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What Will Tony Do?

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By JOE HENDERSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 16, 2008

Updated: 01/16/2008 12:14 am

Within the narrow boundaries of big-time football, Tony Dungy basically has it all. As we've known for years though, he also has a higher calling - yes, there are things more important than the NFL - and it's only a question of when he decides to get to it.

So we wait for Dungy to decide if he will walk away as head coach of the Indianapolis Colts and make his second coming in Tampa. Dungy said he will announce his plan Monday. No one will be surprised if he leaves the Colts and it seems he is leaning strongly toward doing just that.

That is just a guess, by the way, an exercise in sign reading. I'm not going to pretend I know his plans for sure because a couple of his closest friends here in Tampa don't know, although one of them, Central Tampa Baptist Church pastor Jeffrey Singletary, said something about Dungy "shocking the nation" next week.

"I would advise you to stay tuned," Singletary said, chuckling through the telephone before rushing to assure that he doesn't know anything definitive.

Even if he is planning to leave, Dungy will take these next few days to make triple sure before he gets about the business of being indispensable here. He'll do that because of a quaint notion - loyalty. At least that's what minister and longtime Dungy friend Abe Brown suspects. He raised an interesting point: Dungy's contract runs through 2009.

"That's the way I thought at first that he is leaving, but the people who gave him the job in Indianapolis want him and need him," Brown said. "I'm sure he doesn't want to break his contract. They gave him a job when he needed a job. It's a decision you and I can speculate on but he has to make it himself."

Waiting To Hear

You think of the fame. You think of the money. You think of the power and the competition. People do anything to get these jobs and sacrifice much to keep them. Who could just walk away from the NFL at the height of his game?

We know who.

"The thing that's different about Tony from a Bill Parcells or Jimmy Johnson is that football defines them. Football doesn't define Tony. Football is a medium that Tony uses. He loves the game and has a heart for it, but in many respects he is a rare bird," Singletary said.

Dungy has spoken often about his desire to get on with the rest of his life's calling - prison ministry, working with families, and mostly spreading the good word of hope. That has always mattered more than football.

"He's very authentic. He's not a guy who says one thing and means something else. You don't need a Philadelphia lawyer to interpret what he says," Singletary said. "I would think you'll see him roll his sleeves up and get involved in this community. He loves this city. He has been involved in many different aspects of trying to make Tampa a better place."

Let's not kid, though. This won't be easy, either way. Dungy loves football too.

He has been a head coach for 12 years and you don't get to do that without being dedicated to your craft. And for as much as we love to praise him as a gentle man, Dungy also is one competitive son of a gun. That fact gets lost sometimes because he handles defeat and disappointment with such grace.

Won't Look Back

The Colts have offered unprecedented concessions to coax Dungy to stay at least one more year. He could use the team's private jet, for instance, to fly here on Fridays to watch his son, Eric, play football for Plant High. The team also would allow him to spend more time here in the offseason, away from the office.

Nice gesture, but Dungy has to know that wouldn't work. As an NFL coach, you're either all the way in or you need to get all the way out. The first time the Colts lose on Sunday after Dungy flew to Tampa on Friday would start fingers wagging about the lack of focus and dedication by the head coach, and does he really need that?

He won't stay for the money. He won't stay because of a promise of a private jet. But he won't leave just because a lot of people think the time is right to do so. We should have learned that much about Tony Dungy by now. He'll think about it, pray about it, and talk it over with his wife.

Then he'll decide and he won't look back.

"I think for him the sky is the limit," Singletary said. "He has obtained a platform that has allowed him to transcend race and faith, transcend class and culture. The vistas that are open to him are numerous.

"From his childhood to his formal education to his training, he has been prepared to move to the next level. He is a man for such a time as this."

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