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Anthony Kevin Dungy ( ; born October 6, 1955) is an American former professional football safety and coach who served as a head coach in the National Football League (NFL) for 13 seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Indianapolis Colts. His teams became perennial postseason contenders under his leadership, missing the playoffs only twice with Tampa Bay. He led the Colts to victory in Super Bowl XLI, making him the first African American head coach to win the Super Bowl.February 4, 2007
Dungy began his head coaching tenure in 1996 with the Buccaneers, a franchise regarded as one of the league's worst. Through implementation of the Tampa 2 defensive scheme, he brought new success to the Buccaneers, leading them to four playoff appearances in six seasons. He was fired after the 2001 playoffs due to frequent postseason struggles, but is credited with constructing the team that won Super Bowl XXXVII the following year. After his departure from Tampa Bay, he served as the Colts' head coach for seven seasons, qualifying for the playoffs in each. His greatest success occurred with the Colts' Super Bowl-winning season in 2006, the franchise's first in over three decades and the first since relocating to Indianapolis. He retired from coaching following the 2008 season.
Since retiring, Dungy has served as an analyst on NBC's Football Night in America. He is also the national spokesman for the fatherhood program All Pro Dad. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2016.
Dungy is the most recent NFL player 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 on October 9.
Following the 2002 season, the Buccaneers won Super Bowl XXXVII, their first appearance in the championship game. Dungy was fired after the prior season and replaced with Jon Gruden because he could not get the team there, but is now credited with developing the team’s championship-caliber foundation.
Dungy's 56 victories were the most in Buccaneers history until 2008 when Jon Gruden surpassed him with his 57th win.
During his early tenure in Indianapolis, Dungy struggled to fix the Colts' defense and had mixed results in the postseason. In his first season at Indianapolis, the Colts were shut out 41–0 by the New York Jets in a , and the team lost postseason games to the New England Patriots in both 2003 (in the ) and 2004 (in the ). Dungy signed a three-year contract extension in October 2005 for US$5 million per year.
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 beat the 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 conference title-game history. Dungy coached the Colts to a 29–17 victory over the Chicago Bears in Super Bowl XLI. Dungy became the first African-American head coach to win a Super Bowl. Dungy would coach two more seasons in Indianapolis, retiring after the 2008 season.
On defense, Dungy used a stifling "Cover 2"-style zone defense, which usually was based around a formation of four linemen, three linebackers, and four defensive backs. The "Cover 2" defense Dungy used involved 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 was not a new concept, Dungy contributed to its greater use by systemizing it into an every-down defense. The personnel and techniques that Dungy used in this defense were very specific, and as a result, his style of defense earned the moniker of the "Tampa 2" around the NFL.
Dungy is mentioned in the book Power of Habit, by Charles Duhigg, in chapter 3: "The Golden Rule of Habit Change."
His protege, Lovie Smith, observed, "We talked about how to do it, being a teacher instead of screaming and yelling, all that stuff... I think as you look to young coaches coming up in the ranks, a lot of us have a picture of how a coach is supposed to be, how he is supposed to act. And I think what Tony Dungy showed me is you don't have to act that way."
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 53rd player on the roster as he would the third player, which has become the spine of Dungy's own coaching philosophy, 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 personnel change 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 (). 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:
In 2002, Dungy acknowledged he made a mistake by not challenging one of Peyton Manning's interceptions, and he also criticized the league's handling of replay challenges. "We have plays where whistles are blown too fast, and I think we're getting to the point where we're letting coaches officiate the game," said Dungy, who said that it had become a trend for officials to expect coaches to challenge controversial calls.
Dungy has continued to criticize the NFL's replay system in his role as a broadcaster on NBC. In 2019, after a failed challenge by Green Bay Packers coach Matt LaFleur, who contended that the Philadelphia Eagles committed pass interference that was not called on the field, Dungy said on television that the replay system was not working as intended. Dungy posted on his Twitter account, "That's terrible. I don't understand this replay review of Pass Interference. That one on Philadelphia couldn't have been more clear cut. If they're not going to reverse that one I don't see how they can reverse any call."
