A former member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers who worked with Jim Caldwell on two NFL teams says it's no coincidence that the head coach of the AFC champion Colts is often compared to his Indianapolis predecessor.
"Jim was so much like Tony Dungy, it was scary,'' says Shaun King, who backed up Brad Johnson in 2001, when Caldwell was a member of Dungy's staff as quarterbacks coach in Tampa.
"His consistency is what endeared Jim Caldwell to me. Just like Tony, he brought the same steady approach, day in and day out. What he said the first day he arrived in Tampa was the same message he was telling us at the end of that season.''
Caldwell, now preparing for Sunday's Super Bowl against the NFC champion Saints, accompanied Dungy to Indianapolis in 2002 and served on his staff for seven years before succeeding his mentor this season following Dungy's retirement.
King and Caldwell were reunited in the summer of 2006 when the Colts signed the former Gibbs High standout.
"Indy has one of the most quarterback-intensive systems in the league and I can remember Jim Caldwell bringing me in his office one day and trying to make things simple for me,'' King says. "He took out these little wooden blocks and put them on the desk, representing the offensive and defensive alignments. Then he walked me through the different looks and checks we would get. He got down to basics and really helped me feel comfortable in a new system.
"And when it came to meetings, Jim Caldwell was going to be as well prepared as any assistant in the National Football League. In my opinion, Tony Dungy doesn't get enough credit for identifying those traits in Jim and choosing him as his successor.''
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