Quiet Strength (Part 7)

This week I read for 90 minutes, all at once.

As I have blogged before, you know that Tony Dungy has coached a few different teams. His schemes had come together through observing every former partner coach. The defense had really benefited from Dungy's observations. The Bucs had one of the top defenses in the NFL. They had limited the defending champions, the Rams, to only 11 points in their last game. The analysts thought that Dungy had created a new defense, when in reality, it was just a modified version of the Cover 2 zone coverage. Either way, the Bucs' defense had become tough.

Unfortunately for the Bucs, they couldn't seem to get over the hump. Reaching the playoffs for another two years, they didn't get past the first game. Rumors were being spread on if Dungy would keep his job, but Dungy wasn't worried about it. He knew that God had a plan for him and if he would do whatever God needed him to do.

While all of this was going on, Dungy's wife decided that she wanted to adopt. The Dungy's already had three kids, but Lauren felt like they were financially blessed enough to take care of another child. The Dungy's adopted a boy, Jordan, and took him home as the newest member of the Dungy family.

As time went along, Dungy found out that the rumors of his job being on the line was true. The owner invited Dungy to his house and told him that he was no longer the head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It was a short conversation and Dungy left after about ten minutes.

The next day, Dungy went to his office to load up his stuff. It was time for Dungy to move on to the next step in his life. He gathered up his stuff and was escorted out of the stadium. His time in Tampa Bay was over.

That must be such a hard concept to take in. After going a few years of making the playoffs, Dungy had been fired. That would be so crappy. I understand that Dungy hadn't made the Super Bowl, but he was still successful and had made so much progress. The NFL is a rough business, from what I can tell. I can't imagine how hard it would be to go through all of it.