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Dungy Expanding All Pro Dad To College Ranks

Tribune photo by JAY CONNER

Tony Dungy hopes involving college coaches and players will bring a new audience to his All Pro Dad program.

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By NEIL JOHNSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 18, 2009

TAMPA - Former Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Tony Dungy is launching an expansion of his All Pro Dad program from the NFL into college football.

Dungy helped found All Pro Dad in 1997 using the celebrity power of NFL players to help men become better fathers and role models. Now, working with University of Georgia head football coach Mark Richt, the program will move into college football.

Dungy said he hopes involving college coaches and players will bring a new audience.

"Until now, we've really focused on professional teams, Major League Baseball, the National Football League," he said. "But we really realized that there's another element out there."

Using the popularity of college football to push the program's message could reach two groups.

"There's the college football fan, No. 1, but also there's these players, these student athletes, and we're realizing more 19-, 20-, 21-year-olds are having families, having children, and providing the parenting tips for them is very, very important," Dungy said at a kickoff announcement this morning.

There are 44 current and former NFL players and coaches involved with All Pro Dad. It is part of Tampa-based Family First, a nonprofit organization that stresses making families the top priority in people's lives.

Part of the All Pro Dad program offers fathering assistance, including a daily e-mail with information covering topics from marriage to raising teenagers. George Woods, the program's marketing director, said 42,000 men a day receive the e-mail.

There also is a monthly breakfast at local restaurants for fathers and children.

Dungy said he and former Bucs assistant coach Clyde Christensen took their idea of a program to help fathers to Family First, and it took off.

"All Pro Dad's gone much beyond what I thought would happen," he said. "We thought it might be a nice local program."

Dungy may also have another role: as a parental figure for NFL players.

DeMaurice Smith, newly elected executive director of the National Football League Players Association, has talked with Dungy about working with players with a focus on off-the-field issues.

"I think the players are going to have to take a good hard look at what's happening off the field as well as on," Dungy said.

This will be Dungy's first season as a fan after retiring as coach of the Indianapolis Colts. But he still has some observations on the Bucs' possible pursuit of disgruntled Denver Broncos quarterback Jay Cutler.

"I think anytime you get a good young quarterback, they're worth a lot. When you don't have a quarterback, it takes a lot to go out and get one," he said.

Reporter Neil Johnson can be reached at (813) 259-7731.

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