Dungy’s coaching tree branching into NFC North

By Paul Eide  |   Friday, September 22, 2006  |  Comments( 0 )

Chicago Bears
Got something to say?

Sign Up and be the first to comment on this article!

Coaching trees in the NFL are like references on a resume. In a league based on parity, everyone wants a slice of what has proven itself to be successful. By aligning oneself with a successful coach of a particular offensive or defensive mindset, the pupil is then allotted the skill of the "Master" by association.

Some pupils flame out (Chris Palmer in Cleveland), and some excel (Bill Belichick in New England), win Super Bowls and are granted a tree of their own. Tony Dungy has never won a Super Bowl, but he co-created a revolutionary defensive scheme that has branched into a tree of pupils who ascribe to his principals.

Dungy became familiar with the Cover 2 defense while playing for Chuck Noll in the late 1970s. After various defensive assistant coaching jobs with Pittsburgh, Kansas City and Minnesota, Dungy's proven aptitude for defensive success landed him a head coaching job in Tampa Bay where he would assemble a staff consisting of future NFL head coaches Herm Edwards, Lovie Smith and Rod Marinelli.

Working with veteran defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin, Dungy mixed his knowledge of the Cover 2 with Kiffin's belief in faster, ball-hawking players, and created one of the best defensive units of all time. The Tampa 2 defense, as it would come to be known, authored a new chapter in NFL defensive history and has been emulated and applied ever since, thanks largely to the movement around the NFL of Dungy's original Tampa coaching staff.

Prior to departing Tampa in 2002 for Indianapolis, Dungy had already lost two defensive coaches from the original staff; current Chiefs coach Herm Edwards and Bears coach Lovie Smith, who promptly instituted the system in their respective cities. Edwards took the then-vacant Jets head coaching job in 2001 and led them to the playoffs. Lovie Smith left that same year to become defensive coordinator in St. Louis, appeared in the Super Bowl, and was eventually hired by the Bears as head coach in 2004.

When Edwards took off, he left vacant a defensive coaching position that would be filled by current Vikings defensive coordinator Mike Tomlin. Tomlin only spent one year under Dungy, but he spent the next five years coaching in Tampa Bay under Dungy's old friend, Monte Kiffin, winning a Super Bowl in 2002 and learning the defensive precepts of the Tampa 2 which he now applies in Minnesota.

When the 2-0 Bears travel to Minnesota on Sunday to face the 2-0 Vikings, old school Smith will take on new school Tomlin, each applying his version of the Tampa 2 in a battle for first place in the NFC North. Both defenses have been successful in 2006, with the Bears only surrendering a touchdown in the first two weeks, and the Vikings giving up just under 14 points a game.

If the Vikings can stop the now-potent Bears offense, they should have better luck than fellow Dungy Tree member Rod Marinelli's Lions had last week, losing to the Bears 34-7.

While Dungy has yet to win a title, the front offices in Minnesota, Chicago and Detroit have seen enough to emulate his approach in their cities.

Tony Dungy's coaching tree has changed the way NFL teams play defense, and the NFC North is serving as the forebearer of this defensive evolution.
Got something to say?

Sign Up and be the first to comment on this article! (0)

Article Tools Share!   |  RSS  |  Bleacher Report About Bleacher Report