Tony Dungy Quotes

You have gifts, abilities, and dreams no one else has.

The best leaders are following Christ. That's the best leader you can follow.

Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. Matthew 6:33

If we have trouble hearing Him, He will faithfully work in our lives until we are pointed in the direction He wants us to go.

If you want to make a difference in the lives of the people you lead, you must be willing to walk alongside them, to lift and encourage them, to share moments of understanding with them, and to spend time with them, not just shout down at them from on high.

We've got guys who aren't wrapping guys up ... No matter how hard you hit them, you've still got to wrap them up.

Once we had become locked in on a schedule, he (Coach Denny Green) often created a disruption (artificial adversity) to that schedule just to see how guys would respond.

We spent our whole married life in the ultra-competitive world of professional football, Lauren and I had always tried to view it through God's eyes. As much fun as it was to be winning, we tried not to get caught up in it. We knew that our family life and our faith walk were more important.

If you're just saying, hey, I'm doing this. I'm working to make money. I'm working to increase my status. If that's all there is, I think you will find out that it's meaningless.

And as a football coach in the National Football League, I know for sure that it's going to end someday.

I was able to look at football as something that God was allowing me to do, not something that should define me. I couldn't take my identity from this sport.

We are all role models to someone in this world, and we can all have an impact - for good.

Don't shed any tears for me. I got to live a dream most people don't get to live.

At some point in life's journey, professionally and personally, we have to be able to trust our preparation.

People have to understand how important it is for kids to be nurtured by their mom and dad and get the great role modeling when they are young.

I have yet to hear God's audible voice, although I have often felt led by God in more subtle ways.

You can have an impact anywhere you are.

The truth is that most people have a better chance to be uncommon by effort than by natural gifts. Anyone could give that effort in his or her chosen endeavor, but the typical person doesn't, choosing to do only enough to get by.

It's just really making sure I am doing the best job I can do as a dad. I do think that is my No. 1 job.

We only wanted to pay significant sums to keep truly special players.

I always liked to be fairly simple because you could get more players ready to play quickly. If you lose players to free agency, injuries, etc., it is easier to get young players ready to play in a less complex system.

I just don't think you pass on a great quarterback if you have the opportunity. If need be, you can trade it away.

There are weaknesses that you have to understand and it takes a lot of discipline for the players to be able to play it effectively and have confidence in what they're doing.

It's about the journey
mine and yours
and the lives we can touch, the legacy we can leave, and the world we can change for the better.

Hard work and togetherness. They go hand in hand. You need the hard work because it's such a tough atmosphere ... to win week in and week out. You need togetherness because you don't always win, and you gotta hang though together.

I was a quarterback in college. I hoped to go to the NFL, and I didn't get drafted. I then became a free agent. I could sign with whoever I wanted to, and I ended up going to Pittsburgh.

When I was younger I only read sports books. I loved the biographies that told how athletes developed. When I got into coaching, I did start to read more instructional books, but I was always more interested in the people behind the ideas.

I am a firm believer that the Lord sometimes has to short-circuit even our best plans for our benefit.

When things get difficult it can be easy to complain. How you respond makes all the difference

Once a player joins our team, our priority is to teach him, not worry about the player we didn't select.

Your life has been intentionally designed by God to have a uniquely significant and eternal impact on the world around you.

I don't have the strength or wisdom to get through a single day without guidance and grace from God.

At the end of the day, the only people a One Voice doctrine silences are those who should be the most loyal.

How you use the opportunities your given to affect the world around you will determine the legacy you leave behind.

If you're a leader, people's lives should be better because of the influence you've had along the way.

I realized that I needed to be more like the shepherd than the hired hand in protecting my team.

I've said all along that God is in control.

I guess I'm flattered that people think I can help get things done.

Take a moment to think about your answer to this question: Am I prepared to have great success and not get any credit for it?

When I played at Minnesota, Green Bay, those northern cities, Buffalo, they wanted to have those championship games at home. It was going to be an advantage to be there with their fans and the cold weather and all that. But when you've got a Super Bowl, and it's the two best teams, you want ideal conditions. You want to play a great game.

