Colts’ Dungy to announce retirement

[Jimx29]

Colts’ Dungy to announce retirement

By MICHAEL MAROT, AP Sports Writer 21 minutes ago

INDIANAPOLIS (AP)—Tony Dungy will retire after seven seasons in Indianapolis and Jim Caldwell will become the Colts’ coach, one of his assistants confirmed Monday.

Receivers coach Clyde Christensen told The Associated Press that Dungy informed the staff of his decision earlier in the day. Dungy met with players throughout the day to say goodbye.

rest of the story:

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ap-colts-dungy&prov=ap&type=lgns

[Kiwon]

Dungy gets the "good timing" award in my book.

The Colts have had their run and it will be hard for them to continue their past rate of success.

Dungy himself has been coaching for how many years straight? He lost his son to suicide a few years back. Get out of it. Walk away. Spend time with your family. Enjoy a less stressful life.

Classly guy.

[DonHutson]

Is Dungy a Hall of Fame coach?

I'd say he's borderline, tending towards not. But he gives people a warm and fuzzy feeling and that might count for enough to get him in.

[packinpatland]

This offers a pretty good analysis.

http://18to88.com/2008/12/is-tony-dungy-hall-of-fame-worthy.html

In considering the question of Tony Dungy's worthiness of making the NFL Hall of Fame, there are two relevant questions: How does Coach Dungy rank among his peers and how does Coach Dungy rank against those coaches already enshrined in Canton. It is our opinion that Tony Dungy deserves enshrinement based on the following merits:


1. His excellent coaching record - At a remarkable 139-69, Tony's winning % sits at a lofty .668. This is 9th best all time (100 games). He sits behind names like Madden, Lombardi (as in trophy), Shula and Halas. He did this as a head coach of two of the typically worst franchises in the NFL. In fact, the combined record of Tampa and Indianapolis franchises without Tony is 265 and 314 for a .458 mark. Tony has led the Colts to 7 playoff appearances and 7 seasons of 10 wins or more. Under all other coaches in Indianapolis, the Colts have a total of 5 playoff appearances and 2 seasons of 10 wins or more. He has made the playoffs in 11 of the 13 years he coached. He has won 6 division championships and taken his team to 3 conference title games. He also won a Super Bowl.


2. His innovations to the Cover 2 defense - More than just posting a great record, Tony also proved to be an innovator, helping to tweak the classic cover two to fit his personnel in Tampa. The end result was the much copied Tampa 2 in which the MLB drops deeper over the middle and the front four provide all the pressure, while quick, sure tackling LBs hold the gaps. Tony wasn't just a manager of players, but an innovative game planner who left his mark on the way football is played.


3. A successful coaching tree - Tony has produced a very solid run of coaches. This speaks to his wider impact on the NFL. The following men are all Dungy protégées: Herm Edwards, Lovie Smith, Rod Marinelli, Jim Caldwell and Mike Tomlin.


4. Social implications - This is only fourth on the list. Tony has earned the Hall on the strength of his coaching resume. While the plaques of several men in Cooperstown mention being instrumental in Jackie Robinson's entrance to MLB, Jackie's plaque says nothing about him being the first black player. He got in on his own merit as a player. So should Tony as a coach. That being said, if anyone thinks his resume still needs a boost, they should remember that Tony is the first African-American coach to win a Super Bowl; his plight and struggles to get hired in the mid-90s called attention to the struggles of African American coaches to receive a fair look; his coaching tree which has always had many black coaches in it, struggled to get started because of exactly that fact. Tony's overall win totals are suppressed due to the difficulty he had in attaining a head coaching position early in his career. While other coaches were hired as young assistants, for racial reasons, Tony was made to wait.


5. His rank among his peers - At this stage we arrive at the first of the critical questions for enshrinement. In assessing this question, we compiled a list of Dungy's contemporaries who are not currently in the Hall of Fame. We will then offer a coach by coach analysis of whether that coach is more or less deserving than Dungy.



Coach Wins Losses Winning % Playoff wins Playoff losses Playoff Winning % Super Bowl record CoY?
Schottenheimer 200 126 0.613 5 13 0.278 0 wins 3
Reeves 190 165 0.535 11 9 0.550 0 wins 4 losses
Parcells 172 130 0.570 11 8 0.579 2 wins 1 loss 3
Cower 161 99 0.619 12 9 0.571 1 win-1 loss 2
Holmgren 161 111 0.592 13 11 0.542 1 win 2 losses
Shanahan 146 98 0.598 8 5 0.615 2 wins 0 losses
Dungy 139 69 0.668 9 10 0.450 1 win 0 losses

