Quotes by Tony Dungy - Page 4

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.
Tony Dungy / Football Player
Impact
Should
Yourself
Thing
Across
Try
Define
How
Players
Got
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What's important is not the uniform or the number, and it's not what team you play for or whether anyone else sees your value; it's who you are on the inside. And when you're in Christ, that's never going to change.
Tony Dungy / Football Player
Leadership
Football
Team
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I learned from Chuck Noll in Pittsburgh that speed and explosiveness on defense is the way to build a team. Both are difficult for your opponent to assimilate in practice and then in games it is even harder to match.
Tony Dungy / Football Player
Chuck
Defense
Games
Harder
Pittsburgh
Practice
Speed
Team
Assimilate
Match
Opponent
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You're born with some things inside you that will allow you to lead, but I think you have to take the bull by the horns. You have to want that leadership position, and then there are things you can do to develop that.
Tony Dungy / Football Player
Leadership
Horns
Position
Inside
Allow
Bull
Develop
Lead
Some Things
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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.
Tony Dungy / Football Player
Agency
Player
Simple
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Did you know that nearly one in three children live apart from their biological dads? Those kids are two to three times more likely to grow up in poverty, to suffer in school, and to have health and behavioral problems.
Tony Dungy / Football Player
Dad
Children
Growing Up
Poverty
Apart
Behavioral
Biological
Nearly
Dads
Grow Up
Likely
Suffer
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We talked about some of our experiences, focusing, hanging together down the stretch, important games. It's not necessarily who has the most talent but what team sticks together and executes their fundamentals the best.
Tony Dungy / Football Player
Fundamentals
Games
Important
Sticks
Talent
Team
Experiences
Focusing
Necessarily
Stretch
Talked
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Football was really my least favorite sport and the last sport that I ended up picking up as a kid. My dad started me off with baseball, which most kids did at that time. I really enjoyed basketball. That was my favorite sport.
Tony Dungy / Football Player
Time Dad Football
Ended
Picking
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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.
Tony Dungy / Football Player
Effort
Giving
People
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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.
Tony Dungy / Football Player
Motivational
Hard Work
Teamwork
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The game has changed since the '70s as more coaches have looked at ways to make it tougher on defenses. But I'm glad my career turned out the way it did - I would have never gotten a chance to learn the defensive side of the ball.
Tony Dungy / Football Player
Careers
Defense
Games
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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.
Tony Dungy / Football Player
Sports
Athlete
Book
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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.
Tony Dungy / Football Player
Christian Faith
Glory
Lord
Persona
Faith Always Me
Faith I Am Me
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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?
Tony Dungy / Football Player
Best Effort
Differences
People
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The regular season games are much more intense. And also, I believe that in 16 games, some teams separate themselves. The good teams separate themselves from the not-so-good teams. The longer the season is, the bigger that separation will get.
Tony Dungy / Football Player
Believe
Separation
Team
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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.
Tony Dungy / Football Player
Kids
Doctors
Football
Football Season
Mean
Perfect
Super Bowl
Bowl
Wrong
Lawyers
Wrong Thing
Perfectly
Plan
Season
Super
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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.
Tony Dungy / Football Player
Leader
Organization
Team
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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.
Tony Dungy / Football Player
Differences
People
Understanding
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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.
Tony Dungy / Football Player
Empowering
Team
Volunteer
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There are two schools of thought. You can be basic and spend all your time on what your opponents are going to do. Or, you can be very multiple and complex, put a lot of doubt in your opponents' minds and create problems for them with the volume of things you do.
Tony Dungy / Football Player
Doubt
School
Two
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That's the difference between the NCAA and the NFL right now. They've got to step up and say, 'We're going to do the right thing. We're going to hire qualified people. We're going to hire the best man for the job regardless of what boosters or anyone else has to say.'
Tony Dungy / Football Player
Jobs
Men
Ncaa
Nfl
Qualified
Right Thing
Anyone Else
Best Man
Difference
Do The Right Thing
Hire
Regardless
Step
The Right Thing
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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.
Tony Dungy / Football Player
Impact
Term
Encouraged
Long Run
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We have so many young men, especially, who are growing up without their dads. We have to fill that void. We have to do a better job helping young people see what it means to be a man, what it means to be a woman. And then, somehow, we have to put that family structure back together.
Tony Dungy / Football Player
Be A Man
Growing Up
Helping
Structure
Together
Void
Young
Job
Family Men Man
Better Job
Dads
Family Structure
Fill
Somehow
Young Men
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Chuck Noll knew how he could help people. He was a teacher. He was a guy that was very good at selecting people, getting them to fit in. He wasn't the guy that was going to sit there and motivate you, intrinsically. That wasn't what he was best at. So he hired people that were good at that.
Tony Dungy / Football Player
Teacher
Guy
People
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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.
Tony Dungy / Football Player
Leadership
Football
Fun
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I never wanted our players to think the Super Bowl was the ultimate. I always talk about 'Yes, we're going to win, but what are we going to do as we're winning? What are we going to do after we win?' Winning the Super Bowl is not the destination. It's not an end point. It's what you do from here.
