After 13 NFL Seasons Tony Dungy Walks Off into the Sunset

Ever since winning the Super Bowl with his Indianapolis Colts after the 2006 regular season Tony Dungy has taken time to reflect and decide whether he would come back and coach again or retire. After the San Diego Chargers beat his Indianapolis Colts in overtime in the Wild-card playoff game, the legendary coach said he would take about a week to figure out if he was going to come back for a 14th season. All has been answered as Tony Dungy has decided to walk off into the sunset and retire after 13 NFL seasons and one amazing career (source: espn.com).

The move came as no surprise to those who knew the 53-year-old Dungy best. He almost retired after last season but agreed to come back after the Colts owner Jim Irsay agreed to let Dungy use his private jet to fly to Tampa to be with his family as much as possible and to name Jim Caldwell as Dungy's eventual replacement. Caldwell coached with Dungy in the 2001 season in Tampa Bay as the quarterbacks coach and followed Dungy over to the colts in the 2002 season with the same role. Caldwell's loyalty and patience will pay off as the associate coach is slated to be the next head coach for the Indianapolis Colts (source: espn.com).

Tony Dungy leaves the game of football as a lock for the NFL Hall of Fame. In his thirteen years as a head coach with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Indianapolis Colts Dungy racked up an amazing 148 career victories (including the playoffs) and ranks 19^th all time in victories. He was the first black head coach to win a Super Bowl, the first coach in league history to make 10 consecutive appearances in the playoffs and the only coach in league history to coach a team to 12 or more victories in six straight seasons (source: espn.com).

Dungy is expected to spend much of his time now focusing on his family and the many programs he is involved with in the community such as All-Pro Dads, prison ministry and being a mentor to teenagers and young adults. He was indeed a class act in the NFL as a head coach and will no doubt be a class act in his life after football. Tony Dungy can certainly hold his head up high and walk off into the sunset knowing the impact he had on his players and the game of professional football itself. Thanks Tony, not only will the NFL and all your players miss you, but we the fans will as well.