“Why Am I Voting For A Guy Who Won One Super Bowl?

February 17th, 2016

father dungySo how did Father Dungy get elected to the Hall of Fame during his third crack at glory this year?

The Custodian of Canton, eye-RAH Kaufman, the Tampa Bay area’s only Hall voter, exposed part of his strategy presenting Dungy two weeks ago.

Speaking on WHBO-AM 1040 last week, Kaufman explained that the repeated negativity fired at Dungy from Hall of Fame voters in previous years could be summed up by one question: “Why am I voting for a guy who won one Super Bowl?”

Multiple Super Bowl winners like Jimmy Johnson and Tom Flores have no gold jacket, Kaufman noted, so he had to attack the primary objection immediately in his pitch for Dungy.

“I started off [my presentation] saying, ‘Yes, Tony Dungy won one Super Bowl. One. That’s one more than the combined totals of Mr. Marv Levy, Bud Grant and George Allen. So you want to kick those guys out of the Hall of Fame? Of course not. That’s not the way we judge Hall of Fame coaches. We judge them by impact,'” Kaufman said.

“Once you know the objections, that allows you a little bit of an advantage second and third time around because you know what’s on the minds of the people in that room. And you better address it. You can’t let it go like it doesn’t exist.”

Kaufman also said a key nugget presented was winning an average of nearly 11 games per season, best ever after Jim Harbaugh’s short run in San Francisco.

Joe gets it, though Joe was not on board when Kaufman said Dungy’s coaching tree, Mike Tomlin, Rod Marinelli, Lovie Smith, etc., was a factor as it relates to Dungy’s impact on the game. Coaching tree? Really?

34 Responses to ““Why Am I Voting For A Guy Who Won One Super Bowl?”

  1. Greg Says:

    Absolute joke! He took an awful team and made them average. After he was fired for being completely inept on offense he went to the Colts who already had the best offense in football. He tried to go conservative in Indy but Peyton Manning went to the ownership and said Im not doing this. Tony Dungy was no longer allowed to interfere with the offense. A hall of fame coach that was restricted to only being allowed to work with the defense? Not a hall of famer. But then again he is Black and god forbid the NFL doesn’t celebrate every time a black person achieves mediocrity!

  2. Espo Says:

    The coaching tree just pads the resume. Why not?

  3. 1sparkybuc Says:

    Without Jim Caldwell and Peyton Mannin, he gets fired twice. Pathetic in playoffs with the Bucs and the Colts. Didn’t deserve HOF, and that’s from a Buc fan. JMO.

  4. The Buc Realist Says:

    I remember one game I saw, the colts were 4th and short, Tony D calls for the punt team, they run on the field and only to see Payton Manning telling them to go back to the sideline, Colts offense then got the first down!!! later Tony D said it was a “miscommunication” !!!

    Who is the real coach of the Colts!!! Payton Manning should be inducted twice as a first ballot Hall of Fame player and then as the Head Coach of the Colts!!!

    if those stats got Tony D in then Payton should be inducted for it as well!!!

    of course some say there were “other” reason they voted Tony D in!!!

  5. Mike Johnson Says:

    All I can say is Tony Dungy was responsible for turning a then..sorry A.. Nuc Franchise around. I vividly remember going to games with my dad where he was hoping and wishing. We were a complete laughing stock. A lot of teams barely warmed up for us. You know..kinda like we have been since our superbowl win. Give Dungy his props and let it go. And you faithful had better pray Koetter and his merrymen can turn this thing around. Because we have been cellerdwellers for quite some time. Batter up new regime. Show us what you got or join the long list of former 2yr wonders on the dock of the bay.

  6. Trubucfan22 Says:

    So by Ira’s logic, just because there are guys who haven’t won a Super Bowl that are in, Dungy who won 1 should get in. I guess every Super Bowl winning coach should be auto’d in. With that logic.

    He did turn around the Bucs organization, and I will be forever be grateful for those years. But he didn’t even make it to a super bowl with the Bucs.

    He then goes to the colts and hops on Manning’s back and gets taken for a ride by the best qb in the league. But could still only muster enough in the playoffs to make it to 1 Super Bowl. Jim Caldwell went to the super bowl the year after Dungy retired. It is a sad statement that both of your successors were able to make Super Bowl runs immediately after the team fired you.

    Dungy was a good coach in Tampa, if he could have taken us to at least 1 Super Bowl, win or lose, I would have supported him. But from what he did with the colts was hardly his doing, I can’t support a HOF bid for him.

