Tony Dungy Quotes

When I played at Minnesota, Green Bay, those northern cities, Buffalo, they wanted to have those championship games at home. It was going to be an advantage to be there with their fans and the cold weather and all that. But when you've got a Super Bowl, and it's the two best teams, you want ideal conditions. You want to play a great game.

- Tony Dungy

That's the difference between the NCAA and the NFL right now. They've got to step up and say, 'We're going to do the right thing. We're going to hire qualified people. We're going to hire the best man for the job regardless of what boosters or anyone else has to say.'

- Tony Dungy

You should never be defined by what you do, by the things you have; you've got to define yourself by who you are and who you impact and how you impact people. And that's the thing I try to get across to my players.

- Tony Dungy

Sometimes I think God wants there to be a circus so we can show there's another way to respond.

- Tony Dungy

But there's no substitute for a full-time dad. Dads who are fully engaged with their kids overwhelmingly tend to produce children who believe in themselves and live full lives.

- Tony Dungy

We have so many young men, especially, who are growing up without their dads. We have to fill that void. We have to do a better job helping young people see what it means to be a man, what it means to be a woman. And then, somehow, we have to put that family structure back together.

- Tony Dungy

Did you know that nearly one in three children live apart from their biological dads? Those kids are two to three times more likely to grow up in poverty, to suffer in school, and to have health and behavioral problems.

- Tony Dungy

When Jim Irsay called me five years ago, he told me, 'I want you to be our coach and help us win the Super Bowl.' He told me, 'We are going win it the right way. We are going to win it with great guys; win it with class and dignity. We are going to win it in a way that will make Indianapolis proud.'

- Tony Dungy

The narrow path that 'Uncommon' people will take, that the Lord wants you to go down, that really is the ultimate way to go.

- Tony Dungy

Everything's not going to go perfect. You're going to have some losses that you're going to have to bounce back from and some things that are a little unforeseen that you're going to have to deal with.

- Tony Dungy

The reason my kids like McDonald's is that they always know what they're going to get. It's not gourmet food, but the french fries they order in Indianapolis are just like the french fries they order in Tampa. Wherever they get McDonald's fries, they know it will be the same. That's what McDonald's does.

- Tony Dungy

I think I can always look back and say my mom and dad would have done this or suggested that in a particular situation. I just really feel blessed to have had them as parents.

- Tony Dungy

Balance provides the chance for longevity. You can be a champion at work and at home.

- Tony Dungy

We're not hitting on all cylinders, defensively. When we're playing good, I'll let you know.

- Tony Dungy

I don't have the strength or wisdom to get through a single day without guidance and grace from God.

- Tony Dungy

All Pro Dad is an organization that started down in Tampa in 1997. And it was just a group of us who felt like we weren't doing as good a job as our fathers did in connecting with kids and being there and being involved in their lives, working and coaching and spending all the time we had to. We just felt badly.

- Tony Dungy

People look at me and see a calm, cool guy on the sidelines and I want them to know that my Christian faith affects my coaching and everything I do.

- Tony Dungy

I got put into leadership roles very early in life from fifth grade, sixth grade. I always ended up being the quarterback or the leader of the sports teams, and it's kind of benefiting me now.

- Tony Dungy

You may not win the Super Bowl. Your kids may not go on to be doctors and lawyers and everything may not go perfectly. That doesn't mean it was a bad plan or the wrong thing. It's just like a football season. Everything's not going to go perfect.

- Tony Dungy

I enjoy talking to young people, and talking to people about helping young people. That part is not a chore. It's pretty fun, and something I like to do because I think it's important.

- Tony Dungy

To win those big games you're going to have to complete some third-down passes, you're going to have to be able to get some explosive games in the passing game.

- Tony Dungy

If you're just saying, hey, I'm doing this. I'm working to make money. I'm working to increase my status. If that's all there is, I think you will find out that it's meaningless.

- Tony Dungy

Our goal was to win, to win a Super Bowl, but also to win in the right way, to be role models to our community, to represent Indianapolis, the state of Indiana and the National Football League.

- Tony Dungy

I had 10 to 12 close buddies who I played ball with all the way from elementary to high school. That is where I learned to compete.

- Tony Dungy

I've always talked to players about perception and reality. I don't worry about perception. There may be some of that, that people want to attach to a good name, but the reality is that some good things can happen.

- Tony Dungy

I know when I was an assistant coach and I started interviewing for head coaching jobs, I actually lost out on many jobs, several jobs, and the complaint that I got was, 'Well, he doesn't fit the mold of a head coach. He doesn't look the part. He's not gonna jump up and down. He's not going to scream.'

- Tony Dungy

As humans, we don't know what we should do. We don't have those instincts like God has given animals. We have to see to know where we are going. It is just a natural human emotion to look for people to emulate.

- Tony Dungy

I was a quarterback in college. I hoped to go to the NFL, and I didn't get drafted. I then became a free agent. I could sign with whoever I wanted to, and I ended up going to Pittsburgh.

- Tony Dungy

We want to enjoy our families and the hype leading up to the game.

- Tony Dungy

That's the key to defending any quarterback: to make them throw before they want to throw.

- Tony Dungy

But I know I have a son who doesn't listen to anything I say and if he hears the same thing from someone else, sometimes it has a little more impact.

- Tony Dungy

We talked about some of our experiences, focusing, hanging together down the stretch, important games. It's not necessarily who has the most talent but what team sticks together and executes their fundamentals the best.

- Tony Dungy

I was with All Pro Dad, and I was coaching. People recognized me as a coach. They might see my face and say, 'What's going on there, is that something with the Colts or the Buccaneers?' Then they realize, 'This is something with my kids; let me explore.' So I think that helped, that name recognition.

