50 moments in Miami Dolphins history

Photo by Brian Miller

May as well stick with the early years to get things flowing. Following the 1969 season, Dolphins owner Joe Robbie entered legal discussions with than Baltimore head coach Don Shula. Unfortunately the negotiations wouldn’t finalize until the AFL and the NFL merged. Once this happened the discussions between Robbie and Shula were viewed as tampering and the NFL found the Dolphins guilty of tampering and forced the Dolphins to turn over their 1st round pick in the draft to the Baltimore Colts.

Miami, to say the least, got the better end of the deal. Shula became the Dolphins longest tenured coach in team history stretching from the 1970 season to his retirement in 1995. To this day, Shula holds the NFL record for most career wins by a head coach with 347 regular and post-season wins. He has 328 regular season wins.

To put the winning total into context, it would take Bill Belichic almost seven years of perfect seasons to match that record.

Next: 1972