If people didn't know me and only knew my public persona, what I'd want them to know is everything that I do, I do for the Glory of Lord. Because of my Christian faith, that's who I am. I wasn't always that way, but I'm very proud that I am.

I was not asked whether I would have a problem having Michael Sam on my team. I would not.

I got put into leadership roles very early in life from fifth grade, sixth grade. I always ended up being the quarterback or the leader of the sports teams, and it's kind of benefiting me now.

We have a whole generation of men who don't understand how much they mean to their kids.

But there's no substitute for a full-time dad. Dads who are fully engaged with their kids overwhelmingly tend to produce children who believe in themselves and live full lives.

That's the key to defending any quarterback: to make them throw before they want to throw.

Stubbornness is a virtue if you are right.

God allows us to feel pain for a reason: to protect us.

You need togetherness because you don't always win, and you have got to hang though together

When I was15 years old, I couldn't look at the NFL and look on TV and say, 'Boy, there's a head coach, African American. That's something I'd like to do.'

We have a number of difficulties facing our nation, but I believe fatherlessness is right at the top of the list.

Engage, educate, equip, encourage, empower, energize, and elevate. Those are the methods for maximizing the potential of any individual, team, organization, or institution for ultimate success and significance. Those are the methods of a mentor leader.

What's important is not the accolades and memories of success but the way you respond when opportunities are denied.

Nothing is more deflating to morale than to have a poor outcome pinned on someone who doesn't deserve it. It lacks integrity and overvalues the outcome at the expense of the people as well as the process.

Everything's not going to go perfect. You're going to have some losses that you're going to have to bounce back from and some things that are a little unforeseen that you're going to have to deal with.

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.

I've always tried to coach people the way I would like to be coached; positively and encouragingly rather than with criticism and fear ... I've tried to be as fair as possible.

The first step toward creating an improved future is developing the ability to envision it. VISION will ignite the fire of passion that fuels our commitment to do WHATEVER IT TAKES to achieve excellence. Only VISION allows us to transform dreams of greatness into the reality of achievement through human action. VISION has no boundaries and knows no limits. Our VISION is what we become in life.

This was the fourth time Lauren and I had seriously contemplated whether being a head coach in the National Football League was where the Lord wanted me to be. I was certain after I had been fired by the Bucs in 2001 that God was moving me and my family into a different role, but He had other plans. We evaluated our options again after the 2005 and 2006 seasons with the Colts, each time concluding that coaching the Colts was God's will for me.

All Pro Dad is an organization that started down in Tampa in 1997. And it was just a group of us who felt like we weren't doing as good a job as our fathers did in connecting with kids and being there and being involved in their lives, working and coaching and spending all the time we had to. We just felt badly.

If you want to be an athlete, then getting good grades, going to college, and developing your intellectual skills are important.

Moving from desire to actually doing better is only achieved with self-discipline, and self-discipline only works effectively when you trust in Him to help. Amp up your self-discipline in the areas you need it most.

God's loving plan to save sinners started with Jesus' death and resurrection. The influence God calls you to have for His Kingdom is very simple: just tell the world what He did for you.

Football is a vocation and an opportunity for ministry. But it's not a life.

We often can't see what God is doing in our lives, but God sees the whole picture and His plan for us clearly.

The great thing about integrity is that it is truly no respecter of position or wealth or race or gender. It is not determined by shifting circumstances, cultural dynamics, or what you've previously achieved. From the moment you are born, you - and you alone - determine whether you will be a person of integrity. Integrity does not come in degrees - low, medium, or high. You either have integrity or you do not. In

To bring myself back to a perspective of all that I am in Christ - not according to the world. I need it to remind myself that the world doesn't define me. I am defined by my relationship with Jesus Christ.

My parents had a strong impact on who I am today. My mother and dad both encouraged us to think about the long term - where you wanted to be - to think about education, to think about what is right and what is wrong, and to do things that will help you in the long run.

I love coaching football, and winning a Super Bowl was a goal I've had for a long time. But it has never been my purpose in life. My purpose in life is simply to glorify God. We have to be careful that we don't let the pursuit of our life's goals, no matter how important they seem, cause us to lose sight of our purpose. I coach football. But the good I can do to glorify God along the way is my real purpose.

