Lovie Smith and Tony Dungy are rooting for each other to become first black coaches in the Super Bowl

	Lovie Smith was an assistant coach on Tony Dungy's staff in Tampa Bay from 1996 to 2000. Now, they are a game away from going head-to-head in the Super Bowl. Bob Rosato/SI, Simon Bruty/SI

By Don Banks, SI.com

They talked about it on Monday -- the two old friends and potential opponents -- now that the Super Bowl is tantalizingly within reach. Well, at least Lovie Smith talked. Tony Dungy mostly listened. The Colts' always-composed head coach has been this close twice before and came away disappointed both times, so naturally he's hesitant to even let his mind linger on the possibility.

"I've thought about it, but I've never dared to say it,'' Dungy told me late Tuesday night, at the end of a long day of game-planning for Sunday's AFC Championship with New England. "But Lovie talks about it. He brought it up when we talked on Monday. I said we hoped we could make that happen. He's mentioned to me several times he'd definitely like to see it be us against them in the Super Bowl.''

One more win by both the Bears and Colts and Smith gets his wish: He and Dungy, the man who gave him his first NFL coaching job, in Tampa Bay in 1996, would go down in the record books together as the first two black head coaches in Super Bowl history.

"I have voiced that dream to Tony,'' said Smith on Tuesday, taking a break from preparing his Bears for the visiting Saints in Sunday's NFC title game. "There's no way to get around that. It's a natural thing to want. I'm proud to be a part of Tony Dungy's coaching tree, and nothing would bring greater joy to me than for both of us to be there.

"I was hoping that honor would have happened already for Tony. My goal [in Tampa Bay] was to help Tony be the first black coach to go to the Super Bowl. But we came up short. That's disappointing, because I really wanted it to be Tony, for all he's done for our profession. I just saw him being in that role.''