Patricia Sheridan's Breakfast With ... Tony Dungy
Monday, January 17, 2011
By Patricia Sheridan, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
You have a lot of history with the Steelers.
[laughing] Yes, I do! I do. Came there in 1977 as a rookie player, and it was probably the greatest thing that happened to me in terms of career because I really basically got to spend 10 years around coach Noll. Just getting so much insight from him, and you know, being around Art Rooney Sr. and Dan and coach Noll and just some tremendous Hall of Fame players. I was there two years as a player, went away for two years and played for some other teams, San Francisco and the Giants. I came back as a coach and spent my first seven years as a coach there.
Tell me about Chuck Noll's influence on you?
Oh, it was tremendous. He believed in fundamentals, not fooling people but really being sound and doing things the right way. That's the way you build championships. He also believed everybody on the team was important. Yes, you had star players, but the way you won was by getting contributions from every person on the team. You know I was a backup player -- a guy who didn't play a lot, certainly wasn't in the limelight -- but he made you feel like your job was important to winning. As I got into coaching later on, that really shaped my philosophy.
The other thing I learned from him that helped me down the road was to be a complete person. He didn't spend 24 hours a day in the office. Coaching and winning was very important, but his family was important and the community of Pittsburgh was important and what he did to enjoy himself when he was away from the game. There's no doubt in my mind that's why he lasted so long. He wasn't just totally consumed with football.
Do you find that you approach fatherhood the same way you did coaching?
Absolutely, yes that every member of your family is important [and] they are all different. You have to use different ways to reach each child. I learned from my dad but also from coach Noll. He didn't just coach one way. It wasn't my way or the highway. Coach Noll always said: "Your job is to help every player be the best that they can be, and if you do that as an assistant coach, we're going to have a great team." As a parent you want to do the same thing.
Can bad chemistry among teammates derail even a great coach?
Bad chemistry can derail great talent. I think if you are a great coach, you are going to get great chemistry on the team because you know that's important. You are going to find ways to do that, and you are going to get rid of guys who take away from the chemistry.
Some athletes seem to lose themselves in the hype.
You can and especially now in this period of free agency. When I came to the Steelers you had the same core of guys. So as a young player, I could look to guys who had been in the organization eight or nine years [and they would say], "Here's how we do things here." Now it's a little harder in locker rooms. Everybody is moving around. Guys are there two or three years, and [they say], "I'll go here because I got a bigger contract." It's harder from a coaching standpoint now, but you can still get it done.
A lot of players seem to be playing for the fame and fortune and those big salaries.
And that's OK. There's nothing wrong with that. You can do that and be a good teammate as well. You want guys who are motivated. You want guys who want to be the best. You want guys who want that big contract because they have performed. But they are able to put that below the team goals.
You are known for your soft-spoken manner, but you must get angry and frustrated at times. What do you do with those emotions as a coach and a family man?
You try to control them, and it is a learned experience. I'm better at it now than I was 20 years ago, for sure, with my team and my children. The greatest advice I got from my dad was, "What are you going to do to make the situation better?" If you find yourself in a place where something is not working, or you haven't had the success you wanted, how do you make it better? Usually reacting emotionally, flying off the handle, yelling at someone isn't going to make it better. Rational thought is usually better than emotional thought. It's very tough, but the more you practice something, the better you get at it.
You've been an advocate of giving people a second chance, such as Michael Vick. A lot of young athletes make poor choices like Ben Roethlisberger, but they turn things around.
Second chances are great if a person can grow from it and if they really are willing to change. That's what you have to surmise. ... There's nothing wrong with giving a guy a second chance if they're really sincere. You usually get a pretty good gut feel. I remember we had a situation in Indianapolis my first year there. We had a kicker, Mike Vanderjagt, who made some comments after we lost a playoff game. They were incendiary, and everybody is telling me to get rid of this guy. He'd criticized Peyton Manning and he criticized me. Fortunately, I had a talk with him.
In the final analysis I said, "Do you want to be here and do you still feel like you can be part of the team?" He said, "Yes, I definitely want to be here, and I want to see us win a championship." We moved forward and we grew from that. He kicked very well for us for the next couple of years.
Being able to come back after life knocks you down is not easy. I know you are a man of faith and have had to deal with the loss of your son. How do you remain positive?
I think the Christian faith is the most important thing for me, but the other part of it is the lessons you learn in sports. Very seldom do you have an undefeated team that wins a championship. It teaches you that even though something negative happens, it doesn't mean it's the end of the world. If we lose a game we can bounce back and get on a 10-game winning streak. If a player gets injured, you can have another player step in and have a great year.
Those lessons you learn in sports, I think, carry over into life. Then you have to have faith that there are some things you can't control. So you can't worry about those things. You have to let the Lord handle them and let go and control the things you can control, which is your effort, your attitude and how you approach things.
What motivated you and your wife to write children's books?
She really thinks reading is important. She found there was a shortage of books that had the type of message we are talking about. Good family values and books that are fun to read.
Does the fact that there could be long-term damage from concussions concern you?
There are physical dangers playing football. Now that we have this link to concussions, I'm sure there will be a lot more studies done. The helmets today are 100 times better than the helmets I played in. They are doing things to address it, but I think that's where your faith has to come in. It's definitely a more dangerous job than an accountant, but there are things you can't control and you can't worry about. You control the things you can by learning to hit the right way, using the right equipment and wearing a mouthpiece. When I played probably 75 percent of the guys didn't wear a mouthpiece. Now we know that the proper mouthpiece can really decrease your chance of a concussion. So there are things you can do to protect yourself. Do what you can do, and let the Lord handle the rest.
