Dungy says future plans still unclear

Speculation has him retiring and returning to Tampa with family.

By STEPHEN F. HOLDER, Times Staff Writer
Published January 11, 2008

ADVERTISEMENT [Getty Images] Tony Dungy is wary of coaching too many years.

Tampa was and always will be home for Tony Dungy and his family. Now, there is rampant speculation the Super Bowl champion coach might be one step closer to a return.

After the enrollment this week of his son Eric at Plant High, the former Bucs coach and current Colts coach spent part of Thursday trying to slow mushrooming chatter that he might step down after the season.

Speaking in Indianapolis, where his team is preparing for Sunday's AFC division round playoff game, Dungy said he hasn't reached a decision about his future and would neither confirm nor deny the enrollment of his son, a sophomore, in school here. Eric's presence at Plant wasconfirmed by Plant football coach Robert Weiner.

"I'll just say this: There's been a lot I've heard and read," Dungy said. "Some of it's true, some of it is partially true, some of it is just wrong. What's going to happen at the end of the year for us, I'm going to sit down with my wife like I have the last couple of years and we're going to talk through where we are and what we want to do."

After winning the Super Bowl on Feb. 4, Dungy, 52, said he didn't immediately know what his intentions were. He later decided to return and is under contract through the 2009 season, reportedly at $5-million per season.

Dungy, who has said repeatedly he doesn't intend to stay in coaching forever, has had to balance his desire to stay in the game against the needs of his family - especially since his eldest son's suicide in 2005 in Tampa - and his wishes to go into the ministry after his coaching career.

"You want to control it yourself," he told the Indianapolis Star. "You want to leave when you're still wanted. You'd rather leave one year too early than one year too late. I think I have a better chance of leaving a year too early than a year too late."

Dungy has been consistent about his plan to move the family back to Tampa when he is done with coaching. Wife Lauren and their six children have lived apart from him before, so, their presence in Tampa would not necessarily precede his stepping aside.

Dungy cautioned against making assumptions: "I wouldn't read anything into any of the things that you hear."

Dungy and his wife still own a home in the exclusive Avila subdivision in North Tampa, located in the Gaither High district. It wasn't immediately clear whether they purchased a home in the Plant school district in South Tampa. It's expected Eric, the leading receiver at Park Tudor High in Indianapolis last season, will play for the Panthers in the fall.

Dungy coached the Bucs from 1996 to 2001. He took over the Colts in 2002.

Stephen F. Holder can be reached at sholder@sptimes.com.

[Last modified January 10, 2008, 22:45:26]