A Look Back At The Dungy Way
December 17th, 2010
Lord of the Bull Rush, former Bucs defensive end Steve White, talked about team discipline today during an interview on The Fabulous Sports Babe Show on 1040AM.
White relayed a story from 1996, Father Dungy’s first season, when the head coach broke out the overhead projector to illustrate a few points to his young squad. This day’s lesson was on staying out of trouble.
White said Dungy emphasized three elements that are always involved when there’s off-the-field trouble.
1) It’s after midnight.
2) Alcohol and drugs are consumed.
3) A strange woman is nearby.
“Everyone in the room that day, even if they didn’t heed the message, they heard it,” White said.
Joe had to laugh. Thinking of the debauchery Joe’s engaged in that potentially could have landed him in handcuffs, Nos. 2 and 3 were always part of the equation.
Joe wonders whether Mark Dominik and Raheem Morris would ever consider asking Father Dungy to speak to the team when it returns for the 2011 season. Heck, Chucky shuffled in Tiger Woods to rub off on the Bucs and stand on the sidelines, surely a lecture from Father Dungy would be more appropriate.
December 17th, 2010 at 4:41 pm
Wasn’t it Tyoka Jackson who got arrested for a hooker under Dungy’s watch? No coach is immune to the bad boyz!
December 17th, 2010 at 5:07 pm
Lightningbuc,
I think Dwight Smith had one of his under Dungy and Gruden. I know Indy had 4 or 5 arrests or problems under Dungy. So, I agree. All head coaches will have them, just some more times than other head coaches.
December 17th, 2010 at 5:10 pm
Joe,
Come on now, Tiger Woods wasn’t arrested. He just wasn’t a good husband!
December 17th, 2010 at 5:41 pm
Here is a interesting website i found…. you can see its not just a Bucs or Raheem Morris thing. Check out the Colt’s more than a few of those guys had issue’s under Father Dungy’s watch
http://www.signonsandiego.com/nfl/arrests-database/?appSession=880273713598331&RecordID=&PageID=2&PrevPageID=2&cpipage=1&CPIsortType=desc&CPIorderby=Team
December 17th, 2010 at 6:20 pm
d-money,
Profootballtalk.com has a section/link called turd watch, which is similar and from police blotters.
December 17th, 2010 at 7:20 pm
LOL @ turd watch.
December 17th, 2010 at 7:45 pm
Those are my three lifetime goals!
Rah cannot be held responsible for these guys except for their play on Sundays IMO.
Not that I think Dungy was wrong for saying those things, but if a player failed to abide it is on them, not Dungy and not Raheem either.
December 17th, 2010 at 9:26 pm
They say nothing good happens after 2 AM. I dunno, I had some good things happen while I was out and about after 2 AM when I was single.
December 17th, 2010 at 9:47 pm
Eric,
of course it is not the coaches fault directly for the stupid and wrongful acts of the players. However, a coach can be responsible if offenses continue because they are not dealt with appropriately by the HC.
It is not the isolated and random act by a player that is the problem, it is the repeated and continuous indiscretions that if not dealt with appropriately
tend to snowball.
We are not at a critical mass yet, but it is worth discussion that at least from what is shared publicly that Rah treats these issues lightly.
It is undeniable that certain coaches and certain styles of coaching continuously have these kinds of problems while others dont.
The bottom line: if rah-rah and the org doesnt act strongly and swiftly when these kids step out of line they will continue to test their limits. It has and will effect them on the field.
December 18th, 2010 at 12:07 am
If a guy is a big enough idiot to throw away an NFL career, with no skill set to provide anyhere near comparable income, what the heck can Rah do to further get through to him?
They gotta know the league has cracked down on a lot of guys already. Remember there is a players association and the teams hands are not completely free to do what they want.
I see no nexus between Rah’s management style and these grown adult men acting stupidly. This aint a High School Team where Rah is teaching life character skills. Look at the run of morons Lewis had in Cinci.
December 18th, 2010 at 8:09 am
Steve’s comment about Dungy’s speech was that you usually had one of those three elements and that if you eliminate all of them, you are making your situation better. Not that all there were present for every arrest. Joe.
December 19th, 2010 at 10:50 am
I never liked Dungy, or his self professed Christian morality. While he was pimping his “All Pro Dad” program, his son committed suicide. Lucky we all didn’t join that bandwagon. During his tenure, our community was ravaged by John Lynch and Derek Brooks, who Dungy lionized as examples of virtue. When the national media would showcase Lynch’s wife handing him a note before a game like “Onward Christian soldier”, I would feel like puking. When I would see Derek Brooks taking under age girls to Africa, only to bring them home pregnant, I for one was outraged. When these scumbags started calling my 17 year old daughter for a hook up, it was time for me to step up and be an “All Pro Dad” and said, “Hell No!” It wasn’t just one Buccaneer hounding her, it was half a dozen. When the rhetorical question was asked, “Who let the dogs out”, it was Dungy, because he ran a loose ship bordering on criminal.