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Editorial Review Product Description
Tony Dungy's words and example have intrigued millions of people, particularly following his victory in Super Bowl XLI, the first for an African American coach. How is it possible for a coach--especially a football coach--to win the respect of his players and lead them to the Super Bowl without the screaming histrionics, the profanities, the demand that the sport come before anything else? How is it possible for anyone to be successful without compromising faith and family? In this inspiring and reflective memoir, Coach Dungy tells the story of a life lived for God and family--and challenges us all to redefine our ideas of what it means to succeed. Includes a foreword by Denzel Washington and a 16-page color photo insert. ... Read more Customer Reviews (244) 
Insights for Facing Challenges Most Men Face
In this NY Times #1 Best Seller, Tony Dungy presents principles, practices and priorities of a winning life following Christ. Tony tells about overcoming racial discrimination and his life long challenge to put Christ first on his way to coaching the NFL Super Bowl Champion Colts. This is a great book with insights into dealing with major life challenges including focusing on God's purpose in your life, faith in God's will for his occupation, "sticking to his principles" (no smoking, drinking, or performance enhancing drugs), finding a Godly wife, overcoming bitterness from his firing as head coach, accepting the genetic defect of his 1st (of 3) adopted children, and the crushing suicide of his 19 year old (natural) son the year before his Super Bowl XLI Victory.
Tony came from a solid Christian, African-American family in Michigan. His dad was a Tuskegee ([...]) Army Air Corps officer flying in World War II, later earning a PhD to become a physiology professor at Jackson Community College ([...]). His dad taught him that you can't always control circumstances. However you can always control your attitude. Tony speaks very highly of his Mom a high school speech & Sunday School teacher who taught him many Bible stories before he could read and he came to know Christ as a young child. His siblings are all professionals with successful careers - Lauren as a physician, Linden a dentist, and Sherrilyn as a nurse.
Tony's problem with his temper is disclosed when he quit his high school football team, protesting that only he was selected captain over looking his black team mate who was elected co-captain. Tony gained insights into how the issue was resolved as he and the African-American team mates eventually rejoined the team and almost won the Michigan State High School Championship.
He was a star quarterback for U. of Minnesota with impressive Big-10 credentials but (probably in part to lack of any current NFL black quarterbacks) was undrafted in 1976. Eventually, as a defensive back, he led the '79 Super Bowl Steelers team in interceptions, and even saw some playing time as quarterback. Dungy points out he was the last person in the NFL to both intercept and throw an interception in the same game. In `81, Dungy was traded to "the worst NFL team (SF 49ers)." After his 3-year playing career ended, he soon became a coach for the Steelers. Tracing his coaching career with the Chiefs, Viking and Bucs, he shares fascinating insights into the demanding schedule for coaching, especially in the NFL, and wrestling with putting Christ first. Table 1 summarizes a typical NFL coach's work week.
Table 1
Dungy's Typical NFL Work Week
Mon 8 am - 10 pm Film Reviews: "our" last week films & next weeks opponents films
Tue 8 am - 10 pm Game Plan Day-
Wed 8 am - 9 pm 1st Practice Day - also review tapes of practice
Thurs 8 am - 8 pm Practice & Refine Game Plan
Fri 8 am - 1 pm Short "dress Rehearsal"
Sat ? "Walk Through" - Slow motion w/out pads; Home game go home relax before check into team hotel; or travel
Sun Game Day Long pregame meetings; meals; game, return travel if away game
It is helpful to note that the Offensive and Defensive Coordinators are similar to "vice-presidents" in the coaching hierarchy and higher in the pecking order than "position" (e.g. defensive backs) coaches as you review his football career in Table 2.