- Tony Dungy

The further I get away from coaching, the more I know I made the right decision. You almost forget how wonderful family life is.

- Tony Dungy

You're born with some things inside you that will allow you to lead, but I think you have to take the bull by the horns. You have to want that leadership position, and then there are things you can do to develop that.

- Tony Dungy

My parents had a strong impact on who I am today. My mother and dad both encouraged us to think about the long term - where you wanted to be - to think about education, to think about what is right and what is wrong, and to do things that will help you in the long run.

- Tony Dungy

You never know what's going to happen. My mother was an English teacher. If someone had told her that I was going to write a book, she would never have believed that. So you can never say never.

- Tony Dungy

The secret to success is good leadership, and good leadership is all about making the lives of your team members or workers better.

- Tony Dungy

I learned from Chuck Noll in Pittsburgh that speed and explosiveness on defense is the way to build a team. Both are difficult for your opponent to assimilate in practice and then in games it is even harder to match.

- Tony Dungy

Lovie Smith and I are not only the first two African-Americans but Christian coaches showing that you can win doing it the Lord's way and we're more proud of that.

- Tony Dungy

The book is actually called 'A Mentor Leader, a Different Way to Lead.' It really talks about my experience in the way I tried lead our football team, things that I learned from, basically, the coaches that I played for and my parents about leadership. And it is a little bit different, counter to maybe what society says about great leaders.

- Tony Dungy

What did you have the potential to do? And if you came close to that, if you maximized that, then you were a success in God's eyes. So many of us do things that the world would say is successful, but we have so much more potential.

- Tony Dungy

As a young kid, I had a great background. My grandfather was a minister; I have two uncles that were ministers, and so I had that spiritual background. I accepted Christ early as a kid.

- Tony Dungy

When I was15 years old, I couldn't look at the NFL and look on TV and say, 'Boy, there's a head coach, African American. That's something I'd like to do.'

- Tony Dungy

It's definitely harder being a dad than a coach.

- Tony Dungy

When you're in a situation, you can complain about it, you can feel sorry for yourself, you can do a lot of things. But how are you gonna make the situation better?

- Tony Dungy

The first thing you have to do is make sure you're still wanted back. I never take that for granted any more.

- Tony Dungy

My dad, who was a teacher, used to tell me that a teacher's goal should be for every one of their students to get an A. If that's your goal every day - to make every student or player learn - then it doesn't matter if you won last year or didn't win. When next year's team shows up, I try to help every player become as good as they can be.

- Tony Dungy

I just think winners win. And guys who won all the way through high school and college, the best player at every level, they have a way of making things happen and winning games.

- Tony Dungy

Football was really my least favorite sport and the last sport that I ended up picking up as a kid. My dad started me off with baseball, which most kids did at that time. I really enjoyed basketball. That was my favorite sport.

- Tony Dungy

I know that not everybody gets to coach an NFL team, and I want to do that as well as I can all the time. That's my motivation. I want to help my players to be as good as they can be.

- Tony Dungy

We've got guys who aren't wrapping guys up... No matter how hard you hit them, you've still got to wrap them up.

- Tony Dungy

For some reason the football coach of a major college program is seen as one of the leaders of the campus. And some way we have to let our young people know that that leader can look like anyone.

- Tony Dungy

My heart's toward youth ministry, but I don't know. I never would have thought I would have written a book. And God kind of directed that. So we'll see what the next is.

- Tony Dungy

I just don't think you pass on a great quarterback if you have the opportunity. If need be, you can trade it away.

- Tony Dungy

The best leaders are following Christ. That's the best leader you can follow.

- Tony Dungy

Most of the books I remember from my childhood were Dr. Seuss-type books. They were fun to read, but there wasn't a real story behind them.

- Tony Dungy

The Lord doesn't always take you in a straight line. He tests you sometimes.

- Tony Dungy

I could never have pictured myself writing a book when I was 25 years old. My mom was an English teacher but I wasn't that way growing up.

- Tony Dungy

Anyone who's a parent dreads that call in the middle of the night. I have four grown children and I still dread it.

- Tony Dungy

People have to understand how important it is for kids to be nurtured by their mom and dad and get the great role modeling when they are young.

- Tony Dungy

As big a deal as the Super Bowl is, it's not the most important thing going on in the planet.

- Tony Dungy

You can have an impact anywhere you are.

- Tony Dungy

If people didn't know me and only knew my public persona, what I'd want them to know is everything that I do, I do for the Glory of Lord. Because of my Christian faith, that's who I am. I wasn't always that way, but I'm very proud that I am.

- Tony Dungy

We have a number of difficulties facing our nation, but I believe fatherlessness is right at the top of the list.

- Tony Dungy

The Lord has a plan. We always think the plans are A, B, C and D, and everything is going to be perfect for us and it may not be that way, but it's still his plan.

- Tony Dungy

I guess I'm flattered that people think I can help get things done.

- Tony Dungy

I think I've got a responsibility to be home a little bit more, be available to my family a little bit more and do some things to help make our country better. I don't know what that is right now, but we'll see.

- Tony Dungy

I wish Michael Sam nothing but the best in his quest to become a star in the NFL,and I am confident he will get the opportunity to show what he can do on the field.

- Tony Dungy

Don't shed any tears for me. I got to live a dream most people don't get to live.

- Tony Dungy

If someone needs help, I can offer advice. I'm not always right and people don't always listen.

- Tony Dungy

I've said all along that God is in control.

- Tony Dungy