Candid conversation with Dungy

October 21, 2008
Back to TopCommentsE-mailPrint
coachdungyIndianapolis Colts Coach Tony Dungy likes Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. That’s just one of the interesting nuggets from this morning’s IBJ Power Breakfast featuring Coach Dungy. The coach stopped short of saying he’d vote for Obama. Dungy said he’s disappointed with the negative tone coming from both sides in this presidential campaign. Dungy said Obama and GOP candidate John McCain have devoted far too much time tearing down the other and not enough time focusing on how to make things better.

Another interesting revelation came when an audience member asked if Dungy had the choice to have lunch with any person, who would he choose? Dungy’s answer: legendary basketball coach John Wooden and Nelson Mandela, former president of South Africa. Dungy said he admires both men for what they’ve stood for and the courage they’ve shown through their convictions.

Colts fans breathed a sigh of relief when Dungy said this morning that Colts quarterback Peyton Manning is in solid physical shape and the team shouldn’t need to consider drafting a new franchise quarterback for at least five years.

Perhaps most importantly to Colts fans, Dungy said he couldn’t see himself coaching anywhere else besides Indianapolis or working for any other NFL owner besides Jim Irsay. And while he admitted that moving on to other things crosses his mind now and then, he said he still has some things to accomplish in football.

“Like hopefully win a few more Super Bowls,” Dungy said.

A few more Super Bowls! I guess that means we’ll see Coach Dungy at next year’s IBJ Power Breakfast.
ADVERTISEMENT
  • JayneOctober 21, 2008 12:55 PM
    I was at the breakfast this morning. I find it interesting that the first line of your article is 'Indianapolis Colts Coach Tony Dungy likes Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. This breakfast was not intended to be a political endorsement of any sort. From where I sat, I heard nothing from Tony about a political preference toward either party. Why not focus on what this breakfast was really about . . . being a good man, good father, and good Christian. Tony Dungy is a very remarkable man. We have had enough of politics . . . move on!
    Reply to CommentFlag Comment
  • Anthony SchoettleOctober 21, 2008 1:45 PM
    I never said Coach Dungy endorsed Barack Obama. He merely said he liked the man. And while Tony's take on fatherhood and family matters are no less important, those things have been well documented. His views on politics and political candidates, on the other hand, have not. And since someone from today's audience asked the coach about his views on Sen. Obama, I assumed several others in this community also would be interested about his thoughts on the subject. As for having enough of politics ... we're just two weeks from a very important election. I personally think every election is important, and thus worthy of discussing and writing about. I'll never move on from topics that I think are important to this community. Thanks for reading.
    Reply to CommentFlag Comment
  • Coach MacOctober 21, 2008 2:25 PM
    Coach Dungy did a wonderful job this morning. His ability to bring peace into a room is uncanny despite the size or audience. The best line of the morning had to be his PC way of describing the officiating that took place during the Green Bay game. A close second would be his story of why he doesn't intend to seek a position in politics.
    Thanks IBJ for setting up this event which was a great start to the work day.
    Reply to CommentFlag Comment
  • Anthony SchoettleOctober 21, 2008 3:15 PM
    Thanks Coach Mac for coming and for your thoughts on the event. To illuminate those who were not at this morning's IBJ Power Breakfast, Coach Dungy said (and I'm paraphrashing a bit here) teams that play well don't have a problem with poor officiating. Coach Dungy also referred to a conversation he had with Colin Powell and inserted a recollection about Powell telling him he wasn't running for office because at the time his approval rating was so high and he didn't want to see that go down. So much good stuff, so little space. Attendees of this morning's event should feel free to share their recollections of this morning's event. Coach Dungy was even gracious enough to field questions from admitted Eagles and Patriots fans.
    Reply to CommentFlag Comment
  • DavisOctober 21, 2008 6:49 PM
    I always find these IBJ breakfasts illuminating. It seems like you always get some interesting information in these non-press conference type settings. And it's nice for everyday people to get the opportunity to ask guys like Tony Dungy questions. That's a pretty rare opportunity. I loved his response about half time of the AFC championship game two years ago. Can't wait until next year. In the meantime, I can't wait until the breakfast featuring Tom Crean.
    Reply to CommentFlag Comment
  • Anthony SchoettleOctober 22, 2008 7:58 AM
    I don't delete comments on this blog without first giving it serious thought. Gene, I took your comment down this morning because I feel it was inappropriate. This is why I think it is inappropriate. If you don't personally know Tony Dungy, there's no way you could pass judgement on certain personal aspects of his life. Even if you do know him personally, I would still think you might tread lightly with such judgements. Further, if you do know Tony personally, I would think the question you pose is one better asked in person not on a sports blog.
    Reply to CommentFlag Comment

Post a comment to this blog

COMMENTS POLICY
We reserve the right to remove any post that we feel is obscene, profane, vulgar, racist, sexually explicit, abusive, or hateful.
 
You are legally responsible for what you post and your anonymity is not guaranteed.
 
Posts that insult, defame, threaten, harass or abuse other readers or people mentioned in IBJ editorial content are also subject to removal. Please respect the privacy of individuals and refrain from posting personal information.
 
No solicitations, spamming or advertisements are allowed. Readers may post links to other informational websites that are relevant to the topic at hand, but please do not link to objectionable material.
 
We may remove messages that are unrelated to the topic, encourage illegal activity, use all capital letters or are unreadable.
 

Messages that are flagged by readers as objectionable will be reviewed and may or may not be removed. Please do not flag a post simply because you disagree with it.

ADVANCED SEARCH
Sponsored by
ADVERTISEMENT

  1. These higher rates Co. e about only because physicians are now hospital employees. otherwise physicians couldn't charge these rates and share the windfall with the hospital. Community/rural hospitals probably not buying physicians practices and thus weren't getting the windfall anyway.

  2. The incentive for poor people to get themselves off public assistance and "no longer be poor" is even with help...they're STILL POOR! Being poor, even with some assistance, isn't all that pleasant. (I speak from experience) It's a stubborn myth that poor people, who are on public assistance, are sitting in the lap of luxury. You should try living on just those "freebies" that you mentioned and see how meager they actually are. By the way, I didn't mean you had to buy/own a puppy...just pet one. :)

  3. As near as I can tell the minority has ZERO constitutional obligation to offer a quorum to the majority. A requirement for quorum was inserted into the constitution so that tyrannical majorities could not simply shove through odious and objectionable legislation (which is exactly what they did.) By allowing a tyrannical majority to charge fines against the minority for exercising their constitutional prerogative to deny quorum the court as made a mockery of constitutional governance in the state of Indiana.

  4. The voters elected the Reps to make a vote not walk out on the vote. They had to the right to exercise their opinion and vote "no" to the bill. Let me ask you this if you walked out of your job for 5 straight weeks would you get paid? Would you even have a job to go back to? If any elected official walks out on the people they should be arrested for stealing tax dollars from the public. They were elected to do a job and not leave when the job gets stuff.

  5. I have been to several of their locations in Pennsylvania and always go in for 1 item and leave with a basket full of things. I'm very happy they decided on Indiana, now if only they would put the other store in eastside.

ADVERTISEMENT