Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Tony Dungy's Back

While the Colts fan in me rejoiced that Tony Dungy's coming back for another season as head coach, Bob Kravitz's column in today's Indianapolis Star raises some good questions--is Dungy being hypocritical in trying to commute between Indianapolis and Tampa to make his family's life work? Of course, one could ask the question whether being a head coach of a NFL team--a demanding position that has twice forced Joe Gibbs into retirement and seems to have wrecked havoc in Andy Reid's family--is really conducive to being a good father, period.

1 comment:

Geoffsnook said...

Sean,

Great question. I think its a great question to ask. Can one be a good football coach and a good dad?

Personally I'm a huge Tampa Bay fan, and so I hear Dungy's name bantered around a ton on sports talk.

While coaching can take 16 hour days, it doesn't have to take that long. From what I can tell, he actually encourages his coaches not to put in 'overtime' but to spend time with their families. He apparently does the same.

And Jon Gruden is proof that you can spend 16-18 hour days looking at film and scripting plays that don't work. But at what point does it really make a difference? It's kind of like a pastor spending 16 hours at the office: its not good for anybody.

I would have liked to seen Dungy retire, and come back to bless the Tampa Bay area. That's probably what I would have done in his shoes. I'm hoping this is his last year. Tampa could use him; and his family could use him from Monday-Thursday (the days he'll be in Indy)