What Does Tony Dungy Show Respect

“Respect isn’t a right. We aren’t entitled to it, and we can never earn it by demanding it. It’s something we earn because of our character—and by giving it to others. If we want to be respected, we have to show ourselves to be worthy of it, not by our status, possessions, or accomplishments, but by honesty, integrity, and responsibility.” Although this quote is from one of Tony Dungy’s other books, it displays how seriously Tony Dungy takes respect. Tony shows that he sincerely believes in showing a great amount of respect multiple times in his book, Quiet Strength: The Principles, Practices, and Priorities of a Winning Life, to everyone who deserves it, including his coaches, his players, and especially to his parents and family.

Throughout

his book, Tony consistently gives credit to his former coaches for things he learned during his early football career and can now apply in his head coaching, starting with his high school football coach, Coach Driscoll, and junior high school administrator, Mr. Rockquemore, all the way through assistant coaching under Coach Dennis Green with the Minnesota Vikings. He never forgets to give credit where credit is due. The first example he gives is when he decided to quit playing football his senior season because his best friend did not make captain while Tony did. Mr. Rockquemore had to talk to Tony multiples times before he finally convinced him to agree to ask Coach Driscoll if he could return to the team. Driscoll told Tony that he and the others who had quit alongside Tony would “’have to do some extra stuff to earn your way back.’ He mentioned extra running, washing the dishes at camp, and so forth, as his requirements ‘if I’m going to let you back’” (Ch. 3, pgs. 24-25). Tony began to get visibly upset and Mr. Rockquemore had to give Tony “a look.” At this point, Tony begins to explain how this situation would be mimicked years later, with Tony as the coach giving the same look to one of his players at a press conference before a game. A look that kept him “quiet and in his seat.”

Tony continues to revert back to coaches’ teachings while he explains the methods that he chose to use while being head coach for the Bucs and the Colts.

In building up the program in Tampa, he used many of Coach Walsh’s teachings from when he was playing in San Francisco. “Chuck Noll always reminded us that ‘Football is what you are doing right now, but it’s not your life’s work’” (Ch. 5, pg. 57). Dungy got his “family oriented” hours from Noll as well, meaning he never made his (Coach Noll’s) assistant coaches work more hours than necessary. This ‘short amount of time in the office’ approach was reaffirmed when Dungy was under Marty Schottenheimer and his late-night film sessions that lasted until around two in the morning. As Tony continued, he also mentioned Coach Green giving him some media time that allowed Tony to experience talking in front of the cameras and allowing Tony to realize that he did not want to use a “OneVoice” doctrine like so many other teams did. These, along with many others, are examples of Tony Dungy’s constant showing of respect for people in authority

positions.

While Tony was showing respect for the coaches that had taught him many things throughout his life and career, he was also showing respect for his players.

Many of his players had families of their own, and Tony knew and understood that they needed time with their families as well. Therefore, he chose to maintain a “three days of preparation” routine, allowing his players family time when they had a game later in the week or a bye week. He also made sure that it was understood that for him to respect the players, they must also respect him, for respect is a two-way street. “I don’t yell a lot. In fact, yelling will be rare” (Ch. 9, pg. 105) This was one of the first things Tony said to his first team with the Bucs, and his “no yelling” tactic is one of the many reasons that he earned his players respect.

However, most importantly, Tony had a very high level of respect for his parents. “I can’t place a value on the lessons I learned and on the faith my parents imparted day after day after day. Actually, I can; the value is eternal” (Ch. 2, pg. 20). Tony learned many things from both his mother and his father, including the values of Christianity. He constantly used what they taught him when he was young throughout all scenarios and stages of his life, and this is what stuck out to me the most, how much he respected and listened to his parents, even as an

adult.

This, along with many other aspects of the book, helped me to realize how little I give credit to the wonderful mentors and teachers in my life that have assisted in forming the person that I am today. Although I highly respect every one of them, I never went to the next level of respect and gave credit to these people for all the laborious hours they spent pouring into my life. This truly opened my eyes to how God can do wondrous things through not only me, but those who have come before me and taught me what I know.