Belichick 138 86 0.616 15 4 0.789 3 wins 1 loss 1
Jeff Fisher 128 102 0.557 5 6 0.455 0 wins 1 loss

Mike Ditka 121 95 0.560 6 6 0.500 01 win 0 loss
Vermiel 120 109 0.524 6 5 0.545 1 win 1 loss 4
Tom Coughlin 115 93 0.553 8 7 0.533 1 win 0 losses

George Siefert 114 62 0.648 10 5 0.667 2 wins 0 losses
Andy Reid 97 62 0.610 10 6 0.625 0 wins 1 loss

Jon Gruden 95 81 0.540 5 5 0.500 1 win 0 losses

Brian Billick 80 64 0.556 5 3 0.625 1 win 0 losses

Johnson 80 64 0.556 9 4 0.692 2 wins 0 losses




CoY=Coach of the Year awards (either NFL or Conference. Totaled per season in which the award was given)


From the preceding chart we make the following observations:


Regular season observations:

Dungy has climbed this list strictly on regular season wins. In part, that is due to the racial issues we discussed earlier. In winning percentage, however, Dungy is at the top.
Dungy and George Siefert have had very similar careers in many respects. The main difference would be that Siefert inherited one of the all time great NFL teams in the 49ers of the late 80s. His first Super Bowl was the second of the back to back wins the 49ers had. He was largely taking Bill Walsh's team over. Dungy on the other hand, took over two franchises with a history of losing. Neither Tampa nor Indianapolis had made the playoffs the year before Dungy took over.
Bill Belichick, largely considered a lock for the Hall of Fame and rightly so, has a regular season record that is depressed in large part to an unsuccessful stint in Cleveland. He was given a second chance, and made good on it. One wonders if Dungy would have gotten a second chance if he had failed as badly the first time out. This is not a knock on Belichick at all. He deserved another go, and made good on it. It is merely a statement on the racial climate during Dungy's early years as a coach.
This list clearly places Dungy at the head of the class among his relative peers. He won the highest percentage of games and did so with historically bad franchises.

Post season observations:
Belichick's record is ridiculously good.
Dungy's nine post season wins is middle of the pack. His winning percentage is toward the bottom of the group.
Shockingly, there are only five coaches on this list with more Super Bowl wins than Dungy (one). Belichick, Siefert, Johnson, Shanahan, and Parcels. Winning a second Super Bowl is extremely difficult.


Overall assessment of Dungy's rank among his peers:

Dungy is clearly at home among this list of the best coaches of his generation, and is one of the stars of it. His record lags behind Belichick's 3 Super Bowl wins and is similar to Parcels' track record at multiple franchises (took 4 different teams to the playoffs). His record is essentially identical to Siefert's, although earned under very different circumstances. His numbers are also much better to than Holmgren's, Cowhers, and Andy Reid's. Holmgren and Cowher did bring multiple teams to the Super Bowl. Dungy's incredible winning percentage helps to separate him from his peers, whose coaching numbers are similar, though they lack the significant contributions that Dungy made in other areas (innovation and race).


6. His rank among current Hall of Fame coaches - This now leads us to the second of the two major questions-Where would Tony Dungy stand up against other modern (read: Super Bowl era) coaches?


Of the 21 coaches currently in the Hall of Fame, 12 roughly fall during at least part of the Super Bowl Era. They are:


Don Shula

Tom Landry

Hank Stram

Weeb Eubanks

Bill Walsh

Bud Grant

Chuck Noll

John Madden

Vince Lombardi

Marv Levy

Joe Gibbs

George Allen


Of those 12, the following are clearly a step above the rest:

Shula (2-3 in SB), Landry (2-3), Walsh (3-0), Noll (4-0), Lombardi (2-0, plus 3 NFL titles), Gibbs (3-1)


It takes 3 trips to the Super Bowl just to make that list (excusing Lombardi who they named the trophy after).


That leaves the following coaches left to compare to Tony Dungy:

Hank Stram, Weeb Eubanks, Bud Grant, John Madden, Marv Levy, George Allen

The following chart serves to compare these coaches to Dungy.


Coach Wins Losses Winning % Playoff wins Playoff losses Playoff Winning % Super Bowl record CoY?
Bud Grant 158 96 0.622 10 12 0.455 0 wins 4 losses
Marv Levy 143 112 0.561 11 8 0.579 0 wins 4 losses 3
Dungy 138 69 0.668 9 10 0.450 1 win 0 losses
Hank Stram 131 97 0.575 5 3 0.625 1 win 1loss 2
Weeb Ewbank 130 129 0.502 4 1 0.800 1 win 0 losses
George Allen 116 47 0.712 2 7 0.222 0 wins 1 loss 2
John Madden 103 32 0.763 9 7 0.563 1 win 0 losses 1




Observations:

Dungy is in the up tier of the coaches in terms of career wins. In terms of winning percentage, he clearly belongs.
Most of the men on this list had other contributions to football. Weeb Ewbank won multiple NFL championships and was head coach of one of the most important upsets in NFL history (Super Bowl III). John Madden had an amazing win percentage and also made a huge impact as an announcer and video game personality. Hank Stram was a legendary AFL coach and instrumental in the early days of the league.
Grant and Levy are on the list by virtue of taking their teams to 4 Super Bowls. This enormity of this accomplishment overshadows the fact that they lost all those games.
Dungy's playoff record is right at home on this list.