Table 2
Brief Summary of Dungy's Football Career
Year Team Comments
76 U of Minn Qbk; Big 10 4th Total Yds; Most TD passes
76-77 Steelers Undrafted - but made team as a safety
78-79 Steelers Super Bowl Champions; Team intercept Ldr; 10th in NFL
79-80 49ers "Traded from best to worst NFL Team"
80 NY Giants Traded by 49ers but Cut from Giants
80 U of Minn Volunteer Defensive Back Coach
81 Steelers Effectively Assistant to Head Coach Chuck Noll; went on to coach defense (age 25)
84 Steelers Promoted to Steelers' Defensive Coordinator (age 28)
89 K-City Chiefs After 5-11 Steelers Season, asked to step down as Def Coordinators; join Marty Shottenheimer as Def Backs Coach
92 Minn Vikings Defensive Coordinator (under Denny Green)
96 Tamp Bay-Bucs Head Coach-takes over a losing team (had 13 consecutive losing seasons!) on the verge of bankruptcy; '96 record 6-10; '97 lost NFC Playoff to G Bay (NFC Champs); 98 8-8; 99 lost NFC Championship; 00 Lost 1st playoff game
01-09 Indian.-Colts Fired by Bucs, became Head Coach; won Super Bowlafter 2008-2009 season retired from coaching
You'll like Tony's humble, sometimes self-demeaning descriptions, insights and resolve.One example is his meeting his future wife, Lauren. After being the last-minute substitute Steeler speaker at St Stephen's Episcopal's (Pittsburgh) Father-Son breakfast, the Pastor insisted he meet a young lady in the church. His first "date" was breakfast & church and he relates, "I dropped her back at her house, and ... here's where Laruen's story diverges from mine. Since I'm the one telling the story, you'll hear my version first, and to be fair, I'll also give you her version - the wrong version. As I dropped her off, I said, "I'm headed back to training camp, and I'll be gone for the week, but if you wouldn't mind giving me your number, I'll call you, and maybe we can play tennis sometime." She heard - and swears to this day that I said "...give me your number, and maybe I'll call you, and we can play tennis sometime." I can only assume she was too nervous to have heard me correctly. Or maybe--and I'm sure this is not the case--I was too nervous to have articulated my request correctly."
Tony stresses the importance of sticking by your principles and therefore was disappointed himself when he accepted Mike Shula's resignation as offensive coordinator and saw this as undermining the team. Tony was under pressure from the team owner for losing a play off game, having a stout defense but weak offense. Tony felt Shula had done his job well, but circumstances (injuries, status of building the team through the draft, etc.) had hampered Shula Whereas Shula stepped up to maintain harmony, Tony later felt his accepting the resignation undermined much of the progress his coaching team had made with the Buccaneers.
Tony has something good to say about every major person he describes but also points out differences they have had. He points out his mistakes and stands he took (such as his unconditional support of his place kicker who had missed several key attempts, but whose mother was dying from cancer), even when consequences could have severely limited his career.
Extremely stressful times give an insight into a person's character. Some of these times Tony described include his being fired after the Bucs lost the first of the playoff games (although he'd been told he didn't have to win the Super Bowl to keep his job), the Bucs going on to win the super bowl the year after he was fired, deaths of his mother and father during the season, and his 19 year old (natural) son committing suicide just before Christmas with the Colts heading towards the playoffs. Dungy comes across as a flawed, but forgiven Christian committed to "walk the walk" to match his talk.
Dungy writes "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."
My husband is using this book and the accompanying Bible Study Book Quiet Strength: MensBible Study for his Men's Bible Study dealing with issues which include: Prejudice; Aligning My Goals to God's Goals; Finding a Godly Mate; Dealing with Unfair Dismissal; Not Letting Success Blind Me to God's Direction;Teen Suicide; Friendship is More Valuable than a Super Bowl Ring
The simple story of a great man...
I'm a football fan but more of the college game than the professional game.Since Tony Dungy's prominence has been built within the NFL, I knew very little about him.I knew that he won a Super Bowl with the Indianapolis Colts a few years ago.I knew that he is a public (but not obnoxious) Christian.And I knew that he is very well-respected in the football world and also within the Christian world.This book, his first, filled in many of the gaps and helped me to understand Tony Dungyt.