  7. Hawaiian Buc Says:

    I get why an average fan wouldn’t want Dungy in the Hall of Fame. I do not, however, understand how any long term Bucs fan would have any problem with him making it. Have you already forgotten how bad we were for so long before he got to Tampa? We were the present Cleveland Browns. We were in far worse shape than what we are now. Hell, if Koetter can win 9 games this year I’m all for giving him a damn statue in front of the stadium. The list of great Buccaneer coaches is 1. Gruden, 2. Dungy. That’s the list, period. Without Dungy, we don’t get Gruden to take us over the top.

  8. AceofAerospace Says:

    Dungy should never have even been a finalist. I hope he enters as a Colt and not a Buc. The best thing he ever did for the Bucs was make Monte Kiffin his defensive coordinator. I’ll never forgive him for the Mike Shula/Clyde Christianson years. Wasted years. That defense would have won multiple Super Bowls with a better head coach.

  9. John McIntyre Says:

    I too, don’t understand Tony Dungy getting into the HOF. Yes he turned around our sad franchise, but isn’t that a coaches job? He’s not hall worthy just for doing his job, and he certainly didn’t do it anywhere else. The great team and talent was already there. I really feel that his election and the continued adoration from the networks is because he is ‘such a nice guy’. Not at all “Hall-worthy” in my opinion.

  10. Couch Fan Says:

    Dungy had an elite defense and then had an elite QB and only managed 1 super bowl. HOF worthy? I think not.

  11. salish_seamonster Says:

    Now, there will be some haters who disagree, but the fact that he was the first black coach to win a Superbowl is probably a decent reason to put him in. Combine that with the fact that he turned one of the worst franchises in all of sports into a winning organization (with some help from Rich McKay), and he’s got pretty solid credentials I’d say.

  12. Couch Fan Says:

    Oh and neither he put together but rather was gifted to him.

  13. DB55 Says:

    of course some say there were “other” reason they voted Tony D in!!!
    ————————–
    Prob the same reason Chris Carter got in, he works with the media. I’m no longer a fan of TD, mainly bc of his personal views/decisions/comments.

    I heard him say in an interview that he got in bc of the amount of HOFs he’s coached. As if Marvin Harrison, D Brooks, W Sapp weren’t getting in without TDs coaching. (Rolling my eyes)

  14. Dewey Selmon Says:

    Dungy didn’t draft any of those HOFer’s with. Wyche drafted Sapp/Brooks and Mannin/Harrison were in Indy before Dungy.

  15. Buccfan37 Says:

    Dungy got in as the first black head coach there. The TV gig was the push that landed him there.

  16. Dave Says:

    He turned a franchise around built an elite defense. Got them to the cusp of a SB.
    Then build a good defense in Indy and won a SB with the great offense there.
    How do you hold that against him???
    Should Belicheck get demerits because he has Brady?
    Tomlin sucks because he had a defense?
    Shula must suck, he never won with Marino.
    Walsh should be out because he had Montana.

    The logic is idiotic.

  17. Rrsrq Says:

    Hate on Haters, he’s in, period, like it or not, not a damn thing you can do about but express your irrelevant opinions, mine is irrelevant as well, didn’t have a vote this year…

  18. Phil Says:

    Jon Gruden is the one who should be in the Hall of Fame not Dungy. Jon didn’t have Manning for Quarterback. Jon Gruden walks on water. Tony can’t do that.

  19. Buc1987 Says:

    I scrolled down real fast in order to not read any of the comments first.

    Let me guess it’s a Dungy bash-fest in here?

    If so no thanks. Looking up now.

  20. Buc1987 Says:

    Yep.

    Thank you Tony Dungy.

  21. NewDayInTampa Says:

    Peyton Manning was the reason the Colts didn’t win more Superbowls how quickly you guys forget his nickname (The best regular season quarterback) so many bad throws in the playoffs.

  22. Bob in Valrico Says:

    @mike Johnson
    this is one time I have to agree with you.Dungy turned team around and started us on road to respectablility and had only one losing seson his,first at 6-10. his first year.We were the a bad team and he directed the bucs to a better win loss percentage than any coach
    in our history.Look it up! Now if he didn,t have that same maddening conservative approach as Lovie to offense he probably wouldn’t have been fired.

  23. Bucsfanman Says:

    It’s not up to us whether he’s deserving or not.
    As a Buc fan, Dungy will always have a place in my heart.
    Congrats Tony!

  24. Trubucfan22 Says:

    People saying gruden should be in the hall of fame. LOL. He had 1 good season. Get off of his nuts to.

