The first African American coach to ever win a Super Bowl is coming to The Villages this week.
Hall of Famer Tony Dungy, who led the Indianapolis Colts and superstar quarterback Peyton Manning to victory in Super Bowl XLI at the end of the 2006 season, will be at Barnes & Noble in Lake Sumter Landing on Wednesday, Jan. 30 to sign copies of his new book titled “The Soul of a Team: A Modern-Day Fable for Winning Teamwork.”
The event gets under way at 7 p.m. and Villagers will have the chance to briefly chat with Dungy as they get their books signed by the man who also coached the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Dungy, who currently serves as an analyst on NBC’s “Football Night in America,” is a New York Times bestselling author. “The Soul of a Team” is his seventh book and it is written from a perspective of helping leaders transform teams or organizations. In fact, Dungy points out that being successful requires mastering the art of teamwork.
“Whether at work, school, church or home, virtually everyone is part of a team – and when they work well, teams can accomplish more than individuals working by themselves,” the book’s overview says.
Dungy, who also won a Super Bowl as a player with the Pittsburgh Steelers, points out that all teams are not created equal. He says that when a team isn’t functioning well, individual strengths oftentimes are undermined and weaknesses become glaring, which makes the work environment a “terrible” place to be. And also talks about some of the issues that hold a team back while also laying out a game plan to achieve winning teamwork.
Dungy, who retired after the 2008 season, was the first NFL coach to defeat all 32 teams. He also was the youngest assistant coach in NFL history at age 25 and the youngest coordinator at age 28.
Dungy was fired by the Bucs after the 2001 season and eight days later was hired as head coach of the Colts. Tampa Bay went on to win the Super Bowl the following season under new head coach Jon Gruden but many NFL insiders and fans alike credit Dungy with putting together the team that brought Tampa Bay the championship trophy.
Dungy’s contributions also are known to have had a great effect on the diversity of the NFL, including the creation of the Rooney Rule by Steelers owner Dan Rooney, which requires teams to interview minority coaches when they have openings. Many current and former head coaches can trace their roots to Dungy. Those include Lovie Smith (Chicago Bears, Tampa Bay Bucs, University of Illinois); Leslie Frazier (Minnesota Vikings); Mike Tomlin (Pittsburgh Steelers); Jim Caldwell (Indianapolis Colts, Detroit Lions); Rod Marinelli (Detroit Lions); Mike Shula (University of Alabama); and Herman Edwards (New York Jets, Kansas City Chiefs, Arizona State University).
