The “trade” that sent Don Shula to the Miami Dolphins from the Colts
By Brian Miller
The best trade between the Miami Dolphins and the Colts changed history.
There has been a few trades between the Miami Dolphins and the Indianapolis and Baltimore Colts but none had the impact of the trade that would change the course of history in Miami.
We need to go all the way back to 1970 when Don Shula was coming off an embarrassing Super Bowl loss to the New York Jets that was hosted in Miami. Then owner Joe Robbie loved Don Shula and after the season he coaxed the coach to leave Baltimore and make sunny South Florida his home.
The trade wasn’t so much a trade as it was a tampering penalty. There is, however, a history to this that many people do not know. In fact, the Dolphins almost didn’t have to send Baltimore anything for Don Shula.
Super Bowl III was the last championship game played between the NFL and the AFL. Negotiations were already underway to merge the two leagues into one with one becoming the NFC and the other the AFC. Robbie was already having discussions with Shula but nothing had been finalized or made official. Those negotiations continued after the merger.
When the leagues merged on June 8th, 1970, Robbie and Shula had not yet agreed to a contract. Once the contract was finalized and Shula was named the coach, the NFL fined the Dolphins a first-round draft pick as a penalty for tampering.
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Controversy surrounded the penalty as Robbie contended that he had already entered into negotiations with Shula prior to the league merger. The Dolphins were an AFL team and the Colts were part of the NFL. The penalty would stand.
While it was a penalty, many consider it a trade nonetheless because Miami didn’t actually tamper with Shula’s situation with the Colts, they were simply different leagues and no rules applied to poach coaches from the other league’s teams.
Shula’s history with the Dolphins is well documented but another side to it all was that Shula, who had his worst loss only a couple of months earlier against the Jets would now face the Jets twice each year and the division rivalry that still is one of the best in the league today.