Overall assessment of Dungy's place among the Hall of Fame Coaches:

Dungy clearly belongs. If not for institutional racism, he might already be higher on the all time win list. The additional accomplishments of innovation, trail blazing, and trend setting in coaching style help to differentiate him from his peers and would make him a worthy addition to the Hall of Fame where he would be placed alongside other men who impacted and changed football.


It seems clear that Coach Dungy has established himself among the greats. If he never returns to football, his place among the immortals of the game is already assured.

[ND72]

Is Dungy a Hall of Fame coach?

I'd say he's borderline, tending towards not. But he gives people a warm and fuzzy feeling and that might count for enough to get him in.

I would say without question he is. He made Tampa into a consistant winner, from a joke of a team. He came into Indy, who had losing season after losing season, and won instantly with them. Unless I'm wrong, he was the first african american coach to win a super bowl...might be one of the all time winningest african american coaches. Definately hall of fame.

[Rastak]

Totally agree. He put together some damn good defenses IIRC in Minnesota before he got the Tampa job. Alot of us were upset they didn't can Denny and promote him to Head Coach.

[MadtownPacker]

HOF for sure!! Dungy won 2 Superbowls!

Chucky just freeloaded Dungy's team on one of them and he knew the raiders playbook during the SB.

[Brando19]

Dungy, Favre, and Holmgren in the Hall of Fame at the same time? We'll see!

[sepporepi]

HOF for sure!! Dungy won 2 Superbowls!

Hmm, I thaught you meant the one he won as player.

Not that it really matters for his consideration as a coach.

I just wonder how many HeadCoaches also won a SB as player.

[Patler]

Dungy is more deserving than Holmgren, in my opinion.

[Gunakor]

HOF for sure!! Dungy won 2 Superbowls!

Hmm, I thaught you meant the one he won as player.

Not that it really matters for his consideration as a coach.

I just wonder how many HeadCoaches also won a SB as player.

I'm pretty sure Mike Ditka did. But I can't think of any others that won a SB as a player and as a coach outside of Dungy. I'm sure there's proabaly at least one or two more, just can't think of them. Then there's Dan Reeves, who also won one as a player but lost all five times he made the SB as a coach.

[Patler]

I just wonder how many HeadCoaches also won a SB as player.

I'm pretty sure Mike Ditka did. But I can't think of any others that won a SB as a player and as a coach outside of Dungy. I'm sure there's proabaly at least one or two more, just can't think of them. Then there's Dan Reeves, who also won one as a player but lost all five times he made the SB as a coach.

Ditka did win a Super Bowl as a player, with the Cowboys at the end of his career.
I don't think there are any others.

[sheepshead]

Dungy is more deserving than Holmgren, in my opinion.

word

[Badgerinmaine]

Tony Dungy has been a smart, thoughtful, classy, gracious coach who's had great success, and he's been one of my favorite coaches of all time. (Plus, my grad degree was from Minnesota, and he was a QB for the Gophers in the early 1970s). I hadn't realized until reading this thread just how strong his coaching tree is. It's interesting to see how some great coaches have such a strong line of coaches (Paul Brown, Bill Walsh, Mike Holmgren for three examples, and all off the same line from Brown) and others like Vince Lombardi did not.

[KYPack]

Is Dungy a Hall of Fame coach?

I'd say he's borderline, tending towards not. But he gives people a warm and fuzzy feeling and that might count for enough to get him in.

I would say without question he is. He made Tampa into a consistant winner, from a joke of a team. He came into Indy, who had losing season after losing season, and won instantly with them. Unless I'm wrong, he was the first african american coach to win a super bowl...might be one of the all time winningest african american coaches. Definately hall of fame.

You got it, ND.

Tony did it different and stayed with his approach even when it made himn interview poorly.

A coach that doesn't yell and scream, but is universally respected by all the guys?

That's coachin', brother.

The footnote to Tony's career always makes me laugh. Dungy was once traded for Ray Rhodes. Two marginal DB's that were coaches on the field.

HOF for sure, but he'll have to wait about as long as it took him to get a HC gig.