7 Questions With Tony Dungy

We were able to track down Coach Dungy in Eugene, Oregon where he is vacationing with his family while watching the summer progress of his son, Oregon Duck’s wide receiver, Eric Dungy.

Eric appeared in five games last year as a redshirt freshman with the quick striking Ducks and scored his first collegiate touchdown on a 22 yard catch in a victory over Missouri State. In the stands, Tony is just another proud father, and he is enjoying a little respite in the cool weather of Central Oregon.

We told the Coach that our readers know him well through his public life as a Super Bowl winning coach and NFL analyst, the author of so many insightful books on fatherhood, and his role as the National Spokesman for the organization, All Pro Dad. As a result, we said we would like to ask him seven questions in an attempt to go deeper into what ticks behind his whistle and his pen. And, as would be expected, he answered them all with sharp clarity and with the humility that has always characterized his Christ-centered persona.

1. TwoTen

Coach, as Christian businessmen and stewards of the faith, we have been called to go forth and preach the Gospel everywhere. How do you implement the Great Commission into your books and organizations? How highly do you value soul winning in the marketplace?

1. Coach Dungy

I value soul winning a great deal. If you think about it, many men often spend more time in the marketplace than with their families. In my life, I have tried to incorporate the aim of the Great Commission in everything. To me, it’s how you do it. I try to live my life as an example. When I was coaching, it was a way to reach many men - not necessarily by constantly preaching or teaching the Gospel, but by hoping that the example of my life and the way I approached situations or circumstances would help draw them to Jesus.

1. TwoTen

The economic collapse over the past several years has forced many companies to downsize. That’s something that you, as a coach, are faced with every pre-season; reducing the roster to 53 players. How do you cope with the brutal reality of cutting a player that has been playing his heart out, doing everything right, but has to be cut because he’s a tenth of a second slower on the 40 yard dash? You know he has a wife and family and that his career in the NFL may have come to the end of the road. Do you have any advice that would help business leaders facing that same dilemma of having to make labor cuts?

1. Coach Dungy

Letting players go is, indeed, one of the toughest things a head coach has to do in the NFL. Every year you start with 80 players and have to reduce to that number to 53. So you know going in that you will have 27 men who will not have a job on your team in September. Sometimes there is a distinct difference in talent that makes it easy to select, but often times there is not. In either case, it’s still difficult to let people go when you’ve worked with them and developed relationships and those men have done everything you’ve asked them to do in preparation for the season.

I found that what I had to do was keep in mind my responsibility to the team, which was to select the group that would give us the best chance to win. As much as I liked individual players, or as strong as my relationship may have grown with them I couldn’t let that override my #1 responsibility. I would pray about that often leading up to those decisions. I wanted God to give me the discernment and the focus to make the right decisions. But it still didn’t make the final act any easier. You did have feelings for those men and their families.

I tried to make sure I did everything to help them grow as men while I had them. Whether it was for six months or six years, if I passed on everything I could about life and growing, and not just playing football, I felt better about sending them off in pursuit of another job. So my advice would be to work on the process while people are working for you. Know that parting ways is inevitable so pouring into your employees while they’re with you will leave you with fewer regrets when you have to let them go. It won’t be any easier, but at least you will feel as if you’ve given them a good start.

1. TwoTen

As an NFL coach, you lead some of the most gifted athletes in the world. Along with all of the success that came on the field, these players are bombarded with distractions vying for their attention. How do you keep them from losing focus and contributing 100 percent to their role on the football field? How do you motivate them to take their performance to the next level?

1. Coach Dungy

I always talked to my players about goal setting and expectations. We wanted to look at the big picture and the long run. Yes, individual goals and short term accomplishments were important, but I wanted them to visualize what would be important for the team, and what they could accomplish individually, that might be even more than what they could think of at the time. To me, this included personal growth, family growth, off the field agenda (community service, etc.) as well as improving as a player. I would encourage them to set high goals, and when they are met, to set even higher goals. One of the challenges in sustaining long term success in the NFL is overcoming complacency. But I would always talk to my players about being the best they could be -- about improving -- more than about results or what we had accomplished in the past. I always tried to show them how high my expectations were for them. And again, my emphasis was on the team. We couldn’t be a championship team unless we got the maximum from everyone. All contributions would be important and everyone would be needed at some point during the year. So each player had to be ready in order to not let the team down. I felt that type of motivation--what we needed to accomplish things as a unit, together--was more effective than pointing at individual accomplishment.

1. TwoTen

Are you concerned that our country seems so preoccupied with more temporal topics and distractions?

1. Coach Dungy

Yes, I am. Here we are in a country that was founded on Christian principles and the belief that all men were created equal, and we cannot even talk about that in many forums, including our schools. That is 180 degrees away from the way this country was founded. So yes, God will shake this nation again - let’s just hope we repent together and come back to the founding principles that shaped our nation.

1. TwoTen

Coach, then what would you say to businessmen to encourage them to immerse themselves and their businesses in the Holy Spirit?

1. Coach Dungy

The immersion in the Holy Spirit, in Jesus, must be at the forefront of how we do business. The immersion must be at the forefront of why we do business. If you can interface, in all aspects, the way you live with the way you run your business, you will see the Holy Spirit move in power.

1. TwoTen

To so many, you are a hero in the Kingdom! Who are some of your heroes in the Kingdom? Who is inspiring you, challenging you to go higher?

1. Coach Dungy

Pastors. I have always been lifted up by sitting underneath pastors, including my current pastor, most of them not really in the limelight. Simple, solid, men of God. Our chaplain with the Vikings in Minnesota was this kind of man - Tom Lamphere. I still go to him, as well as all my former pastors, for advice and guidance. Doug Gilcrease, who was our chaplain during our time with the Buccaneers, is another man who has and continues to guide me in my faith. That’s a good question...for me, it’s my pastors.

1. TwoTen

Coach Dungy, what Scriptures do you stand upon when the going gets tough? We know you had a few plays that you were confident in to pick up those difficult third down and five yards in a playoff game, but what do you declare in the Word when you are faced with adversity or challenges?

1. Coach Dungy

First, Romans 8:28. “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, for those who are called according to His purpose.” This helps me when I am frustrated by the circumstances or the pace of the way things are unfolding. It’s just real. But recently, I have been standing upon Ephesians 4:2-3 where Paul writes, “With all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” When things aren’t going so well, I ask myself, am I operating in humility? I have begun to examine myself to see if I am truly following this scripture, what Paul is saying. Then, it becomes less about the circumstance that is challenging me and more about me being in alignment with the Word and abiding with Jesus.

1. TwoTen

Coach, you have inspired so many people in this world. We just want to say thank you for all you have done and are still doing in the name of Jesus.

1. Coach Dungy

Praise God.

1. TwoTen

Go Oregon

1. Coach Dungy

(laughs) Go Ducks.

"...The immersion in the Holy Spirit, in Jesus, must be at the forefront of how we do business."Tony Dungy