Tony Dungy has been a successful football coach and an even better human being, and this community will miss him even if his successor wins a Super Bowl.

Football games don't mean much in the grand scheme of things, but football teams and coaches can have an important effect on their communities, for good or ill. Tony Dungy, a talented, ethical and public-spirited man, has been an genuine asset to this community. The next NFL city lucky enough to claim him will profit greatly from Tampa Bay's loss.

As coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Dungy won without arrogance (and won almost twice as often as any Buc coach before him), and he lost without bitterness. A lot of coaches love to talk about putting their families, faith and communities first. Dungy really lives according to those priorities. Buc teams before Dungy weren't just overpopulated with bad players; they had more than their share of bad people, too. Several of them spent more time in police lineups than in starting lineups. Dungy wasn't content with success on the field. He also worked to associate himself with good people. "There are more good guys per square inch in the Bucs locker room than in any locker room in the NFL," said Sports Illustrated's Peter King, "and Dungy is a big reason why."

Dungy even handled his firing with typical grace. He was calm and upbeat at his Tuesday morning news conference, as he always is in public. He had not a negative word to say about anyone. He talked about his "great six years" here -- and resisted any urge he might have felt to remind those with short memories of the lousy 20 years the Bucs and their fans endured before he arrived.

In contrast, the Glazer family handled Dungy's firing with their typical lack of grace. Dungy made the Glazers tens of millions of dollars, building winning teams that packed the stadium Hillsborough County taxpayers built for them. Yet the Bucs' owners didn't give Dungy the courtesy of a face-to-face meeting to explain their decision. Instead, they sent word by messenger late Monday and left Dungy to pack up his belongings in the late-night rain at One Buc Place.

Did Dungy deserve to be fired? We're editorial writers, not sports writers, so we won't presume to add to the dissection of that decision. We haven't forgotten that Dungy is by far the most successful coach this franchise has seen, but we also can't purge the ghastly memories of the Bucs' plodding offense every postseason. The Glazers have paid for the right to change coaches, but they ought to be able to handle the task with more class.

From all reports, Bill Parcells will be Tampa Bay's new coach. Parcells has won two Super Bowls, which is two more than the Bucs have won under Dungy or anyone else, and he has earned a reputation as a football genius. He also has earned a reputation as a devious, manipulative bully. When you're winning, those qualities can seem almost charming.

We hope the next Bucs coach will be even more successful than Tony Dungy on the field. We know no future Bucs coach will be more successful than Dungy beyond the game.

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