NBC Sports placed Dungy in the broadcast booth for the 2020 Notre Dame football season, replacing Doug Flutie.
In 2021, on an open media call, Dungy criticized the NFL's partnerships with seven , after a long period where the league opposed sports betting of any sort. "I don’t know why the NFL changed its stance. My objection is just personal. I don’t think we should encourage people who are watching the NFL to gamble. Especially young people," Dungy said.
In March 2009, President Barack Obama invited Dungy to join the Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. Dungy Invited to Join Advisory Council Yahoo! Sports, March 31, 2009 He declined the invitation to join the council because of scheduling conflicts, as he could make only two of 2009's four council meetings, but agreed to be an informal adviser on fatherhood issues.
He had also turned down offers from National Football League Players' Association to become liaison to the NFL.
Dungy is married to Lauren Dungy. They have 11 children: 3 biological children and 8 adopted children. Their oldest son died by suicide at age 18, outside of Tampa in 2005.
Dungy's tenure in Tampa Bay as the head coach of the Buccaneers brought greater attention to his personal accomplishments outside of sports. He has been active in many community-service organizations in the cities in which he has coached. While in Tampa Bay, Dungy worked as a public speaker for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and Athletes in Action.
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. 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.
After Michael Sam, an openly gay player, was drafted by the St. Louis Rams in the 2014 NFL draft, Dungy said he would not have drafted Sam, saying, "Not because I don't believe Michael Sam should have a chance to play, but I wouldn't want to deal with all of it." The comment drew criticism from some who viewed it as homophobic. Following a backlash, Dungy clarified his remarks, saying that he gave an "honest answer" to a question and that his concern would be with media coverage over Sam if he had been the player's coach. Dungy has also expressed opposition to same-sex marriage. In 2023, Dungy shared, and later deleted and apologized for sharing, the litter boxes in schools hoax on his Twitter account. The act drew a rebuke from an NBC Sports spokesperson, and drew attention to past anti-LGBTQ statements by Dungy, but the network kept Dungy on his regularly scheduled broadcast assignments.
Dungy is opposed to abortion, and he served as a keynote speaker at the 2023 March for Life. Dungy opposed Florida Amendment 4, calling the amendment's language "deceptive".
On September 6, 2007, The Indianapolis Star reported that the Davie-Brown Index (DBI), an independent celebrity-rating service for advertisers, placed 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 to Hank Aaron.
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.
Since retirement, Dungy has become an informal mentor to the formerly suspended NFL player Michael Vick, counseling him during his incarceration, serving as his advocate in trying to get a team to have him on the roster (the Philadelphia Eagles later signed Vick to the team).
Dungy said he had actually gotten "more satisfaction" from the success of Quiet Strength than the Super Bowl win. That is 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 million 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 number one 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 talented in, even if it might not be the popular thing to do.
Dungy has also published Uncommon: Finding Your Path to Significance, a book revealing lessons on achieving significance that Dungy has learned. The book, released on February 17, 2009, with Tyndale House Publishers, 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,
Uncommon reached number two on the hardcover advice section of the New York Times best seller list and stayed on the top 10 for 9 weeks.
On August 3, 2010, Dungy released a new book entitled The Mentor Leader, which debuted at number two and stayed on the top 10 for 5 weeks on the hardcover advice section of the New York Times list.
On January 11, 2011, Dungy and wife Lauren released a new book entitled You Can Be a Friend. Their story teaches children what it means to be a good friend. The book debuted at number seven and stayed on the top 10 for 1 week on the children's picture books section of The New York Times best seller list.
On January 22, 2019, Dungy released a new book entitled The Soul of a Team. The book was co-written with Nathan Whitaker, and their story illustrates what separates the truly great teams from the mediocre ones. "Simply put, a team that has SOUL can and will accomplish far more than one that doesn’t.” Dungy writes.
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