Dungy Name Dropping
The last thing I’d like for you to do is to read this post and think that I don’t like Tony Dungy. That’s not the case at all. I recently completed reading his book “Quiet Strength” and really enjoyed it. I’ve always respected him as a coach and as a person. However, it does irk me whenever some athlete or coach gets into trouble and then quickly drops Tony’s name and says they are going to work with him to resolve their problems. As if Dungy were some oracle who has all the answers. The latest case is Mike Locksley, head coach for New Mexico. The media and fans shouldn’t let these guys off the hook just because they are seeking out Dungy for advice and I think that the perception from coaches and athletes in trouble is that they should. Dungy has a lot of great things to say, but I feel like the modern athlete is too selfish, spoiled and undisciplined to listen and apply them to their lives to achieve real change. Instead, I see this as becoming “Oops, I screwed up again, better tell the reporters that I’m going to talk to Dungy about this.” I will say this though, I don’t like Tony being used as a scapegoat, however, I do wish more and more athletes and coaches would read his books and modeled their lives after Tony. The sports scene would be radically different. And in my opinion, since we are a behavior modelling society, our entire culture could potentially be changed.
“You should never be defined by what you do, by the things you have; you’ve got to define yourself by who you are and who you impact and how you impact people” – Tony Dungy