    Dungy confirms the Hall of Fame is just that. Fame. They don’t care if you were medicocre or a super star, if you weren’t a media darling it makes no difference. TO, one of the best receivers (statsistically) to ever play the game did not get in. And it was all because the media hates him as a person. His resume speaks for it’s self, he is second to only Jerry freaking rice.

    The hall of fame voters are a joke.

  25. Destinjohnny Says:

    Love tony on soooooo many levels wow
    He is a hall of fame person and a really good coach.
    But I think this is more about the color of his skin.
    He had the talent here to win 4 Super Bowls….

  26. The Buc Realist Says:

    Might as well vote in John Lynch and start handing out Gold t-shirts instead of the coats!!!

    Welcome to the Hall-of-Popular!!!!

  27. DB55 Says:

    It’s hard to argue that TD deserves it more than JJ. JJ won championships at college and pro level. Same as Chris Carter over TO. #COM’ON MAN!

  28. Mitsurugi Says:

    First coach to defeat all 32 teams.

  29. Pickgrin Says:

    Hall worthy or not (questionable IMO) – Dungy was the orchestrator of the biggest turn around in Tampa Bay sports history.

    I’m sure many of you aren’t old enough or didn’t live here at the time or whatever – but for 13 years straight – the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were the most consistently pitiful team in all of professional sports. This 7 year run (2010 aside) of a crappy Bucs product we have had to endure since Gruden was fired is like a cake walk compared to how demoralizing it was to be a Buccaneers fan from 1983>1995.

    Tony Dungy, the group of coaches he brought in and the players who were already here changed all of that in a few short months – by the 2nd half of his first season as HC, Dungy had this team playing like winners and that carried over into the next year (1997) when the Bucs started off 5-0 and then won their 1st playoff game in 18 years.

    Dungy and the defensive coaches he hired built and fostered one of the most dominant and long lastingly excellent Defenses in the History of the NFL. And he brought hope and accomplishment and pride to the Tampa Bay area that was non-existent before his arrival.

    Yes “Father Dungy” was stubborn and loyal to a fault and his consistent lack of offensive production and inability to advance in the playoffs got him fired – but his presence here and leadership abilities almost instantly turned the Bucs franchise from perrenial doormats into consistent winners.

    Thank You Tony Dungy for your time and efforts here in Tampa Bay – and congratulations on your HOF induction.

    P.S. – You couldn’t have been more wrong about Jameis Winston….

  30. Hawaiian Buc Says:

    Great post Pickgrin. It’s shameful to me how alleged Buc fans can be so ungrateful towards a coach that did so much for this organization. While I do think we were a very good team, I really hate it when people say “we should have had x amount more championships”. That’s just plain stupid. Every championship team can say that. It’s hard to get to a Super Bowl, and even harder to win it. Getting to the playoffs every year is a helluva accomplishment, especially with where we came from. It’s hilarious how people seem to think it is their birth right to have a museum full of Lombardi trophies in One Buc. Dungy did so much for this franchise, both on the field and off. Whether or not he deserves it is a question I refuse to answer because I’m just damn happy he got in, and I will forever be grateful that he brought a sense of pride to be a Bucs fan.

  31. The Buc Realist Says:

    I am just saying,( and it sounds like most are saying the same thing) Bucs ring of honor, is what he should be in!! Nfl Hall of Fame, I don’t think so!!! Just my opinion!!!

    The Hall of Popular is what I will call it now!!!

  32. McBuc Says:

    It is actually pretty clear to me. Tony Dungy was the first black coach to win the Super Bowl, and lead the charge to chang the perception of black coaches as head coaches. This was an important time in NFL history, not just Bucs history. His winning percentage would be the other reason.

  33. BuccaneerBonzai Says:

    @Greg

    Your claims are really off.

    First, the “hands-off” the offense with the Colts was a condition of being hired. It didn’t come later. The reason was because the owners wanted to keep all the offensive staff and let them keep doing good.

    Second, he made this team more than average. HE made it great. He changed the culture.

    Did Jon win with Dungy’s team? Well, yes. But it was equally Gruden’s team. Without either of them, we would not have gotten a Superbowl trophy in Tampa.

    You really underrate his impact.

  34. BuccaneerBonzai Says:

    For anyone saying Tony played no role in the Tampa Superbowl…consider this.

    If he had not developed the defense, would we have even gone? If he never signed on as a tampa coach, would we have even ended up with a top defense for ten years, or gotten Jon Gruden?