One of the more beloved sports figures in Pittsburgh lore is Tony Dungy. He got his start in the NFL as a player for the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1977, and then circled back as a coach in 1981. He was a DBs coach for three seasons before taking over as the defensive coordinator in 1984 for five seasons, all under head coach Chuck Noll.
In a recent episode of #92Noon! with Paul Allen on KFAN FM 100.3 in Minneapolis, Minn., Dungy discussed Noll’s influence on his success as a coach in the NFL.
“I think I took my football philosophy, my Xs and Os and team building from coach Noll, that was my first introduction to NFL football,” Dungy told Allen. “Don’t make football your whole life. Be a great teammate, have one goal in mind, and help the team be the best it can be, no matter what your role is. And that’s what we believed.”
Dungy’s career as a player was short-lived, but those early teachings from having Noll as his coach stuck with him and propelled him to a successful coaching career. He worked his way up the ranks and eventually landed his first head coaching gig with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 1996-2001 before heading to the Indianapolis Colts from 2002-2008.
He got his first taste of winning the Super Bowl in the 1978 season as a player as the Steelers won Super Bowl XIII against the Dallas Cowboys. He played in 18 games that season, including the playoffs, and had two total starts with an impressive six interceptions to aid the Steelers in their historic season.
“[Noll] sold it to us that champions don’t do extraordinary things. Champions do the ordinary things better than everyone else. We’re gonna be fundamentally sound, we’re gonna work together. We weren’t gonna beat ourselves. And that’s the background I took,” Dungy said.
Dungy went on to win another Super Bowl as a coach with the Colts during the 2006 season in Super Bowl XLI against the Chicago Bears.
After he wrapped up his playing career, he actually had one stop before coming to Pittsburgh as a coach with the University of Minnesota as a DBs coach. Noll then gave him his first chance at the NFL level as a coach.
“I remember going into his office and saying, ‘Hey coach, I’ve never coached before. What am I supposed to do?'” Dungy said. “He told me something I never forgot. He said, ‘Tony, as a coach, you have one job and that’s to help your players be better…you’ve gotta reach every single player and help them be the best they can be.’ So for the next 28 years, that’s what I tried to do.”
Dungy is one branch of the Noll coaching tree, along with John Fox, Rod Rust, Bud Carson, and others. Coincidentally (or not) Steelers current head coach Mike Tomlin is a branch of Dungy’s tree. So a lot of the same teachings that were passed on from Noll to Dungy were also likely preached by Dungy to Tomlin.
Tomlin was a defensive backs coach in Dungy’s last season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It was Tomlin’s first NFL coaching job, one that he held for five seasons before serving as the Minnesota Vikings’ defensive coordinator for one year. He was then hired by the Steelers as their head coach and is now entering his 18th season in that position.
Between Noll, Dungy and Tomlin, two of the three are already in the Hall of Fame, and Tomlin is well on his way. Clearly Noll’s philosophies on football and his approach to developing players have had a lasting impact on the sport spanning well over 60 years.
