Chucky’s Selection The Correct Call
May 31st, 2017
Chucky’s bling sealed the deal.
It was both right and just.
As you probably heard during the “emergency” Ira Kaufman Podcast that posted at midnight, the Custodian of Canton, famed JoeBucsFan.com columnist eye-RAH! Kaufman (known as “Irv” in some circles) seemed to have a bit of a raisin stuck between his teeth over yesterday’s news that the Bucs will induct the best coach in their history, Chucky, into the Buccaneers Ring of Honor this fall.
No, eye-RAH! was not remotely suggesting Chucky isn’t worthy. Quite the opposite. However, eye-RAH! wondered aloud about the timing.
It seems eye-RAH! is of the mind Father Dungy, who is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, may have warranted induction into the Bucs Ring of Honor before Chucky.
To this, Joe has one word. “Rubbish!”
Now Joe is not suggesting Father Dungy is undeserving of the same honor. He did turn what was a moribund franchise around into a playoff contender. That was a helluva job.
What sealed the deal for Joe? Chucky hoisted the Vince Lombardi Trophy aloft in victory in on a chilly January night in San Diego.
Father Dungy never got the Bucs to a Super Bowl.
Scoreboard, Chucky!
Not only is Chucky the lone Bucs coach to win a championship, he also has the most wins of any Bucs coach (54).
This was a no-brainer for Joe. An absolute, clear-cut, slam-dunk, stone-cold, lead-pipe-lock, no-brainer.
To suggest Father Dungy should get in the Ring of Honor before a guy who won the team’s lone Super Bowl is a complete and direct slap in the face to Chucky. To suggest Father Dungy get into the Ring of Honor before Chucky on the laurels of Father Dungy’s time in Indianapolis would be like saying Joe Torre should be elected to the St. Louis Cardinals’ Hall of Fame before Tony La Russa because Torre won more World Series with the Yankees! (Torre was an awful manager for the Cardinals and a slightly above-average player for the Redbirds.)
Let’s be frank: Had Father Dungy hung up his clipboard and whistle after he was dismissed by the Bucs, there is no way in heck he’d ever have a bust in Canton.
Joe commends Team Glazer for making the correct, right and just call here. For Chucky to be inducted in the same season as Malcolm Glazer, who saved the Bucs from possibly moving, should be humbling for the former Bucs ball boy.
Team Glazer was spot-on calling Chucky this year. As the one and only Chris “Mad Dog” Russo would say, “That’s all there is to it.”
May 31st, 2017 at 8:15 am
Chucky over Dungy is an easy call – for exactly the reason Joe stated – Super Bowl victory! Gruden won it all and Dungy almost certainly wouldn’t have if he hadn’t lucked into a ready made offense in Indy. In fact – Tony Dungy likely cost this franchise another Super Bowl victory with his stubbornness – maybe 2…
May 31st, 2017 at 8:16 am
Agreed, Joe. Gruden did what Dungy couldn’t…
May 31st, 2017 at 8:22 am
Dungy even held the Colts back!!!!! I have never seen a coach get fired and (he says retired) but in fact was pushed out!!!!! And the teams, the very next year were better and both in the Super bowls!!! Hall of Fame my azz!!!!!!!!!!!
May 31st, 2017 at 8:22 am
Joe, I’ll give you props. You wrote a whole article about Gruden, mentioned him multiple times, and never wrote the name “John Gruden”! Impressive. Lol
May 31st, 2017 at 8:28 am
It is truly right and just.
May 31st, 2017 at 8:37 am
You guys are hilarious insinuating Gruden did what Dungy couldn’t. There is one simple fact, the Bucs would not have a ring without BOTH! Now there is the possibility that Dungy could have gotten one if we didn’t pick up Gruden, and to whom is a better coach is debatable and will never really be settled but….
WE WOULDN’T HAVE A RING WITHOUT BOTH! They are both the top 2 Bucs coaches all time.
Dirk will supplant them soon though…
May 31st, 2017 at 8:37 am
Both are great coaches and did things that furthered the franchise.
But…Gruden got the trophy. You can rationalize, and be correct in saying many of the players were brought in by Dungy. But so were many players brought in by Gruden that played a huge role in winning the championship. Gruden should go first.
May 31st, 2017 at 8:58 am
He got the ring. He deserves the circle.
Now, when I hear people say he got Dungy’s team to the SB, wouldn’t that mean Bill Callahan got Gruden’s team to the SB too? What’s the difference?
That said, his limitations were in personnel, and I wonder what could have been if he would have accepted that, and teamed with a strong GM who had a pedigree in drafting college talent.
May 31st, 2017 at 9:25 am
Eric, you’re right and wrong. Gruden wouldn’t have won without the players that were in place in a large part, except for the best players, by Dungy. However, Dungy would NEVER have won the SB with his lax on the offense. Dungy also didn’t draft our top 3 players, 99,55,47. Dungy benefited from Wyche, Gruden benefited from Dungy. I love Dungy, but he couldn’t get it done. This is the right choice. Dungy deserves to get in next, though.
