Alumni Association Home > Minnesota Magazine > Past Issues > 2007 > May-June 2007

The mild-mannered, soft-spoken Tony Dungy (B.S. ’78) is not a stereotypical National Football League coach. He doesn’t yell and scream at his players, never uses profanity, isn’t a self-promoter, and says football isn’t the most important part of his life.

Those qualities may be why he was overlooked for head coaching positions in the NFL time after time earlier in his career. But Dungy is patient and exudes a quiet discipline. He is imperturbable in the face of disappointment and doesn’t believe in limiting oneself just because something hasn’t been accomplished before.

It’s Dungy’s unorthodox style that has taken him to the top of his profession. As head coach of the Indianapolis Colts, his Super Bowl victory last February made him the first African American coach to win the NFL’s top prize and proved the merits of his gentlemanly demeanor.

Dungy, 51, was born in Jackson, Michigan, a small, blue-collar city west of Ann Arbor. His mother taught high school English, and his father was the first African American professor at Jackson Community College. The second of four children, Dungy was a three-sport star (football, basketball, baseball) at Parkside High before University of Minnesota head coach Cal Stoll (B.A. ’50) recruited him to quarterback the Gophers. Dungy was team captain in 1976 and a two-time most-valuable player. He finished his career as the school’s all-time leader in passing yards (3,515), touchdown passes (25), and total offensive yards (4,680), among other records. A two-time Academic all–Big Ten selection, Dungy earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration.

Dungy played three years in the NFL as a defensive back and won a Super Bowl with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1979. He started his coaching career in 1980 at the U of M as a volunteer defensive backs coach. After stints as an assistant with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Kansas City Chiefs, and Minnesota Vikings, he became head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1996. He turned the worst team in the league into a championship contender, but the Buccaneers fired him in 2001 when the team failed to reach the Super Bowl. Since the Colts hired him in 2002, Dungy has taken his team to the playoffs every year, giving him eight consecutive playoff appearances (starting in Tampa Bay), one of only three coaches to accomplish that since 1970.

Dungy has also made his mark with charitable work in the communities where he has lived and is devoted to his family. He and his wife, Lauren, are the parents of six children: daughters Tiara and Jade and sons Eric, Jordan, Justin, and the late James Dungy.

Dungy maintains ties with his alma mater, speaking out in support of an on-campus football stadium in 2006 and appearing before University friends and alumni for the 2007 University of Minnesota Alumni Association Annual Celebration this May. This spring, he took time to speak to Minnesota magazine readers about his success and his future.

Q: Was there a moment or professor or class at the University that made a lasting impression on you?
A: I don’t know if there’s one particular moment, but the whole experience I had there in the business school, trying to think long-term and develop how you’re going to function as a person and in the business world [made a lasting impression]. Even though I didn’t end up in the business world per se, it had a lot of bearing on how I do things in my career.

Q: What impact did Cal Stoll have on you?
A: He had a tremendous impact because he always talked about football being part of your college experience—a fun part and an important part—but not the biggest part. He thought the academic part and the social part were much more important. The whole college experience was what you were there for, not just to play football. All the guys that played for him during those years developed as people.

Q: What does it mean to come back to campus and address other alumni?
A: It’s quite flattering. I was just one person who went to the University. That they would ask me to speak to the group that I represent is a little beyond my imagination.

Q: You played basketball for the Gophers your freshman year. Any regrets in not choosing basketball instead of football as a career?
A: No regrets in not choosing basketball as a career, but regrets that I wasn’t able to play more. I got hurt [infected elbow, injured knee] at the end of my sophomore year of football, so I had to sit out that year [of basketball]. Then Jim Dutcher came as the coach, and I had the chance to go back to play as a junior. Sometimes I regret that I didn’t have the fun and enjoyment of playing those last two years.

Q: The Steelers moved you to cornerback after your days at the U as a star quarterback. At the time, there was a bias against black quarterbacks in the league. They were seen as unfit to lead a team, unqualified to call plays. Did you feel like you missed an opportunity because of this racial bias?
A: Looking back, it’s really hard to say. It was a different culture and different time. But for me, it probably was a benefit, because playing defense helped prepare me to coach.

Q: What was your motivation to become a coach?
A: I went to the U because I wanted to major in business. I knew all the Fortune 500 companies that were headquartered there and met Gopher alumni involved with those companies. I just assumed that would be my niche, developing into the business community of the Twin Cities. Coaching was not on my horizon.

