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ASHBURN, VA – AUGUST 12: Head coach Jeff Hafley of the Miami Dolphins speaks with media during a joint practice at BigBear.ai Performance Center on August 12, 2026 in Ashburn, Virginia. (Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images)
Dave Shula knows a thing or two about the Miami Dolphins.
The son of Don Shula coached the Dolphins as an assistant coach under his father during the 80s, serving as a wide receivers and quarterbacks coach from 1982 until 1988. Shula was on the sidelines during the early portion of Dan Marino’s career, including the last time the Dolphins made it to the Super Bowl, which was back in 1984.
The senior Shula is the winningest coach in NFL history and holds the only perfect season at 17-0.
While the Dolphins historically as a franchise were known as a winning one, that hasn’t been the case for much of this millennium. Miami hasn’t won a playoff game since the 2000 season, the year after Marino retired, and they’re now known as the NFL’s worst team. They’re 0-3 and have yet to lead in a game this season.
Shula remains close to the Dolphins organization and is optimistic they can turn things around. He had lunch with head coach Jeff Hafley and former Dolphins coach Dave Wannstedt over the summer.
“They made their decision to part ways with some of the guys that had been around and had big contracts, and Mr. Ross supports that and hopefully, the Dolphin fans will see as the year progresses that these young guys — they have 12 rookies or something on the team, or maybe more — that they’ll progress as the year goes on, and be competitive,” said Shula. “I didn’t get to see the Chiefs game yesterday, but I know it was close with the Chiefs to the middle of the fourth quarter. I think that you look at their backgrounds and the support from ownership is it’s a good formula for success.”
Dave Shula a Fan of Jeff Hafley and Jon-Eric Sullivan Hirings
The Dolphins are obviously going through a major rebuild as they’re still paying players that are not on the current roster. Miami has a record dead cap tax bill of over $182 million this season.
The major moves Miami made were bringing in the former Green Bay Packers figures, Hafley and Jon-Eric Sullivan, who is the team’s general manager. They also brought in Malik Willis to be the starter after he served as the backup quarterback to Jordan Love over the past two seasons in Green Bay.
During Sullivan’s tenure in Green Bay, the Packers were a winning organization. From 2004 until 2025 they made it to the playoffs 16 times and won a Super Bowl. Shula agrees with the notion that the Dolphins are in good hands with the old Packers regime.
“Yeah, I totally agree with that,” said Shula. “I think you look at their backgrounds, and they’re solid football people with great support in from their ownership and they have the resources to do the job and now their assistant coaches and their strength coach continue to develop all these young guys throughout the season as they stay competitive.”
Shula is a major South Florida fixture for obvious reasons. His dad is not only the greatest Dolphins coach of all time, he’s the greatest NFL coach of all time. The 67-year-old hasn’t coached in the NFL since he was the head coach of the Cincinnati Bengals in 1996, but he recently served as the wide receivers coach at his alma mater, Dartmouth, from 2018-2023.
Dave Shula Returning to Lead Family’s Longtime Restaurant Group
The former longtime NFL coach is now returning to lead the family’s restaurant group, Shula’s Restaurant Group, which was originally founded by his father in 1989. He had previously spent 20 years as the family group’s president and is now returning in that role as the business expands its portfolio to include Shula’s American Kitchen in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida and an entry into Thomasville, Georgia in 2027.
The eldest son of Don Shula will lead the way as the group expands its six restaurant concepts.
“It’s great to be back,” said Shula. “The company obviously I have a lot of stake in. I was here with Shula’s for 22 years, from ’97 through ’18 on a day to day basis, and then went back up to got back into coaching at my alma mater, Dartmouth College, coached receivers for six years, and then came back and and talked to Mary Anne shula — who’s the CEO and my dad’s widow — this summer, and she was looking for somebody to come in and take over the president’s role. I was happy to want to have the opportunity and something that I obviously have a passion for and want to see our name represented well and be back in the business.”
Shula said the biggest thing he learned from his dead is “accountability” and “overdelivering.”
“It’s basically pay attention to details, focus on quality, and simple things like say what you’re going to do and then do what you said you were going to do and over deliver,” said Shula. “Things that him as a coach, what he stood for transferred very well to the business world. That is some of the qualities I just mentioned, but having a plan, being organized, figuring out how you’re going to work that plan, hiring good people, train them well, keep them motivated, hold them accountable.
“In football, you have a playbook, but when you’re in the ’70s with Larry Csonka and Mercury Morris and Bob Griese and a great defense, you know it was a run-dominated style with great defense,” Shula continued. “When Danny Marino showed up, all of a sudden he was filling the air with footballs, but still staying true to your fundamentals and using the same playbook, but just picking out different plays out of that playbook and designing some more as you go. Here at Shula’s, we are a steak on a plate, and we’re most proud of the beef that we’ve served throughout our history, and then offering other dishes and as time goes by, adding different things.”
DJ Siddiqi covers the NFL for Heavy.com, with a focus on the Dallas Cowboys, Philadelphia Eagles, Seattle Seahawks and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He has covered the NFL and NBA for Forbes, ClutchPoints, CBS Sports, 24/7 Sports and Bleacher Report before joining Heavy. More about DJ Siddiqi