Before he became the NFL's Winningest Head Coach, the late Don Shula was on a Legendary Kentucky Coaching Staff

The football world mourns the loss of one of the sport’s greatest contributors. Don Shula passed away Monday. He was 90 years old.

Best known as the mastermind behind the NFL’s only undefeated team, the 1972 Miami Dolphins, Shula won consecutive Super Bowls in 72 and 73 near the beginning of his 25-year stint as the franchise’s head coach. A Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee in 1997, no other head coach has won more games (347) than Shula.

Before he became a star in the NFL ranks, once of his first coaching positions was at the University of Kentucky. Even though the season ended unremarkably, in his only year in Lexington he was surrounded by some of the world’s brightest football minds.

Blanton Collier’s 1959 coaching staff had five future NFL head coaches with multiple Super Bowl rings and a National Championship winner, yet the Wildcats only muster up one SEC win to finish with a 4-6 record.

Collier, a Paris, KY native, was the consummate professional, succeeding a pair of legends, Bear Bryant at UK and Paul Brown in Cleveland. Collier was fired by UK in 1961, the last Kentucky head coach to end his tenure with a record above .500 (41-36; Mark Stoops is currently right at .500).

Three years after Collier was terminated, he faced his former protege in the NFL Championship. Led by Jim Brown, Collier’s Browns defeated Johnny Unitas and Don Shula’s Baltimore Colts 27-0 to cap off the 1964 season.

Aside from Shula, the most recognizable name on the staff for Kentucky fans is Howard Schnellenberger. An All-American end for the Bear and Collier, 1959 was his first year on the sidelines as a coach. The rest of his resume is lengthy. It includes a year as Bryant’s offensive coordinator at Alabama, the same role he had on the Dolphins’ 72 Super Bowl-winning team, and two years as the Baltimore Colts’ head coach. His greatest success came in the early 80s at Miami, defeating Nebraska in the Orange Bowl in 1983 to give The U its first national championship. He kept UofL’s football program from dying and started FAU’s program, with an unsuccessful year at Oklahoma filling the gap in-between.

Schnellenberger wasn’t the only Kentuckian on the ’72 Dolphins’ staff. Like Collier, Bill Arnsparger was a Paris, KY native. While Schnellenberger called the offense, Arnsparger was in charge of Shula’s “No-Name Defense.” In the 80s his units for the Fins were known as the “Killer B’s.” Along with more than a decade he spent with Shula in Miami, Arnsparger served as the head coach for the New York Giants and the LSU Tigers. He was the athletic director that hired Steve Spurrier at the University of Florida. 

One member of UK’s 1959 coaching staff won his Super Bowls elsewhere. Ermal Allen coached quarterbacks and running backs for Tom Landry’s Dallas Cowboys in the 60s. The former four-sport star at UK was a scout for the Cowboys when they won a pair of Super Bowls under Roger Staubach in the 70s.

The fifth NFL head coach on the 1959 staff was John North. His tenure in New Orleans would not be defined as successful. The Saints were “The Aints” when he coached Archie Manning from 1973-75. Bob Cummings and Ed Rutledge also enjoyed a few cups of coffee in the NFL as assistant coaches.

For those keeping score at home, Kentucky’s 1959 coaching staff is responsible for the greatest team in NFL history, ‘The U’ and Steve Spurrier’s SEC football revolution in the 90s. They touched so much football history, just not during their season together in Lexington.