I'll begin by stating that I don't think that "Quiet Strength" is a great book.But it is very clear to me that Tony Dungy is a truly great man.And this impression comes from this book, not because he boasted and bragged about his many triumphs, but because his genuine humility oozes out of every chapter.He was honest about his personal struggles and disappointments, like the death of his son or the hurtful irony that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers won the Super Bowl the year after he was fired.He was open about his mistakes, like some personnel decisions that he made which didn't work well and some off-hand controversial comments that he made which created a public stir.But while maintaining transparency, his critiques were generally pointed inward, whereas he was extremely gracious to the countless coaches and players who popped up in the stories of his life.Unlike most sports autobiographies, this one was not utilized as an opportunity to lambast those who hurt him.In fact, one gets the sense that Tony Dungy managed to navigate several decades in the NFL without making any genuine enemies.What a testament to his impeccable character and winsome personality!
And providing the backdrop and reason for his integrity and warmth, Dungy was clear to explain throughout the book that his deep Christian faith informs every aspect of his life, professionally and personally.And he is unapologetic about his faith commitments, without being overbearing or obnoxious.The tone and spirit with which he speaks about his relationship with Jesus reflects Dungy's gracious spirit.
Having appreciated Dungy's humility and spiritual authenticity, the final primary asset of "Quiet Strength" is the smattering of leadership nuggets throughout his many stories.Through the example of other coaches like Chuck Noll and informed by his Christian worldview, Dungy has developed a particular philosophy to coaching and leadership that he explained at some length throughout the book.This philosophy boiled down to a handful of pithy statements and ideas, such as "Do what we do, without explanation or excuse," that were repeated frequently.He was dogmatically committed to the notion that success did not have to come at the expense of a meaningful family life.And it did not have to come from a bombastic style of yelling and intimidation.To Dungy, winning was not everything, and it was not the only thing.In fact, football was clearly a secondary priority in his life, and he led his teams and his staffs accordingly.Amazingly (and much to the encouragement to those of us who share Dungy's philosophies and ideals), he succeeded nonetheless.
So, why do I think that "Quiet Strength" is not a great book?First and foremost, I just don't think that Dungy is a very good story-teller.Frankly, many of his reflections about seasons and games throughout his career were rather dry, even boring.And I'm a sports fan, so I'm inclined to be interested by sports stories.But his story-telling just didn't have much life to it, a glaring weakness in an autobiography.I also found some of his spiritual reflections and leadership lessons to be overly simplistic.I realize that he's not writing for an intellectual audience, and I do not question the authenticity and legitimacy of his spiritual commitments and leadership wisdom.But I felt as if he sometimes offered insight that was simply too generic to actually connect with the complex realities of my life.Finally, having listened to the audiobook, read by Tony Dungy himself, it quickly became clear that Dungy does not have a future in audiobook reading.His voice was so gentle and relaxed that it made me a dangerous (sleepy) driver.Again, his gracious spirit would surely make for a wonderful father and an amazing mentor, but it doesn't work well for audiobook reading.
Ultimately, I'm glad to have read "Quiet Strength" as an affirmation that integrity, healthy priorities, and spiritual commitments are not mutually exclusive with success.It was peppered with anecdotes and tidbits that may reemerge for me at some point in the future.And I finished the book with the highest esteem for Tony Dungy.However, I'm not sure that I walked away with any significant takeaways or new ideas that I can leverage in my future leadership.
Coach Dungy is inspirational
Great read and even beter look at what it takes to become a real man.
REAL MAN
This book is great and spoke to my son in so many ways. So many boys are growing up without learning how to be a REAL MAN. If they have fathers or father figures in their lives, some of those men are lacking in the Character Traits of what God intended a Man, Father, Husband to have. And since you can't teach what you don't know and you can't give what you don't have to give, our sons are left not learning these Character Traits while growing up. God and this book has lead my son to starting his journey to becoming a Man of Character, a Dependable Man, and a Happy Man. So thank you Lord Almighty for inspiring Tony Dungy to write his books.
Fast, Great Read
I read this book in 3 days. It was a great read that travels Tony's life as a football coach. The focus is not on football but how events in his career impacts him internally and personally. I would recommend reading this book if you love football and even if you do not. While Tony was a football coach, this focuses on his faith and his approach to hard dicisions in his life.
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