Dungy is the only NFL player since the AFL-NFL merger to intercept a pass and throw an interception in the same game. Dungy was the emergency quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers in a 1977 game against the Houston Oilers when both Terry Bradshaw and Mike Kruczek went down with injuries. He played safety on defense.
In 1982, he was named defensive backfield coach, and was promoted in 1984 to defensive coordinator. He left the Steelers in 1989 to become the defensive backs coach for the Kansas City Chiefs, and took over the defensive coordinator position for the Minnesota Vikings under Dennis Green in 1992. While at Minnesota, Dungy's defense was ranked first in the NFL.
Dungy achieved his dream of being an NFL head coach when he was hired by Rich McKay to reform the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, a team well-known for its lack of success, on January 22, 1996. Dungy installed his version of the Cover 2 defense with Defensive Coordinator Monte Kiffin with a few new wrinkles now known as the famous Tampa 2. Despite losing the first few games in 1996, the Bucs finished strong and showed signs of developing into a winning team. After a home win vs the Raiders, The Bucs fell to a quick 14-0 hole to the Chargers in San Diego, where the Bucs had not won on the west coast in over 15 years. Instead of folding, Tampa Bay fought to a hard win. Many feel that was the game in which the team turned the corner.
In 1997, the Buccaneers finished second in the NFC Central division, Tampa Bay's first winning season since 1982 after starting the season 5-0 matching the only time the Bucs were ever undefeated with as many wins in the 1979 season. In the last game played at Tampa Stadium, the Bucs defeated the Detroit Lions in their first playoff game, losing the next game to the defending champion Green Bay Packers.
Under Dungy's watch, the Buccaneers made four playoff appearances and won their division in 1999 only to lose to the St Louis Rams in the NFC Championship Game. However, Tampa Bay under Dungy struggled to reach the playoffs in his last four seasons. Also, in his last three playoff games, Tampa Bay was offensively shut out. Constant changes to the offensive coordinator position despite a successful 2000 offensive ranking was often to blame, as QB Shaun King had to work with 3 different coordinators in 3 years. Dungy was fired by the team on January 14, 2002 due to the club's repeated losses in the playoffs including two lopsided defeats (in 2000 and 2001) to the Philadelphia Eagles; and because it was determined by the team's higher management that the conservative offense that Dungy ran was too inconsistent against NFL teams. The following year, the Buccaneers easily defeated the Philadelphia Eagles in the 2002 NFC Championship game under coach Jon Gruden en route to the club's first Super Bowl appearance and victory.
During his early tenure in Indianapolis, Dungy struggled to fix the Colts' defense and had mixed results in the post season. In his first season at Indianapolis the Colts were shut out 41-0 by the New York Jets in a first-round playoff game, and the team lost postseason games to the New England Patriots in both 2003 (in the AFC championship game) and 2004 (in the second round of the playoffs). Dungy signed a three-year contract extension in October 2005 for US$ 5 million per year.
The Colts focused on defensive improvements during the 2005 off season, signing five-year defensive tackle Corey Simon. Widely expected to be a Super Bowl contender, the Colts won their first 13 games, prompting much speculation about the possibility of the Colts becoming the NFL's first team to finish the season undefeated since the 1972 Miami Dolphins.
However, this dream was shattered when the Colts lost their 14th game to the San Diego Chargers. The Colts did manage to obtain home field advantage throughout the playoffs, but were defeated in the divisional playoff round against the Pittsburgh Steelers. This loss made the Colts the first team to ever start a season 13-0 and not reach the Super Bowl.
The Colts 2006 playoff run was characterized by a marked improvement in defensive play, as the Colts defeated the Kansas City Chiefs, holding one of the NFL's best running backs to less than 50 yards, and upset the favored Baltimore Ravens in the divisional round. On January 21, 2007, after trailing 21-3, the Colts defeated the New England Patriots to become AFC Champions and advanced to Super Bowl XLI. This was the largest comeback in the conference-title game history.
On February 4 2007, Dungy and the Indianapolis Colts won Super Bowl XLI 29-17 over Lovie Smith and the Chicago Bears at Dolphin Stadium in Miami.
On January 21, 2008, Dungy announced that he would return at least for the 2008 season. When he steps down, Jim Caldwell will take his place.
Although Dungy was the second black head coach to advance to the Super Bowl (along with Chicago Bears head coach Lovie Smith, who advanced a few hours before Indianapolis), he was the first black head coach to win. He was however the third black head coach to win a pro football championship in North America, behind Darren Arbet of the San Jose Sabercats (Arena Football League) who won ArenaBowl XVI in 2002 and Pinball Clemons of the Toronto Argonauts (Canadian Football League) who won the 92nd Grey Cup in 2004. He is also the second minority head coach to win a Super Bowl, Tom Flores who coached the Oakland Raiders won Super Bowl XV and Super Bowl XVIII.
Dungy also became the sixth man to play in a Super Bowl and be the head coach of a Super Bowl team. He joins Dan Reeves, Sam Wyche, Mike Ditka, Forrest Gregg and Tom Flores. After the win in Super Bowl XLI, Dungy became the third man to win Super Bowls both as a player and a head coach. The other two are Mike Ditka and Tom Flores.
On defense, Dungy uses a stifling "Cover 2" style zone defense, which is usually based on a formation with 4 linemen, 3 linebackers, and 4 defensive backs. The "Cover 2" defense Dungy uses involves having his linemen rushing the passer, the cornerbacks covering the passing flat area, the linebackers covering the middle of the field, and the safeties providing deep coverage on each half of their respective zones. While the Cover 2 defense is not a new concept, the personnel that Dungy uses in this defense is very specific, and as a result, his style of defense has earned the moniker of the "Tampa 2" around the NFL.
