Top 194 Quotes & Sayings by Tony Dungy
Explore popular quotes and sayings by an American coach Tony Dungy.
Last updated on September 13, 2024.
Most of the books I remember from my childhood were Dr. Seuss-type books. They were fun to read, but there wasn't a real story behind them.
When I played at Minnesota, Green Bay, those northern cities, Buffalo, they wanted to have those championship games at home. It was going to be an advantage to be there with their fans and the cold weather and all that. But when you've got a Super Bowl, and it's the two best teams, you want ideal conditions. You want to play a great game.
You never know what's going to happen. My mother was an English teacher. If someone had told her that I was going to write a book, she would never have believed that. So you can never say never.
If you're just saying, hey, I'm doing this. I'm working to make money. I'm working to increase my status. If that's all there is, I think you will find out that it's meaningless.
I've always talked to players about perception and reality. I don't worry about perception. There may be some of that, that people want to attach to a good name, but the reality is that some good things can happen.
Balance provides the chance for longevity. You can be a champion at work and at home.
I wish Michael Sam nothing but the best in his quest to become a star in the NFL,and I am confident he will get the opportunity to show what he can do on the field.
We have so many young men, especially, who are growing up without their dads. We have to fill that void. We have to do a better job helping young people see what it means to be a man, what it means to be a woman. And then, somehow, we have to put that family structure back together.
My heart's toward youth ministry, but I don't know. I never would have thought I would have written a book. And God kind of directed that. So we'll see what the next is.
Don't shed any tears for me. I got to live a dream most people don't get to live.
It's just really making sure I am doing the best job I can do as a dad. I do think that is my No. 1 job.
That's the difference between the NCAA and the NFL right now. They've got to step up and say, 'We're going to do the right thing. We're going to hire qualified people. We're going to hire the best man for the job regardless of what boosters or anyone else has to say.'
If someone needs help, I can offer advice. I'm not always right and people don't always listen.
I guess I'm flattered that people think I can help get things done.
But there's no substitute for a full-time dad. Dads who are fully engaged with their kids overwhelmingly tend to produce children who believe in themselves and live full lives.
Football was really my least favorite sport and the last sport that I ended up picking up as a kid. My dad started me off with baseball, which most kids did at that time. I really enjoyed basketball. That was my favorite sport.
Anyone who's a parent dreads that call in the middle of the night. I have four grown children and I still dread it.
I just think winners win. And guys who won all the way through high school and college, the best player at every level, they have a way of making things happen and winning games.
I think I've got a responsibility to be home a little bit more, be available to my family a little bit more and do some things to help make our country better. I don't know what that is right now, but we'll see.
I got put into leadership roles very early in life from fifth grade, sixth grade. I always ended up being the quarterback or the leader of the sports teams, and it's kind of benefiting me now.
My parents had a strong impact on who I am today. My mother and dad both encouraged us to think about the long term - where you wanted to be - to think about education, to think about what is right and what is wrong, and to do things that will help you in the long run.
I enjoy talking to young people, and talking to people about helping young people. That part is not a chore. It's pretty fun, and something I like to do because I think it's important.
Sometimes I think God wants there to be a circus so we can show there's another way to respond.
People look at me and see a calm, cool guy on the sidelines and I want them to know that my Christian faith affects my coaching and everything I do.
I've said all along that God is in control.
I think I can always look back and say my mom and dad would have done this or suggested that in a particular situation. I just really feel blessed to have had them as parents.
We need somebody to give us a chance.
Did you know that nearly one in three children live apart from their biological dads? Those kids are two to three times more likely to grow up in poverty, to suffer in school, and to have health and behavioral problems.
It's definitely harder being a dad than a coach.
When you're in a situation, you can complain about it, you can feel sorry for yourself, you can do a lot of things. But how are you gonna make the situation better?
We're not hitting on all cylinders, defensively. When we're playing good, I'll let you know.
When I was15 years old, I couldn't look at the NFL and look on TV and say, 'Boy, there's a head coach, African American. That's something I'd like to do.'
