Coaches share common faith

The call came to Tony Dungy’s office on a Tuesday morning. It was Pastor Jeffery Singletary on the line with a message from above – one so poignant and appropriate that it would have to wait until game day, when the two normally share Scripture passages before kickoff.

Dungy told Singletary he had received a message as well – one he would use in a team meeting.

“Giant slayers,” Dungy said. “David and Goliath.”

Singletary laughed. It was a curious response, so Dungy asked what was wrong.

“I told him, ‘Nothing’s wrong. That’s confirmation,’ ” says Singletary, the senior pastor at Idlewild Baptist Church in Tampa, Fla. “It was the same text, same passage that we were both dealing with.

“We kind of chuckled together at the affirmation of the Lord.”

Dungy’s Indianapolis Colts did slay the giants – well, actually, the three-time Super Bowl champion New England Patriots – Jan. 21 in one of the greatest conference championship games in history.

Now he and his team are in South Florida for Super Bowl XLI, where on Sunday they will face the Chicago Bears and another coach with deep religious convictions: Lovie Smith.

For all the hoopla about Smith and Dungy being the first African American head coaches to reach the Super Bowl, there’s also a common bond in the two friends’ spirituality.

In a league where the object, as taught by many coaches, is often to “kill” the man with the ball, Dungy and Smith have maintained a Christian approach to their jobs. While other coaches – some of whom proclaim to be religious men – berate players on camera or use curse words within earshot of fans or reporters, these two have led their team to the NFL’s biggest game with no more than a few euphemisms.

Former Jets coach Herm Edwards, a close friend of both men, said their order of operations is “faith, family and occupation.”

Dungy – who can recite entire chapters of the Bible verbatim, according to Singletary – said that hierarchy once cost him a head-coaching job.

“One guy did ask me in an interview, ‘If you get this job, is it going to be the most important thing in your life? Are you going to treat my team as the very most important thing?’ I said, ‘No, I’m not,’ ” Dungy recalls. “I didn’t think I was going to get that job, and I didn’t.

“For your faith to be more important than your job, for your family to be more important than that job … we all know that’s the way it should be, but we’re afraid to say that sometimes. Lovie’s not afraid to say it, and I’m not afraid to say it.”

Dungy’s faith had been tested on the field with eight early playoff exits before this season. But all of those disappointments combined cannot add up to the tragedy of losing his son, James, who committed suicide in December 2005.

“When I called him that morning, we talked for a while, and he just broke down,” Edwards said. “I said, ‘Hey, don’t worry. I’ll be there. Don’t worry about me. I’ll be there for you. You know that.’

“You never get over it, but his strength was his faith, and Tony knows that and that he can make a difference to a lot of people because of what he does, who he is and what he stands for.”

Says Dungy: “I think God gives you tests to see if you’re going to stay true to what you believe and stay faithful. For me, that’s what it was, having to continue to believe. Sometimes when you have disappointments, it makes that final destination that much sweeter.”

After last year’s second-round playoff loss to the Steelers, only a few weeks after James’ death, Dungy was distraught.

“But the Lord knew Lauren needed a husband and your children needed a father. As much as we wanted you to win, He knew what was best,” Singletary said he told Dungy.

“I know it sounds corny and contrite, but we’ll get ‘em next year.”