Tony Dungy

Anthony Kevin Dungy is a former professional American football safety, coach, and sports analyst. He served as a head coach in the National Football League for 13 seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Indianapolis Colts. He led the Colts to victory in Super Bowl XLI, making him the first black head coach to win the Super Bowl. Dungy has served as an analyst on NBC’s Football Night in America. He was inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2016.

About Tony Dungy in brief

Summary Tony DungyAnthony Kevin Dungy is a former professional American football safety, coach, and sports analyst. He served as a head coach in the National Football League for 13 seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Indianapolis Colts. Dungy’s teams became perennial postseason contenders under his leadership, missing playoffs only twice in Tampa Bay. He led the Colts to victory in Super Bowl XLI, making him the first black head coach to win the Super Bowl. 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 and also devoted himself to lobbying for preventative heart screenings for children through the SafeBeat Initiative. He was inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2016. He has one Super Bowl title as a player, as he was a member of the Steelers when they won Super Bowl XIII over the Dallas Cowboys in January 1979. He went unselected in the 1977 NFL Draft and was signed as a free agent by the Pittsburgh Steelers of the NFL as a safety. He played as a defensive reserve and special teams player for the Steelers in 1977 and the 1978 season, leading the team in interceptions in the latter campaign. He finished his career a year later in the training camp of the New York Giants in 1980. After one season in charge of defensive backs, he was hired as an assistant by Steelers head coach Chuck Noll, his former head coach from his playing days with the team, in 1981.

He took over the defensive coordinator position for the Minnesota Vikings under Dennis Green in 1992. While at Minnesota, his defense was ranked first in the NFL for its lack of success, on January 22, 1996, when he installed his version of the Cover 2 defense with defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin. The now-famous Tampa 2 defensive scheme was based on concepts he had up from his days in Pittsburgh. In 1996, the Buccaneers finished with a 6–10 record and picked up their first win on the West Coast in 15 years. After a home win versus the Raiders, the Bucs fell to a 14–0 hole to the San Diego Chargers in January 15, 1996. Many fans believe that that was the first time the team fought to a hard win on West Coast Coast. In 1998, the team won their first game on the East Coast against the San Francisco 49ers. In 1999, the Buccaneers won the NFC Championship Game against the 49ers, their first home win in over three decades. The team went on to win Super Bowl XXXVII the following year. In 2000, the franchise moved to Indianapolis and Dungy became the head coach there. In 2001, he led the team to the playoffs, qualifying for the playoffs in each of the next six seasons. In 2002, he helped the team win the AFC Championship game against the Oakland Raiders. In 2003, the Tampa Buccaneers won the AFC Divisional Championship game. In 2004, he guided the Buccaneers to their first Super Bowl win since the 1990s.