You may not win the Super Bowl. Your kids may not go on to be doctors and lawyers and everything may not go perfectly. That doesn't mean it was a bad plan or the wrong thing. It's just like a football season. Everything's not going to go perfect.
We've got guys who aren't wrapping guys up... No matter how hard you hit them, you've still got to wrap them up.
My dad, who was a teacher, used to tell me that a teacher's goal should be for every one of their students to get an A. If that's your goal every day - to make every student or player learn - then it doesn't matter if you won last year or didn't win. When next year's team shows up, I try to help every player become as good as they can be.
I was a quarterback in college. I hoped to go to the NFL, and I didn't get drafted. I then became a free agent. I could sign with whoever I wanted to, and I ended up going to Pittsburgh.
Our goal was to win, to win a Super Bowl, but also to win in the right way, to be role models to our community, to represent Indianapolis, the state of Indiana and the National Football League.
I had 10 to 12 close buddies who I played ball with all the way from elementary to high school. That is where I learned to compete.
Everything's not going to go perfect. You're going to have some losses that you're going to have to bounce back from and some things that are a little unforeseen that you're going to have to deal with.
We talked about some of our experiences, focusing, hanging together down the stretch, important games. It's not necessarily who has the most talent but what team sticks together and executes their fundamentals the best.
The Lord doesn't always take you in a straight line. He tests you sometimes.
The book is actually called 'A Mentor Leader, a Different Way to Lead.' It really talks about my experience in the way I tried lead our football team, things that I learned from, basically, the coaches that I played for and my parents about leadership. And it is a little bit different, counter to maybe what society says about great leaders.
As a young kid, I had a great background. My grandfather was a minister; I have two uncles that were ministers, and so I had that spiritual background. I accepted Christ early as a kid.
I don't have the strength or wisdom to get through a single day without guidance and grace from God.
As humans, we don't know what we should do. We don't have those instincts like God has given animals. We have to see to know where we are going. It is just a natural human emotion to look for people to emulate.
You should never be defined by what you do, by the things you have; you've got to define yourself by who you are and who you impact and how you impact people. And that's the thing I try to get across to my players.
We want to enjoy our families and the hype leading up to the game.
The reason my kids like McDonald's is that they always know what they're going to get. It's not gourmet food, but the french fries they order in Indianapolis are just like the french fries they order in Tampa. Wherever they get McDonald's fries, they know it will be the same. That's what McDonald's does.
The first thing you have to do is make sure you're still wanted back. I never take that for granted any more.
What did you have the potential to do? And if you came close to that, if you maximized that, then you were a success in God's eyes. So many of us do things that the world would say is successful, but we have so much more potential.
I know that not everybody gets to coach an NFL team, and I want to do that as well as I can all the time. That's my motivation. I want to help my players to be as good as they can be.
But I know I have a son who doesn't listen to anything I say and if he hears the same thing from someone else, sometimes it has a little more impact.
I know when I was an assistant coach and I started interviewing for head coaching jobs, I actually lost out on many jobs, several jobs, and the complaint that I got was, 'Well, he doesn't fit the mold of a head coach. He doesn't look the part. He's not gonna jump up and down. He's not going to scream.'
The narrow path that 'Uncommon' people will take, that the Lord wants you to go down, that really is the ultimate way to go.
If people didn't know me and only knew my public persona, what I'd want them to know is everything that I do, I do for the Glory of Lord. Because of my Christian faith, that's who I am. I wasn't always that way, but I'm very proud that I am.
The secret to success is good leadership, and good leadership is all about making the lives of your team members or workers better.
The Lord has a plan. We always think the plans are A, B, C and D, and everything is going to be perfect for us and it may not be that way, but it's still his plan.
All Pro Dad is an organization that started down in Tampa in 1997. And it was just a group of us who felt like we weren't doing as good a job as our fathers did in connecting with kids and being there and being involved in their lives, working and coaching and spending all the time we had to. We just felt badly.
I could never have pictured myself writing a book when I was 25 years old. My mom was an English teacher but I wasn't that way growing up.
The further I get away from coaching, the more I know I made the right decision. You almost forget how wonderful family life is.
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