Super Bowl-winning coach hosts first-of-a-kind event to benefit high school athletes.
TONY DUNGY'S RED ZONE 2009
What: High School football kickoff event teaching football and life skills.
When: Aug. 25
Where: Live event is in Plano, Texas; Broadcast at high definition widescreen theater venues nationwide.
Host: NFL Super Bowl winning coach Tony Dungy
Among scheduled guests: USC coach Pete Carroll, former NFL standout and motivational speaker Joe Ehrmann, NFL Hall of Fame receiver Michael Irvin, current NFL players Peyton Manning, Bob Sanders, Joseph Addai, Adam Vinatieri, Dallas Clark.
More information: Go to RedZoneLive.com
There was no seller’s remorse for Tony Dungy the morning of Jan. 13.
Tony Dungy resigned his post as Indianpolis coach in January.
Courtesy of Fresh Air Media Inc.
The day after he announced his retirement as head coach for the Indianapolis Colts, Dungy woke with peace, tranquility and even a strong sense of excitement.
No Brett Favre shuffle for the 53-year-old Dungy.
In fact, with feet firmly planted, the Super Bowl-winning coach hit the ground running and he hasn’t stopped sprinting since.
“It wasn’t traumatic at all,” he said. “I had too many projects in the works to think like that. I never thought ‘oh no, this is the end.’ More so I thought this is the beginning of something else.
“To be honest, I’m busier now than I was as head coach. Now I get to pick my spots. I’m traveling more with all these projects. A couple of buddies called me and told me they’ve starting training camp. It hadn’t even occurred to me that it was already here.”
One of numerous projects he’s taken on is a unique nationwide high school football kickoff event Aug. 25 in Plano, Texas.
“Tony Dungy’s Red Zone 09” is a two-hour football and life skills show that will feature segments from numerous gridiron greats such as Peyton Manning, Pete Carroll, Michael Irvin. Numerous former Dungy players, including All-Pros Bob Sanders, Joseph Addai, Dallas Clark and Adam Vinatieri, to name a few, will be both on hand in featured in video segments.
The kickoff, which will emphasize performance, conditioning, teamwork and character, will be fed to over 450 theaters nationwide.
Dungy will act as the host, but he’s had a hand in with all facets of the project, which was introduced to him by Greg Flessing of Fresh Air Media Inc.
{VIDEO_80bf3338-af8e-4dc3-91dd-94865948d3c6,floatRightWithBar}“Greg is a great person and he had this vision and though with my name and passion I could help,” Dungy said. “We’re not only going to try to develop football players but young people as well. We’ll cover everything from education to nutrition to steroids to life decisions. It will be all-encompassing.”
Two of the more dynamic guests will be Carroll and Joe Ehrmann, a former NFL defensive lineman who is now renowned motivational speaker.
Ehrmann lost his brother to cancer the same year he earned a spot in the Pro Bowl. It made him re-evaluate his life and ever since, Ehrmann as served as a humanitarian, much like Dungy.
The two first got connected on the field, but when Dungy became a head coach he had Ehrmann speak to his team every season.
“He’s tremendous, a true motivator,” Dungy said. “He can speak to any setting or age group. He’s got a great message.”
So does USC coach Carroll, one of the kings of college recruiting. He and Dungy first connected as NFL assistant coaches.
“I’ve known him more than 20 years,” Dungy said. “We felt kind of like whom could talk to high school kids more about college recruiting than Pete Carroll? He’ll tell the kids just what coaches love to see.”
Manning is much more than a future Hall of Fame quarterback, according to Dungy. The Colts’ signal-caller has already taped his segment.
“He did a great piece, talking about his great high school memories,” Dungy said. “He talked about what he might have done differently during that time.”
Dungy would change little to nothing about his high school experience.
A three-sport star at Parkside High (Jackson, Mich.), Dungy was particularly adept at football and basketball. He was featured in Sports Illustrated’s Faces in the Crowd as a 14-year-old the same week Bill Walton was highlighted for scoring 50 points in back-to-back high school days.
“I didn’t even notice it until years later,” Dungy said. “One year I looked up and saw Bill Walton right above me. We met years later and he said he noticed me too.”
Dungy was noticeable as a point guard in basketball and quarterback on the football team. He actually thought his future was going to be in basketball.
Instead, he played football at the University of Minnesota but wasn’t drafted into the NFL. He caught on with the Steelers and played sparingly for three teams - the 49ers and Giants were the others – in four years.
After just one season as an assistant coach at his alma mater Minnesota, he became the youngest NFL assistant ever at 25 when he took a job with the Steelers.
It set off a series of firsts for Dungy, who became the league’s youngest coordinator (28, also with the Steelers) and the first African American coach to win the Super Bowl when the Colts beat the Bears in 2007.
{VIDEO_363f9fb4-06ec-495d-8b4a-c3fbee518cb4,floatRightWithBar}He said much of his coach success traces back not only to good parenting – both his dad (Wilbur) and mom (CleoMae) were educators – but superb high school coaches which included Dave Driscoll (football), Ben Sierra (basketball) and Jake Zaski (baseball).
“When asked who the biggest male impact on my life is, invariably I say other than my dad, it was definitely my high school coaches,” Dungy said.
Dungy has always valued his family and roots. His largest coaching mentors are Chuck Noll, Bill Walsh, Dennis Green and Marty Schottenheimer.
From them he pulled out much more than football drills and strategy, instead preaching family over the job.
He’s also never been a yeller and is regarded as a player’s coach.
No wonder then, he’s tried to help arguably the NFL’s most vilified star Michael Vick over the last several months.
Dungy visited Vick in prison and has talked with him several times since his release.
“I think he’s progressing very well,” Dungy said. “I’m just trying to offer advice, friendship and counsel.”
Despite leaving the coaching ranks and turning to philanthropic endeavors, Dungy is clearly not turning his back to the NFL.
He said that the NFL’s tarnished and thuggish off-the-field image and culture had nothing to do with him leaving. In fact, he said, if anything he left to help polish that wayward and misguided image.
“Part of our (Red Zone) show, in fact, is to show just how great most of these guys are,” he said. “I want the high school kids to see the real stories, the real face of the NFL, guys like Peyton Manning and Adam Vinatieri and Joseph Addai and Bob Sanders to see their great stories and that they are really good people in this business.
“Honestly the one negative about leaving the game is that I really miss being around those guys and those type of guys on a daily basis.”
One of the upsides is he’ll get to watch is son Eric Dungy, a 6-foot-1, 170-pound receiver and safety for defending state champion Plant (Tampa, Fla.), much more frequently. The younger Dungy is ranked the 45th best player in the Tampa region by the bigcountypreps.com.
“That’s a big perk for sure,” Tony Dungy said. “That’s another big reason to get up in the morning.”