As of January 23 2007, four members from Dungy's coaching staff are head coaches of other NFL teams:
Moreover, Mike Shula, the offensive coordinator under Dungy at Tampa, was the head coach of Alabama between 2003 and 2006. Joe Barry, a linebackers coach under Dungy at Tampa Bay, is the defensive coordinator for the Detroit Lions. Leslie Frazier, a defensive backs coach under Dungy at Indianapolis, is the defensive coordinator for the Minnesota Vikings. Also, Jim Caldwell, who currently is the Assistant Head Coach under Dungy in Indianapolis will succeed Dungy at the time of his retirement. Many speculate that to occur after the 2008 NFL season.
Although Dungy is listed as not only a part of the Bill Walsh coaching tree, but also a part of the Marty Schottenheimer coaching tree, the Dungy tree grew from the roots of the Pittsburgh Steelers' dynasty of the 1970s. He was influenced by the defensive schemes learned under Chuck Noll and Bud Carson. Dungy said that he inherited most of the coaching philosophies from Noll and he is proud be a protégé of Noll.
Dungy stresses that coaches are essentially teachers who put faith and family ahead of football and do not belittle their players or scream at them. Also, like Dungy, they remain calm when things go badly. They guide instead of goad, and Lovie Smith found that perhaps the most instructive thing of all.
Smith said,
Smith also said,
Dungy said,
Dungy also learned from Noll that it takes all 53 of the players on the team to win so that a coach should train the 33rd player on the roster as he would the third player, which has become the spine of Dungy's own coaching philosophy, which is the Next Man Up theory of calm coaching. Dungy stressed that a team should have a thought process, a philosophy and the conviction to stick with it, even if the personnel changes during the games because of injuries. Dungy said,
Dungy put his coaching beliefs on his memoir, Quiet Strength: The Principles, Practices, and Priorities of a Winning Life. (ISBN 1-414-31801-4) Cam Cameron, former head coach of the Miami Dolphins, highly recommended the book by buying 1,000 books to give away to football coaches at his preseason coaching clinic in July 2007 in South Florida, and said,
He began a mentoring program for young people called Mentors for Life, and provided Buccaneers' tickets for the participants. He also supported other charitable programs in the area such as Big Brothers/Big Sisters, Boys and Girls Club, the Prison Crusade Ministry, foster parenting organizations, and Family First. His community involvement and care continues in Indianapolis where Tony helped launch the Basket of Hope program which aids patients at the Riley Hospital for Children. He continues to assist Big Brothers/Big Sisters and the Boys and Girls Club in Indianapolis. He also supports the Black Coaches Association National Convention and Indiana Black Expo.
Dungy is a devout evangelical Christian and at one point in his coaching career considered leaving football for the prison ministry. Throughout his career, he has remained involved with community service organizations. On March 20, 2007, Dungy aligned himself with a socially conservative organization, the Indiana Family Institute, and openly supported an amendment to the Indiana constitution which would have defined marriage as solely between one man and one woman.
Dungy is married to Lauren Harris of Pittsburgh and has two daughters, Tiara and Jade, and four sons, James (died December 22 2005), Eric, Jordan and Justin. James committed suicide at age 18, outside of Tampa. The Dungys still keep their home in the Tampa Bay area.
On September 6, 2007, The Indianapolis Star reported that the Davie-Brown Index (DBI), an independent celebrity rating service for advertisers, places Dungy in the top 15 of the 900 actors, musicians, TV personalities, and sports celebrities it ranks for overall appeal, putting him on a level with actors such as Tom Hanks and Morgan Freeman. Among sports figures, he ranks second only to Hank Aaron.
According to a spokesperson for the DBI: "Clearly, U.S. consumers find him likable."
On February 27, 2008, Indiana Wesleyan University honored Dungy in a ceremony where he was inducted into IWU's Society of World Changers. Dungy also received an honorary doctorate of humane letters from the university..
Dungy said he’d actually gotten "more satisfaction" from the success of Quiet Strength than the Super Bowl win. That’s because, he said, "I’ve gotten so many calls and letters from people saying they really got something out of it, something that helped them. On January 10, 2008, Quiet Strength reached 1,000,000 copies in print. Quiet Strength was on the New York Times Best Seller List for 32 weeks, including 27 in the top 10 for hardcover nonfiction.
Dungy also published a 96-page paperback called Quiet Strength: Men's Bible Study on July 18, 2007. Dungy challenged men to answer six questions: What's my game plan? What's my strength? What's success? Where's my security? What's my significance? And, what's my legacy? The book is aimed specifically at men, including those who may not otherwise be interested in spiritual matters.
When asked if Dungy would consider writing a follow-up to Quiet Strength, Dungy said,
Dungy published a 24-page children's picture book called You Can Do It with Little Simon Inspirations, a division of Simon & Schuster on July 8, 2008, reached No. 1 on the children's picture books section of the New York Times Best Seller list on July 27, 2008 and stayed on the top 10 for 5 weeks. The book tells the story of Dungy's younger brother Linden who struggles, then figures out his life dream and is encouraged by his family to follow that dream as a dentist. Dungy said that his other hopes for You Can Do It were that it would encourage parents to read to their kids and that kids would learn the lesson of pursuing whatever field they were gifted in, even if it might be not the popular thing to do.
Dungy will write another book called Uncommon: Finding Your Path to Significance, which will be released on February 17, 2009 with Tyndale House Publishers. The new book reveals lessons on achieving significance that Dungy has learned. The book particularly focuses on what it means to be a man of significance in a culture that is offering young men few positive role models. Dungy said,
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|