More than Pop Warner. More than anyone. Halas and Shula. One wouldn't be caught without a coat and tie. The other prefers polo shirts and baseball caps. One invented the game. The other perfected it. They bridge the eras of the sport, from leather helmets to long hair.

For most of two decades, it has been customary for football players to welcome a trade to the Miami Dolphins. They like to play for Don Shula, who has been the National Football League's most successful coach since he took command here in 1970. Former Dolphin halfback Mercury Morris was talking about this the other day. Mindful of the time he spent in prison for a drug conviction, he chose his words carefully.

The name is Shula, as in coaching dean Don Shula. Now it also means the youngest coach in the NFL and sets the stage for the NFL's first father-son matchup the next time the Cincinnati Bengals play the Miami Dolphins. The Bengals on Friday chose David Shula as their new coach, making Don Shula's 32-year-old son the youngest coach in league history. Shula succeeds Sam Wyche, whose eight-year tenure ended Tuesday.

More drama, same ending for the Shula vs. Shula sequel: Dad hugs son at midfield and walks off a winner. Dan Marino threw a 16-yard touchdown pass to O.J. McDuffie with 1:03 left Sunday, keeping Don Shula's Miami Dolphins unbeaten with a 26-23 victory over Dave's Cincinnati Bengals. Unlike the first father-son head coaching matchup--a dreary 23-7 Dolphin victory last year--this one featured four lead changes in the final 19 minutes.

Don Shula has won Super Bowls and lost them. He has coached a team that won every game and a team that won only six. In 30 seasons of coaching, however, he has never known the extremes of agony and joy he has felt in the past 19 months. In February of 1991, his wife of 32 years died of breast cancer. The high point of his life came a year later when his oldest son, David, became the head coach of the Cincinnati Bengals.

The man on the verge of becoming the winningest coach in the history of professional football is padding around this office in his socks. He is clutching wire-rimmed glasses in one hand, a torn-open greeting card in the other hand. "Come on in here," Don Shula tells a visitor. "I want you to see something." Shula had spent the last 30 minutes on the Miami Dolphins' practice field and in the cafeteria, talking football as if he were playing it.

He feels as if he could coach again, but that's not what drives Don Shula these days. The legendary Miami Dolphin coach, 75, spends most of his working hours on his national chain of steakhouses. He recently opened a new one in an LAX hotel and this week talked to Times staff writer Sam Farmer about runaway running back Ricky Williams, steroids in the old NFL, and the place in history his undefeated 1972 team deserves.

Mike Shula's debut was successful in the end -- thanks to Shaud Williams. Williams had 177 total yards and scored three touchdowns to lead Alabama to a 40-17 victory over South Florida after a shaky start Saturday in the opener for both teams at Birmingham, Ala. "A lot of attention has been focused on me this week, but these guys are the ones who have been working hard and they're the ones who went out there and made the plays," Shula said.

Shulas are as beloved in Florida as Kennedys are in Massachusetts and Bushes are in Texas. Credit the family's patriarch, Don Shula, who coached the Miami Dolphins for 26 seasons, won two Super Bowls and whose 1972 team finished 17-0. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1997 as the winningest coach. So imagine the scrutiny his grandson, Dan, endured this season playing quarterback for St. Thomas Aquinas High at Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Forget whether he was a good passer.

Don Shula, in honor of the 25th anniversary of his Miami Dolphins' perfect season, awarded the Broncos the championship trophy in a postgame ceremony on the Three Rivers Stadium field. With every word of his glowing speech, Shula was roundly booed. * Elway showed his experience with Super Bowl hype from the moment his news conference began. Drinking from a can containing a notable diet soda, he held up a can and said, "Think [they] will call me?"

1. Question: The Dolphins are going to honor Don Shula and the 1972 team for their perfect season at halftime Monday night, but why is Shula so ticked off? Answer: Shula also wants perfect adoration. He wants the world to recognize the Dolphins as the NFL's best team ever, and he wants the selectors to put one of his defensive players--any defensive player from 1972--into the Hall of Fame. "I don't understand why there's even any question about it [being the best ever]," Shula said.

His jaw clenched, his eyes piercing, his voice commanding, Don Shula gave no indication he belonged anywhere Saturday other than on the steps to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. To hear him tell it, Shula has been humbled only once in his life. After he coached the 1972 Miami Dolphins to a 17-0 record, he and his late wife, Dorothy, vacationed in a small town on the Maine coast. Entering a movie theater one evening, they received a standing ovation. "You don't have to applaud," Shula said.

When Don Shula abdicated his 33-year throne, the final link of greatness to the NFL's defining period was broken. Don Shula finally is taking his football and leaving. Not to play quarterback. But to play father and husband and grandfather. He is not leaving the way he wanted to, fresh after a seventh Super Bowl appearance, riding the shoulders of his players, hearing fresh praises of his greatness.

Mike Shula, son of Miami Dolphin Coach Don Shula, has joined his father's coaching staff.

His famous jaw never slackened. His eyes never teared. Don Shula was the epitome of the great coach Saturday as he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Shula was in full control as he recounted his 67-year journey from Grand River, Ohio, to "the ultimate honor." He reflected on the great triumphs as the winningest coach in pro football history--and the disappointments, but at no time was Shula off-stride. And that's just what anyone who played for or against him would have expected.

During the 49 years that Los Angeles was represented in pro football by the Rams, Tom Mack was their best offensive lineman and Jack Youngblood was, except for Deacon Jones, their best defensive end. Or so many Ram fans have said for many years.