Tony Dungy Quotes

At the end of the day, the only people a One Voice doctrine silences are those who should be the most loyal.

I never wanted our players to think the Super Bowl was the ultimate. I always talk about 'Yes, we're going to win, but what are we going to do as we're winning? What are we going to do after we win?' Winning the Super Bowl is not the destination. It's not an end point. It's what you do from here.

When it's over, it's over is part of football's greatest appeal to me. When a game ends, win or lose, it's time to prepare for the next one.

If we lose sight of people, we lose sight of the very purpose of leadership.

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.

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.

Be successful not just in what you do, but in who you are.

You have gifts, abilities, and dreams no one else has.

If someone needs help, I can offer advice. I'm not always right and people don't always listen.

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.

The further I get away from coaching, the more I know I made the right decision. You almost forget how wonderful family life is.

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.

What's important is not the uniform or the number, and it's not what team you play for or whether anyone else sees your value; it's who you are on the inside. And when you're in Christ, that's never going to change.

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.

It's easy to lose sight of the ultimate goal when you're in the trenches.

When things get difficult it can be easy to complain. How you respond makes all the difference

I learned it doesn't matter how you win. You play to your team's strength.

I realized that I needed to be more like the shepherd than the hired hand in protecting my team.

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.

I just don't think you pass on a great quarterback if you have the opportunity. If need be, you can trade it away.

It's about the journey--mine and yours--and the lives we can touch, the legacy we can leave, and the world we can change for the better.

I love coaching football, and winning a Super Bowl was a goal I've had for a long time. But it has never been my purpose in life. My purpose in life is simply to glorify God. We have to be careful that we don't let the pursuit of our life's goals, no matter how important they seem, cause us to lose sight of our purpose. I coach football. But the good I can do to glorify God along the way is my real purpose.

Keeping ridiculous hours doesn't mean you'll be successful.

My dad took me to a high school basketball game and this very, very famous coach in Michigan, by the name of Lofton Greene - he was a guy that my dad was familiar with. He was from our hometown. And I watched the game and I said I didn't see this guy doing a lot of coaching. And my dad told me, well, it's just like a teacher - which he was - he said if you do a good job teaching during the week, when they take the test on Friday, that's not the time you have to do a lot of demonstrative things.

Remember that mentor leadership is all about serving.

And as a football coach in the National Football League, I know for sure that it's going to end someday.

I hired top-notch people, trusted them to do their jobs, and then came to grips with the fact that I wouldn't be coaching as much.

The first step toward creating an improved future is developing the ability to envision it. VISION will ignite the fire of passion that fuels our commitment to do WHATEVER IT TAKES to achieve excellence. Only VISION allows us to transform dreams of greatness into the reality of achievement through human action. VISION has no boundaries and knows no limits. Our VISION is what we become in life.

Sometimes I think God wants there to be a circus so we can show there's another way to respond.

The first thing you have to do is make sure you're still wanted back. I never take that for granted any more.

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 wanted guys who had been productive in college, and we made it a point to pick performance over potential.

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.

Chuck Noll knew how he could help people. He was a teacher. He was a guy that was very good at selecting people, getting them to fit in. He wasn't the guy that was going to sit there and motivate you, intrinsically. That wasn't what he was best at. So he hired people that were good at that.

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.

If you're a leader, people's lives should be better because of the influence you've had along the way.

There are certain bridges that are not worth crossing, no matter what others think. Loyalty and relationships are important.

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.

It's the journey that matters. Learning is more important than the test. Practice well, and the games will take care of themselves.

The biggest thing you need to be successful with it is a quarterback who wants to be involved in the decision-making process and not just merely want to execute plays sent in to him.

I need to treat everybody fairly, but fair doesn't always mean equal.

I've always tried to coach people the way I would like to be coached; positively and encouragingly rather than with criticism and fear ... I've tried to be as fair as possible.

What you do is not as important as how you do it.

We only wanted to pay significant sums to keep truly special players.

Integrity doesn't come in degrees: low, medium, or high. You either have integrity or you don't.

DON'T FEAR FAILURE. Fear being successful at things that don't matter

I learned from Chuck Noll in Pittsburgh that speed and explosiveness on defense is the way to build a team. Both are difficult for your opponent to assimilate in practice and then in games it is even harder to match.