While I was at the U, I worked for Dayton-Hudson, Cargill, and General Mills in the summers. Then, after I went to Pittsburgh, I worked for Heinz and Mellon Bank. I was trying to find that job that was really me. Although I enjoyed them all, none of them had me saying, This is where I need to be. Coach Chuck Noll gave me a chance to get started in professional coaching [with the Steelers]. The first day I was there, I said, This is something I really enjoy. I enjoyed working with the young men, watching them develop as players and as people.

Q: You were passed over for several head coach positions. What part did being a minority play in that, and how doesyour winning the Super Bowl as the first African American coach work to change misconceptions and stereotypes that have kept minorities from being hired for head positions?
A: We had a stereotype in the ’80s and ’90s of what a football coach looked like in the NFL. There weren’t any visions of minority coaches. Also, when I would go into interviews and say, I’m not going to sleep in the office, not going to put those kind of hours in, I’m not going to use profanity, and I’m not going to bend the rules to win, that threw some people off, because that’s not what was typical.

Hopefully, the fact that we’re able to win and some other guys have come out of our system and are doing well [for example, Dungy’s former assistant, Lovie Smith, coached the Chicago Bears against the Colts in Super Bowl XLI] will make people take a look and realize there are different ways you can win. That’s going to help not only minority coaches, but people who go against the conventional wisdom of how you’re supposed to win in the National Football League.

Q: How did you develop that approach?
A: A lot of it was Coach Stoll saying that football was a part of your life, but it certainly shouldn’t define you. Becoming a well-rounded person, being a business major, and graduating helped me understand that there are a lot of things that are way, way more important than who wins a particular football game: the impact you can make on the larger community, the responsibility to raise your family properly. Those things have to take precedence over your job.

Q: You’ve had some time to let the Super Bowl win sink in. What do you see now as its significance?
A: It has been very good for our community. It has been great to share with the fans. I think it did have some social significance, some historical significance with Lovie and me there together [as African American coaches]. Probably more than anything, to show you that with perseverance and continued hard work you can reach your goals, no matter where you start.

Q: When Tampa Bay fired you in 2001, you considered a career in prison ministry. Do you still have that in mind?
A: Yes. I also work with an organization called Family First. We do some things accentuating family values. And I work with Fatherhood Initiative. When I’m finished, I see myself doing some type of community service.

Q: What is it you do with prisoners?
A: I’ve been involved with Abe Brown Ministries [formerly Prison Crusade Ministries], headquartered in Tampa, that does a lot of visiting and encouraging, but also trying to help those people come back into society. I’ve been involved with making visits and trying to encourage guys that their life isn’t over, that they can get a fresh start.

Q: You are deeply involved in community work. Why is this so important to you?
A: I’ve always felt it was important to be there for young people making those choices that will influence their future. Our young people are getting a lot of mixed messages about what’s important and which way to go. I can help because of the platform I have as an NFL coach. I think I have a responsibility to try to do that. I enjoy trying to help teenagers understand the direction where they might go and to dream.

Q: What advice do you have for today’s student athletes or teenagers in general?
A: To really dream about where they’re going to be 10 years from now, 15 years from now. See that they can do whatever they want. When I was 17 years old, there wasn’t anyone from my hometown involved with professional sports. There weren’t any African American NFL coaches. It wouldn’t have been realistic for me to think that was in my future, but we don’t know what’s in our future. Don’t limit yourself because something has not been done before.

Q: There had been speculation that you would retire after winning the Super Bowl. How long do you see yourself continuing to coach? What’s in your future?
A: I don’t think it will be too much longer. There are a lot of things that we’ve talked about that I’d like to get to more fulltime. I’d like to be able to spend more time with my kids than I have. That’s what I see down the road, hopefully after a couple of more Super Bowl wins.

Q: What do you want the Tony Dungy legacy to be?
A: I would really like to be remembered as someone who helped the communities I lived in become better places to live. Part of that is by helping develop young men that I work with. But part of it, too, is doing things away from our office, reaching out to the community.

John Rosengren is a Minneapolis freelance writer. Watch the July-August issue of Minnesota for a wrap-up of the 2007 Annual Celebration featuring keynote speaker Tony Dungy. Dungy’s memoir, Quiet Strength: The Principles, Practices, and Priorities of a Winning Life, will be published by Tyndale House Publishers in July.