May 31st, 2017 at 9:29 am
Don’t forget a few of Sam’s players helped Tony turn around the Bucs.
May 31st, 2017 at 9:44 am
No Buccaneeric75, I was just saying its debatable if dungy could have won if he had stayed. Im not giving an opinion on that because nobody will ever know and it’s dumb to argue really.
I get that Dungy benefited from Wyche and all that but regardless of who is on the roster, it’s up to the coach to get the best out of those players. Dungy did an excellent job. You can’t guarantee that Greg Schiano for example would have done what Dungy did with those players.
It’s all a butterfly effect. We wouldn’t have a ring without acquiring gruden, we wouldn’t have gruden without dungy, we wouldn’t have the elite defense without dungy, we wouldn’t have an elite defense without 99,55,47, and we wouldn’t have them without wyche.
We wouldn’t have JW without Licht, we wouldn’t have licht without lovie, we wouldn’t have lovie without schiano, we wouldn’t have schiano without raheem, etc.
Last but not least we won’t have a ring in the next several years without JABOO! It all worked out and I feel like the last decade will be worth the wait if JW comes through for us.
Nothing better than being at the top than starting from the bottom.
May 31st, 2017 at 9:48 am
The people who pick TD over JG forget how mind-numbingly dull the offense was. 1st down… Keyshawn in motion, counter to Dunn. You could set your clock to it.
May 31st, 2017 at 9:53 am
Agreed Joe. Tony Dungy will have his day. Anyone who thinks Dungy should go in before Gruden likely believes Gruden won with Dungy’s team. Changing the culture is not a greater accomplishment than winning a Super Bowl.
Tony Dungy was a bit overrated as a coach. He only won one Super Bowl as a head coach thanks to Rex Grossman being Rex Grossman. He never won Coach of the Year honors. Jimmy Johnson has two super bowls and one COTY honor and he isn’t in the Hall of Fame.
Those of you pining for Dungy must not remember what the feeling was like around Tampa Bay in 2000 and 2001. Most people thought the team underachieved and that Dungy was to blame. In hindsight, they were right.
May 31st, 2017 at 10:00 am
obviously Chucky Should get in before the guy named Tony
May 31st, 2017 at 10:02 am
Dungy got run only after he refused to spitcan Mike Shula and his anemic offense.
Blind loyalty and stubbornness… trademarks of the Dungy era in Tampa.
The Glazers didn’t fire Dungy, he fired himself.
May 31st, 2017 at 10:23 am
Also Joe, what really set Gruden off was a nicey nice, 3 hour dinner/data dump with the Glazers when they planned to can him all along.
Shrewd business? Maybe so. But hanging a Super Bowl Coach out like yesterday’s laundry isn’t exactly a Dale Carnegie move. It’s a small community now called the FFCA. You wonder why Parcells, Jimmy Johnson, etc wouldn’t work for these bush league clowns?
May 31st, 2017 at 10:39 am
Shula was fired by Team Glazer after Dungy refused to fire him. Dungy never won another playoff game with the Bucs after that.
May 31st, 2017 at 10:55 am
@scoremore
Don’t forget a few of Sam’s players helped
Amen!!! In fact would we have won the SB without Sapp? Brooks? Lynch? All three? !!!!
The player we most assuredly not have had if Tony had come a year sooner is Sapp. Remember how he dropped because of the “character” issues and weed?
Dungy would have never pulled the trigger on the draft pick…Wyche did.
May 31st, 2017 at 10:57 am
you know what’s funny about sapp?
If he was a player today with the social media as it is, he wouldn’t last a season. That dude is a daily target for cell phone video recordings, his rep would have been dead day 1 and most likely in jail.
May 31st, 2017 at 11:43 am
Of course Chucky should get in first. Super Bowl winner. No brainer.
And Dungy deserves it in the future. One of the best defensive runs in league history. Broke the streak of 15 years of losing.
Monte after Dungy IMO. He was a central figure in the turn around AND the Super Bowl win.
All bucs fans should revere those guys. One need only look at the complete train wreck and repeated humiliations we have endured post Dungy/Gruden.
Please let it be that we are finally breaking through now.
May 31st, 2017 at 12:22 pm
Gruden deserves it, plain and simple.
Dungy will get there. He too, deserves it.
May 31st, 2017 at 12:45 pm
Dungy should be in the Rams ring of honor
May 31st, 2017 at 8:03 pm
It’s articles like this when I wonder when Joe started watching Bucs football.
May 31st, 2017 at 8:07 pm
Gruden OC 2018 !
June 1st, 2017 at 10:04 am
The Bucs cannot pass up Dungy forever. The Bucs were the laughing stock of the NFL for a vert long time. Dungy was truly instrumental in changing our team. And a lot of us ole heads know it. I’m fine with Chucky getting his. But Dungy better be next!