Tony Dungy / Football Player
Player
Thinking
Winning
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When Jim Irsay called me five years ago, he told me, 'I want you to be our coach and help us win the Super Bowl.' He told me, 'We are going win it the right way. We are going to win it with great guys; win it with class and dignity. We are going to win it in a way that will make Indianapolis proud.'
Tony Dungy / Football Player
Class
Dignity
Five
Proud
Right Way
Super Bowl
Years Ago
Great Me Win
Great Me Will
Bowl
Coach
Guys
Jim
Super
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I was with All Pro Dad, and I was coaching. People recognized me as a coach. They might see my face and say, 'What's going on there, is that something with the Colts or the Buccaneers?' Then they realize, 'This is something with my kids; let me explore.' So I think that helped, that name recognition.
Tony Dungy / Football Player
Recognition
Coach
Explore
Helped
Pro
Realize
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I know when I was an assistant coach and I started interviewing for head coaching jobs, I actually lost out on many jobs, several jobs, and the complaint that I got was, 'Well, he doesn't fit the mold of a head coach. He doesn't look the part. He's not gonna jump up and down. He's not going to scream.'
Tony Dungy / Football Player
Mold
Scream
Up And Down
Assistant
Coach
Complaint
Head Coach
Interviewing
Jump
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The reason my kids like McDonald's is that they always know what they're going to get. It's not gourmet food, but the french fries they order in Indianapolis are just like the french fries they order in Tampa. Wherever they get McDonald's fries, they know it will be the same. That's what McDonald's does.
Tony Dungy / Football Player
French Fries
Gourmet
Tampa
French
Mcdonald
Wherever
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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.
Tony Dungy / Football Player
Being There
Connecting
Involved
Organization
Spending
Tampa
Time Good Dad
Badly
Fathers
Group
Pro
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(Offensive Coach) Paul Hackett realized that Joe Montana knew more about the offense than he did, but when the meeting was over, Paul saw that Joe had taken three pages of notes. He documented exactly how Paul wanted to run the play, as well as all of the basics of it and its details. That's what a professional does.
Tony Dungy / Football Player
Leadership
Running
Taken
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My dad, who was a teacher, used to tell me that a teacher's goal should be for every one of their students to get an A. If that's your goal every day - to make every student or player learn - then it doesn't matter if you won last year or didn't win. When next year's team shows up, I try to help every player become as good as they can be.
Tony Dungy / Football Player
Dad
Teacher
Last Year
Next
Team
Good Dad Your
Student
Won
Every Day
Last
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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.
Tony Dungy / Football Player
Home
Advantage
Buffalo
Championship
Cities
Cold
Cold Weather
Conditions
Fans
Games
Green
Green Bay
Minnesota
Super Bowl
Two
Wanted
Weather
Played
Game
Bay
Bowl
Got
Ideal
Northern
Super
Teams
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The book is actually called 'A Mentor Leader, a Different Way to Lead.' It really talks about my experience in the way I tried lead our football team, things that I learned from, basically, the coaches that I played for and my parents about leadership. And it is a little bit different, counter to maybe what society says about great leaders.
Tony Dungy / Football Player
Leadership
Book
Coaches
Football
Football Team
Leader
Little Bit
Team
Played
Counter
Basically
Great Leaders
Maybe
Says
Talks
Tried
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God’s definition of success is really one of significance-the significant difference our lives can make in the lives of others. The significance doesn’t show up in won-loss records, long resumes, or the trophies gathering dust on our mantels. It’s found in the hearts and lives of those we’ve come across who are in some way better because of the way we lived.
Tony Dungy / Football Player
Differences
Heart
Loss
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Be a pro. • Act like a champion. • Respond to adversity; don’t react. • Be on time. Being late means either it’s not important to you or you can’t be relied upon. • Execute. Do what you’re supposed to do when you’re supposed to do it. Not almost. All the way. Not most of the time. All of the time. • Take ownership. Whatever it takes. No excuses, no explanations.
Tony Dungy / Football Player
Adversity
Champion
Mean
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Michael Vick is a work in progress. I think he really is wanting to do the right thing. I think the Philadelphia Eagles have been a great organization for him. He's had some ups and downs. He still has to learn to not put himself in, maybe bad situations, in terms of personal life and friends, and that kind of thing. But all in all, I think he's growing every day.
Tony Dungy / Football Player
Kind
Progress
Thinking
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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.
Tony Dungy / Football Player
Dream
Commitment
Passion
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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.
Tony Dungy / Football Player
Football
Real
Winning
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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.
Tony Dungy / Football Player
Challenges
Reality
Thinking
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My dad took me to a high school basketball game and this very, very famous coach in Michigan, by the name of Lofton Greene - he was a guy that my dad was familiar with. He was from our hometown. And I watched the game and I said I didn't see this guy doing a lot of coaching. And my dad told me, well, it's just like a teacher - which he was - he said if you do a good job teaching during the week, when they take the test on Friday, that's not the time you have to do a lot of demonstrative things.
Tony Dungy / Football Player
Teacher
Basketball
Friday
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Tony Dungy Quotes - Page 4

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