Is Tony Dungy Hall of Fame Worthy?

Is Canton ready for Tony Dungy?

 

In considering the question of Tony Dungy's worthiness of making the NFL Hall of Fame, there are two relevant questions:  How does Coach Dungy rank among his peers and how does Coach Dungy rank against those coaches already enshrined in Canton.  It is our opinion that Tony Dungy deserves enshrinement based on the following merits: 
 

1.  His excellent coaching record - At a remarkable 139-69, Tony's winning % sits at a lofty .668. This is 9th best all time (100 games). He sits behind names like Madden, Lombardi (as in trophy), Shula and Halas. He did this as a head coach of two of the typically worst franchises in the NFL. In fact, the combined record of Tampa and Indianapolis franchises without Tony is 265 and 314 for a .458 mark. Tony has led the Colts to 7 playoff appearances and 7 seasons of 10 wins or more. Under all other coaches in Indianapolis, the Colts have a total of 5 playoff appearances and 2 seasons of 10 wins or more. He has made the playoffs in 11 of the 13 years he coached. He has won 6 division championships and taken his team to 3 conference title games. He also won a Super Bowl. 
 

2.  His innovations to the Cover 2 defense - More than just posting a great record, Tony also proved to be an innovator, helping to tweak the classic cover two to fit his personnel in Tampa. The end result was the much copied Tampa 2 in which the MLB drops deeper over the middle and the front four provide all the pressure, while quick, sure tackling LBs hold the gaps. Tony wasn't just a manager of players, but an innovative game planner who left his mark on the way football is played. 
 

3.  A successful coaching tree - Tony has produced a very solid run of coaches. This speaks to his wider impact on the NFL. The following men are all Dungy protégées: Herm Edwards, Lovie Smith, Rod Marinelli, Jim Caldwell and Mike Tomlin. 
 

4.  Social implications - This is only fourth on the list. Tony has earned the Hall on the strength of his coaching resume. While the plaques of several men in Cooperstown mention being instrumental in Jackie Robinson's entrance to MLB, Jackie's plaque says nothing about him being the first black player. He got in on his own merit as a player. So should Tony as a coach. That being said, if anyone thinks his resume still needs a boost, they should remember that Tony is the first African-American coach to win a Super Bowl; his plight and struggles to get hired in the mid-90s called attention to the struggles of African American coaches to receive a fair look; his coaching tree which has always had many black coaches in it, struggled to get started because of exactly that fact.  Tony's overall win totals are suppressed due to the difficulty he had in attaining a head coaching position early in his career.  While other coaches were hired as young assistants, for racial reasons, Tony was made to wait. 
 

5. His rank among his peers - At this stage we arrive at the first of the critical questions for enshrinement.  In assessing this question, we compiled a list of Dungy's contemporaries who are not currently in the Hall of Fame. 

 

 
 

CoY=Coach of the Year awards (either NFL or Conference.  Totaled per season in which the award was given) 
 

From the preceding chart we make the following observations: 
 

Regular season observations:

1. Dungy has climbed this list strictly on regular season wins.  In part, that is due to the racial issues we discussed earlier.  In winning percentage, however, Dungy is at the top. 
2. Dungy and George Siefert have had very similar careers in many respects.  The main difference would be that Siefert inherited one of the all time great NFL teams in the 49ers of the late 80s.  His first Super Bowl was the second of the back to back wins the 49ers had.  He was largely taking Bill Walsh's team over.  Dungy on the other hand, took over two franchises with a history of losing.  Neither Tampa nor Indianapolis had made the playoffs the year before Dungy took over.
3. Bill Belichick, largely considered a lock for the Hall of Fame and rightly so, has a regular season record that is depressed in large part to an unsuccessful stint in Cleveland.  He was given a second chance, and made good on it.  One wonders if Dungy would have gotten a second chance if he had failed as badly the first time out.  This is not a knock on Belichick at all.  He deserved another go, and made good on it.  It is merely a statement on the racial climate during Dungy's early years as a coach.
4. This list clearly places Dungy at the head of the class among his relative peers.  He won the highest percentage of games and did so with historically bad franchises.

 
Post season observations:

1. Belichick's record is ridiculously good.
2. Dungy's nine post season wins is middle of the pack.  His winning percentage is toward the bottom of the group.
3. Shockingly, there are only five coaches on this list with more Super Bowl wins than Dungy (one).  Belichick, Siefert, Johnson, Shanahan, and Parcels.  Winning a second Super Bowl is extremely difficult.

 
 

Overall assessment of Dungy's rank among his peers:

Dungy is clearly at home among this list of the best coaches of his generation, and is one of the stars of it.  His record lags behind Belichick's 3 Super Bowl wins and is similar to Parcels' track record at multiple franchises (took 4 different teams to the playoffs).  His record is essentially identical to Siefert's, although earned under very different circumstances.  His numbers are also much better to than Holmgren's, Cowhers, and Andy Reid's.  Holmgren and Cowher did bring multiple teams to the Super Bowl.   Dungy's incredible winning percentage helps to separate him from his peers, whose coaching numbers are similar, though they lack the significant contributions that Dungy made in other areas (innovation and race). 
 

6.  His rank among current Hall of Fame coaches - This now leads us to the second of the two major questions-Where would Tony Dungy stand up against other modern (read: Super Bowl era) coaches? 
 

Of the 21 coaches currently in the Hall of Fame, 12 roughly fall during at least part of the Super Bowl Era.  They are: 
 

Don Shula

Tom Landry

Hank Stram

Weeb Eubanks

Bill Walsh

Bud Grant

Chuck Noll

John Madden

Vince Lombardi

Marv Levy

Joe Gibbs

George Allen 
 

Of those 12, the following are clearly a step above the rest:

Shula (2-3 in SB), Landry (2-3), Walsh (3-0), Noll (4-0), Lombardi (2-0, plus 3 NFL titles), Gibbs (3-1) 
 

It takes 3 trips to the Super Bowl just to make that list (excusing Lombardi who they named the trophy after). 
 

That leaves the following coaches left to compare to Tony Dungy:

Hank Stram, Weeb Eubanks, Bud Grant, John Madden, Marv Levy, George Allen

The following chart serves to compare these coaches to Dungy. 
 

 
 

Observations:

1. Dungy is in the upper tier of the coaches in terms of career wins.  In terms of winning percentage, he clearly belongs. 
2. Most of the men on this list had other contributions to football.  Weeb Ewbank won multiple NFL championships and was head coach of one of the most important upsets in NFL history (Super Bowl III).  John Madden had an amazing win percentage and also made a huge impact as an announcer and video game personality.  Hank Stram was a legendary AFL coach and instrumental in the early days of the league. 
3. Grant and Levy are on the list by virtue of taking their teams to 4 Super Bowls.  This enormity of this accomplishment overshadows the fact that they lost all those games.
4. Dungy's playoff record is right at home on this list. 

 
 

Overall assessment of Dungy's place among the Hall of Fame Coaches:

Dungy clearly belongs.  If not for institutional racism, he might already be higher on the all time win list.  The additional accomplishments of innovation, trail blazing, and trend setting in coaching style help to differentiate him from his peers and would make him a worthy addition to the Hall of Fame where he would be placed alongside other men who impacted and changed football. 
 

It seems clear that Coach Dungy has established himself among the greats.  If he never returns to football, his place among the immortals of the game is already assured.