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msnbc.com News— We’re scrambling to describe the many flavors of Dungy.
There’s Tony The Coach, Tony The Advocate, Tony The Trailblazer, Tony The Good Guy, Tony The God Guy, Tony The Mentor, Tony The Family Guy … where to start?
Maybe that’s the point. You can start “Considering Dungy” wherever you want. Whichever aspect of Dungy you find compelling, whatever it is about the guy “speaks” to you, that will be your touchstone.
For instance, the Reuters news story that was issued late Monday afternoon read, “Tony Dungy of the Indianapolis Colts, the first black coach to win the Super Bowl, retired on Monday.”
“The first black coach to win the Super Bowl ...” Well, he was that.
But to a strict football fan, would the most interesting aspect of Dungy be his skin color or that he was a tremendously consistent head coach who finally got over the top after coming close?
Meanwhile, to a devout Christian, Dungy's holding the Lombardi Trophy may have been every bit as momentous and moving as it was for a person who was proud of Dungy’s race.
And for parents who lost children to suicide, imagine how they felt that day, seeing Dungy soldiering on even after losing a teenage son in 2005.
There was a lot to the man. Actually, forget the past tense, there is a lot to the man. And that’s why — provided he keeps his word — the 53-year-old is done for good. There are bigger fish to fry, other causes to support more important than making sure your 45 guys are going to be able to beat the snot out of the other guy’s 45 on Sundays in the fall.
There aren’t a lot of NFL head coaches like that. Or at least there aren’t a lot who will let themselves be perceived like that. Because Dungy was comfortable with who he was, he was able to speak about things that had nothing to do with Xs and Os.
Where other guys might not feel comfortable advocating publicly — or worse, have no issue unrelated to football that they’d advocate for — Dungy realized that he could use his position as a pulpit sometimes.
And he did, advocating strongly for other black coaches, speaking openly about his faith, opining about league rules and tendencies.
Dungy kinda had a lot to say. And was he right 100 percent of the time about everything he espoused? Nobody is. But he rendered his views respectfully and with self-assuredness that made it impossible for anyone to say, “Oh there goes Tony Dungy again, looking for attention.” He was asked questions and he answered them honestly according to what he believed.
As for Dungy the coach, he was excellent. One of the best ever? Certainly in terms of overall record. His teams made the playoffs in 11 of the 13 seasons he coached and only once did his team finish under .500 (the 6-10 Bucs in 1996, Dungy’s first year). He coached the Colts to 10 or more wins in every season he was there.
The postseason performances of Dungy’s teams keep him from being considered one of the elites. His teams went 9-10 in the playoffs, and were one-and-done in six of the 11 playoff seasons including three of the last four. He coached in just that one Super Bowl against the infamously mediocre Chicago Bears and the Colts needed a miracle comeback against a diminished New England team to even get to Miami.
But the point is, if postseason coaching performance were the most pertinent thing about Tony Dungy, there wouldn’t be as much emotion being spilled about his retirement.
Tony Dungy meant different things to a lot of people. And, as a public figure you could relate to, he meant a lot to most everyone.
