Heat’s Pat Riley opens up on his respect for Don Shula: ‘He was just an inspiration to me’

It was released nearly 27 years ago, but the Sports Illustrated cover still bothers Pat Riley.

The Miami Heat was off to a strong 11-3 start in Riley’s first season as the team’s head coach and president in 1995 while the Miami Dolphins were hovering around the .500 mark despite a 4-0 start in Don Shula’s final season as head coach.

That’s when an edition of Sports Illustrated hit the stands in December 1995 with a cover that featured a photo of Riley’s face and Shula’s face — the headline, “Hot & Not,” with text underneath that read, “Miami loves Pat Riley but wants to give Don Shula the boot.”

“I felt so embarrassed by that story,” Riley said recently to the Miami Herald when asked about his memories of Shula as the Dolphins celebrate the 50th anniversary of their historic 1972 perfect season. “I wrote him a letter to apologize for anybody who would write something like that or put out the optic that this is the way it was in Miami because I paled in comparison to who I thought he was as a coach.”

PERFECT MEMORIES

Join us each Wednesday as we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the perfect 1972 team

The beginning of Riley’s time in Miami came at the end of Shula’s long and legendary run as the Dolphins’ head coach. The Heat sent a first-round draft pick and $1 million to the New York Knicks on September 1, 1995, to acquire Riley, and Shula coached his final game on Dec. 30, 1995, in a Dolphins playoff loss.

While their South Florida tenures didn’t overlap for long, Riley and Shula shared a mutual respect.

“He was a man that took advantage of opportunities and the opportunity here in Miami was great for him,” Riley said. “He put together a great, great group of players. High-character players, tough-minded players, team-oriented players and all of them embodied Don. All of them embodied his characteristics. He was a tremendous teacher, he was a tough-minded guy, he worked you hard, he worked you fair, he pushed you and he had tremendous integrity and dignity as a coach and also as a man after his coaching career. He was just an inspiration to me. I read as much as I could about him.”

And Shula, who died on May 4, 2020, at 90 years old, enjoyed Riley’s coaching style.

“When I did get down here, I did have a chance to meet him many times,” Riley said. “He appreciated the Heat and how hard we played and he liked to come to some games. But he, like myself, we were men of few words. We didn’t elaborate too much and pontificate too much. We were pretty much straight forward about who we are and how we wanted our teams to play and what we expected from them.”

Riley and Shula also have something else in common: They are widely considered to be among the top coaches ever in South Florida and their respective sports.

Riley, 77, spent 11 seasons as the Heat’s head coach before stepping down from the position following the 2007-08 season and has served as the team president since he arrived in 1995. In his 27 seasons with the organization, the Heat has made 21 postseason appearances and won three NBA championships.

Shula, an NFL head coach for 33 seasons and coach of the Dolphins for 26 of those seasons, is the winningest coach in NFL history with a regular-season record of 328-156-6. He led the Dolphins to their only two Super Bowl wins in the 1972 and 1973 seasons.

“There are certain people that you run across in your life that you know immediately this guy is unique and special,” Riley said. “... He was just a really great man and a great coach and I think everybody who followed the Dolphins or followed sports in South Florida puts him at the top of the greatest coaches in this game and probably the greatest coach ever in Miami history. I put him at the top. That’s where he belongs.”

The Dolphins’ undefeated 1972 season, which has yet to be replicated by another NFL team, is one of the many accomplishments that Shula will be remembered for as a head coach.

“There’s always the tip of the spear to be able to motivate other programs, other leagues, whatever it is,” Riley said when asked about the Dolphins’ impact on the South Florida sports landscape. “The Miami Dolphins, they were the benchmark, and they set a very, very, very high standard with that year and that season. They set a very, very high standard to reach. It hasn’t been reached yet. People have come close, people have won championships in Miami.

“I guess the University of Miami could be classified as one of those teams back in the 80s. The Heat has made its mark, at times the Panthers have made their mark when they were throwing rats at the old Miami Arena. The Marlins, they’ve won two World Series. But there’s always been a team like the Dolphins that was the benchmark, something to reach for.”

As for the letter that Riley wrote and sent to Shula’s office in the wake of that December 1995 Sports Illustrated cover, Riley doesn’t believe Shula ever responded.

“I don’t think he wrote back,” Riley said. “But that wasn’t important. I just wanted him to know how I felt about that silly article. I thought it was something that was almost sacrilegious for somebody to write something like that. That’s how I felt. That’s how much respect I had for coach Shula.”

A respect that endured through the years.

“Over the years, the many times that we would run into each other, a lot of times at charity functions and things of that nature and dinners, we always had good conversations about the game and about the attitude of the players and what’s going on,” Riley recalled. “It was always around football and family.”

WHAT OTHER TEAMS IN TOWN ARE SAYING

▪ Florida Panthers general manager Bill Zito: “As the first massively successful sports team in South Florida, the Miami Dolphins paved the way for a culture of athletic achievement both on the field and in the community. From Dan Marino to Nick Buoniconti, the Miami Dolphins and individuals throughout their history have established a standard of excellence for giving back to the community in which they compete.”

▪ University of Miami athletic director Dan Radakovich: “It wasn’t just the 1972 Dolphins, it was the Dolphins under coach Shula that set a standard of excellence. That was something that permeated the entire area of South Florida from an athletics perspective. They were always the gold standard as it relates to that – how the team performed, how they dealt with the community, how they were involved with the community.

“And I think having coach [Howard] Schnellenberger on that staff, he brought a lot of that to the collegiate environment. So, those are legacies the Dolphins left for the South Florida area, particularly the University of Miami because of the connection.’’

Miami Herald sportswriter Susan Miller Degnan contributed to this report.