Five guys that deserve Buccaneers’ Ring of Honor recognition
By Bailey Adams
No. 2- Tony Dungy
As much as Jon Gruden meant to the Buccaneers, Tony Dungy might have meant even more. Tampa Bay was practically nothing until Dungy arrived. He turned things around in his tenure, installing a new defensive scheme that is now famous. That scheme produced the best defenses the franchise has ever seen. It eventually produced one of the best defenses in NFL history. Unfortunately for the soft-spoken coach, he never quite figured out what would work for the team’s offense. That led to his firing in 2002, just about a year before Gruden won the Lombardi Trophy with the Bucs.
Despite the offensive inconsistencies, Dungy was everything to the franchise. He came in and established a winning culture, one that Tampa Bay rode for years after. Especially for a first-time head coach, the man knew what he was doing. Working alongside defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin, Dungy turned things around for an organization that couldn’t find consistency for its first 20 years of existence. After a 6-10 year in 1996, he didn’t have another losing season with the Bucs. The team went 10-6 in 1997, 8-8 in 1998, 11-5 in 1999, 10-6 in 2000 and 9-7 in 2001.
Dungy took the Buccaneers to the playoffs four times in his six seasons as the head coach, winning them a division crown and getting them to the NFC title game in 1999. While his inability to field a strong enough offense led to the end of his time in the Bay, he succeeded in bringing a new kind of winning culture to the team and the city. His record as the Bucs’ head coach was 54-42, which gives him the best winning percentage in team history (although he is technically tied with current head coach Dirk Koetter). Dungy changed things in Tampa, and that needs to be recognized high above the field at “The New Sombrero.”