Colts coach deserves credit for offering opportunities

	Tony Dungy celebrates after his Colts beat the Pats 38-34 on Sunday to advance to Super Bowl XLI. Kevin Terrell/WireImage
	MAILBAG Submit a comment or question for Jeffri. Your name: Your e-mail address: Your home town: Enter your question:

The best thing I can say about the Colts' Tony Dungy today isn't that he's joined Chicago's Lovie Smith as the first black head coaches to lead their teams to the Super Bowl. Dungy's legacy goes far beyond that grand accomplishment. What's also impressive about him is the way he's opened doors for other minority coaches in the league over the last 11 years, men like Smith, Kansas City's Herm Edwards and Minnesota defensive coordinator Mike Tomlin, who's expected today to be named the third head coach in the last 38 years in Pittsburgh. All served as assistants under Dungy when he coached in Tampa Bay from 1996 to 2001, as did Detroit head coach Rod Marinelli. Now they're part of a growing fraternity, one that Dungy has quietly created.

As much as we can celebrate minorities breaking through to the NFL's biggest game, we should also start recognizing the more subtle success of Dungy. Yes, he shares this stage with Smith, who rightly deserves credit for how he's changed the Bears fortunes during his three-year tenure in Chicago. But Dungy has never been a coach who's received enough notoriety for his contributions to the game. The man is establishing a strong coaching lineage that might some day rival the coaching trees of men like Walsh, Holmgren and Parcells. There's something to be said for a coach who is so deft at identifying future leaders -- and in Dungy's case, there's a bit of irony as well.

Today it's easy to forget how long Dungy had to wait to find his own break as a head coach. I can still remember how often his name came up during coaching searches in the mid-1990's, back when he was a talented Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator who usually was passed over after various interviews. I always wondered what Dungy wasn't doing or what owners couldn't see in the man back then. Now I suspect that he showed those men the same Tony Dungy that we watch on the sidelines every Sunday: a man with a stoic, resolute and spiritual nature that can easily be misinterpreted as soft or uninspiring. Too many NFL owners like to hire coaches who can make a big splash. Dungy's impact always has come through steady faith and a belief that as long as you do what you do, you'll eventually realize your dreams.

When I look at those coaches who once worked as Dungy's assistants, I see those same qualities. You can't spend any time around the Chicago Bears without understanding the calming influence that Smith has on that team. Regardless of what was happening with the Bears this year, Smith maintained a sense of focus and confidence that carried them to their first NFC Championship in 21 years. On a lesser scale, Edwards, who made three playoff appearances in five seasons with the Jets, did the same thing in Kansas City. When the Chiefs started 0-2, he showed his players a list of 10 other teams in the same predicament and explained that there was no reason the Chiefs couldn't rise from that mess to make the playoffs. Fourteen weeks later, they won the AFC's sixth wild-card spot on the final game of the season.

Now the NFL will see what Tomlin, at 34, the league's youngest head coach, can do in Pittsburgh. Something tells me he's going to bring similar stability to a team one year removed from its fifth Super Bowl title. He's already blown the Steelers front office away during his interview process. Now he just has to follow the same blueprint established by all of Dungy's ex-assistants, the one that is built on consistency and simplicity. That approach has helped Dungy win 63.3 percent of his games in his 11-year tenure as a head coach, so it can't hurt for a young newcomer to steal a couple moves from his old boss.

I'd also bet that some time in the next week, all these men will take a few moments to appreciate their bonds and collective success. You have to understand this isn't merely about the Super Bowl. It's about a cultural shift. It's about progress. It's about recognizing that we've often missed the same things those owners missed when they passed over Dungy a decade ago. That he has a crafty way of impacting people's lives and putting them on a road to success. And by being that kind of man, he's done more to further the cause for minority hiring than most of us can truly understand.