Without Peyton, there would be no Lucas Oil Stadium. This team would be playing in L.A. right now. I don't understand Jim saying this.

I was gratified by the way our players had approached each game throughout the season. They had remained focused on the task at hand, playing hard and smart week after week. We didn't have any turmoil or distractions. We went about our business as usual. To do that in a setting that often was anything but usual is a testament to the character of our players and coaches. Our process worked; we simply picked a bad year to only be very good.

It's okay to wander.

I think I've got a responsibility to be home a little bit more, be available to my family a little bit more and do some things to help make our country better. I don't know what that is right now, but we'll see.

Life is challenging. I wish I could tell you that you'll always be on top of the mountain, but the reality is that there are days when nothing will go right, when not only will you not be on top, you may not even be able to figure out which way is up. Do yourself a favor, and don't make it any harder than it has to be. In those moments, be careful how you speak to yourself; be careful how you think of yourself; be careful how you conduct yourself; be careful how you develop yourself.

Courage is the ability to do the right thing, all the time, no matter how painful or uncomfortable it might be.

What will people remember us for? Are other people's lives better because we lived? Did we make a difference? Did we use to the fullest the gifts and abilities God gave us? Did we give our best effort, and did we do it for the right reasons?

People look at me and see a calm, cool guy on the sidelines and I want them to know that my Christian faith affects my coaching and everything I do.

DON'T FEAR FAILURE. Fear being successful at things that don't matter

I've always talked to players about perception and reality. I don't worry about perception. There may be some of that, that people want to attach to a good name, but the reality is that some good things can happen.

When you're in a situation, you can complain about it, you can feel sorry for yourself, you can do a lot of things. But how are you gonna make the situation better?

When people criticize you, it's not always for your actions but for what you represent. If they're really criticizing you for your faith, it's important to maintain your focus and continue on the pathway that God has set before you, even in the midst of criticism.

I enjoy talking to young people, and talking to people about helping young people. That part is not a chore. It's pretty fun, and something I like to do because I think it's important.

And if God has given you a lot of ability, I believe you should be held to a higher level of expectation.

You may not win the Super Bowl. Your kids may not go on to be doctors and lawyers and everything may not go perfectly. That doesn't mean it was a bad plan or the wrong thing. It's just like a football season. Everything's not going to go perfect.

For some reason the football coach of a major college program is seen as one of the leaders of the campus. And some way we have to let our young people know that that leader can look like anyone.

We are all important, but we are not indispensable.

Lovie Smith and I are not only the first two African-Americans but Christian coaches showing that you can win doing it the Lord's way and we're more proud of that.

My heart's toward youth ministry, but I don't know. I never would have thought I would have written a book. And God kind of directed that. So we'll see what the next is.

We wanted guys who had been productive in college, and we made it a point to pick performance over potential.

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. And that's the thing I try to get across to my players.

The narrow path that 'Uncommon' people will take, that the Lord wants you to go down, that really is the ultimate way to go.

The best solution for falling just short of the goal is to focus on the fundamentals but perform them better.

We want to enjoy our families and the hype leading up to the game.

Balance provides the chance for longevity. You can be a champion at work and at home.

After twelve years as an NFL head coach - six with the Indianapolis Colts - I know that God has provided me with a significant platform that cannot be measured in sheer numbers alone. We are all role models to someone. Speaking to five thousand people is no more important than quietly teaching one. And as long as our hearts are right, God will honor both endeavors, accomplishing what He will in each setting.

The further I get away from coaching, the more I know I made the right decision. You almost forget how wonderful family life is.

I think there are times when I believe God welcomes the circus into our lives to give us an opportunity to show that there's another way to live and respond to things.

Others first. Whatever your corporate mission, paint a clear and compelling picture that others can understand and embrace. State your mission in terms that appeal to your team's best instincts. Persuade and empower as if you are leading and mentoring volunteers.

Integrity is what you do when no one is watching; its doing the right thing all the time, even when it may work to your disadvantage.

The biggest thing you need to be successful with it is a quarterback who wants to be involved in the decision-making process and not just merely want to execute plays sent in to him.