Tampa, Florida					Monday, September 06, 2010

Tony Dungy, The Coach and The Fisherman
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
TAMPA__A Tampa fishing friend sent Tony Dungy an e-mail Tuesday after his Indianapolis Colts stunned the Pittsburgh Steelers 26-7 on Monday Night Football asking him if he had ever caught 11 keepers on 11 casts. He was alluding to the 11 straight wins by the Colts this year, this undefeated year, this year this former Tampa Bay Buc head coach is surely headed to the NFL Playoffs, perhaps the Super Bowl, perhaps beyond. His apparently flawless Colts are 11-0 and will be favored in their final five regular season games. He’ll love the e-mail. The answer is, of course, no, but, hey, this good man of patience may well one day catch 11 keepers in 11 casts. See, he only really learned to fish when we began taking him fishing not that long ago—we being Capt. Scott Moore of Anna Maria, master fisherman Phil Alessi of the baking family Alessi’s, intrepid angler Barney Barnett, a kingpin at Publix, and me, one time top croker-sack seiner of pot holes in the Peace River at Wauchula. We have fished a lot though these Dungy years, not every one of them as good as this one ongoing now at Indianapolis. All the while, Dungy’s final season as the Buc coach, and these years at Indianapolis, non-work desire has been fishing with us off the shores and in the inland waterways in Tampa Bay and south to Boca Grande and Captiva and Sanibel and those enchanting places. The Dungys have kept their home at Avila and Tampa and have spent as much time as they could there. Our primary fishing times have come prior to the season’s beginning and during those off-weekends the NFL developed. Man, have we had some fine fishing times, caught some big snook, reds, trout, blues, flounder, shark, jacks, and more, of course, most notably a big, big Cobia by Coach Tony in the inland waterway near Sarasota. Capt. Scott let the coach fight the Cobia until he subdued him, without using the boat at all for leverage. Boated, the big Cobia slammed a couple of us good on the legs before surrendering to Dungy. Know this, the coach was a beginner when Capt.Scott and friends got hold of him, hooking us all at one time or another. But, he worked (you knew he’d do that), was intense, determined and learned quickly. Mostly, he learned from Scott and Alessi. He never quits fishing, when in the boat. His line is the first in the water and the last out and he always catches fish, which is in keeping with football goals. Tony Dungy deserves this 11-0 start. He deserves a Super Bowl shot. His players, here and Indianapolis, love him, admire him. No, he doesn’t say much. But when he does they are attentive. He is a quiet man, a capable man, a good man, and clearly a fine coach. He has so far sent two assistants of his at the Bucs to the bigs—Herman Edwards at the Jets and Lovie Smith at the Bears. Additionally, he	is trim, fit, a devout Christian, good daddy and husband, and dandy company. Avoids no subjects, likes a good joke, but doesn’t tell any, except as true events of humor that are involved in coaching a pro team. He is never cowered, is a keen listener who looks you in the eye and gives you undivided attention when you are talking to him. And when he looks at you with those big, big soulful eyes, you may well be forced to look away. He’s got the real headlights there. As a coach, he is surely now proven. The Buc owning Malcolm Glazers gave him a shot a the head job with the Bucs for the 1996 season (he was an assistant at Minnesota and former NFL player), and the Glazers gave him a shot at the Indianapolis Colts job when they let him go as the Buc head coach after the 9-7, playoffs season of 2001, Tony Dungy had good Buc teams, four of six in the playoffs, including an 11-5 season in `99 when he deserved (we all did) better than for a game to be lost at St. Louis in large part because of a bad official’s call. It was a game for the Super Bowl berth. The call and challenge led in time to a rule change, but the long St. Louis TD pass soon after that call led to a loss and a Super Bowl berth for St. Louis. Dungy’s teams, good ones, in 2000 and 2001 lost to the Philadelphia in the playoffs. The first loss led to the dismissal of the offensive coordinator, Mike Shula, now the successful head coach at Alabama, and the one in 2001, a thrashing of 31-9, led to the ownership conclusion that Coach Dungy needed to go. He was dismissed, as I recall, clumsily. Dungy accepted the decision honorably. Why wouldn’t he? It was his manner, and he knew he’d get another good job, just as Jon Gruden got his job, and his players, added a few of his own, and coached the Bucs to the Super Bowl championship. Good move, eh? Well, the Colts hired Dungy, handed him an offense led by quarterback Peyton Manning and receiver Marvin Harrison, offensive coordinator Tom Moore, told Dungy to build a matching defense, and he has done that. The overall result, an 11-0 start and a wonderful team of great offense and defense, and special teams, including a place-kicker named Mike Vanderjagt who almost never misses. Dungy will never forget, but criticize the missed short field goal kick by Martin Gramatica at Green Bay that missed, lost the season’s final game in 2000 preventing Tampa from hosting all of the playoff games and sending the Bucs to lose at Philadelphia. The Buc fans have never forgotten that damned moment in their team’s history, though today later beefs are directed at Tampa Bay for missing a short FG to lose last Sunday to the Bears. But this is not about the Bucs, it is about 11-0 Tony Dungy. Can we say he learned most of that which he knows with the Buccaneers? Including how to fish for snook? You bet we can, and are. ##
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