Tony Dungy's new direction

By Dave Boehi

I was a bit dismayed when Tony Dungy recently retired from coaching in the NFL, because I saw God using him to influence others in a significant way. But this influence continues after his retirement, as seen in a post from his blog, taken from this week's Sports Illustrated magazine. Dungy describes his visit to quarterback Michael Vick in prison, and speculates about what may have happened in Vick's life if he had benefited from the influence of an involved father.

Dungy goes on to talk about the influence his own father had on him, and says

As a Christian, I follow the Biblical model of how a community should be structured—wisdom should be passed down from elders to juniors, and when that doesn't happen, the results won't be good. That's why I'm concerned about the number of young men growing up without active fathers in their lives.

Dungy has begun a ministry called All-Pro Dad. It is clear that God has given him a platform to address a huge problem in America. We may find out that all his influence as a coach was just a warm-up to what will happen now.

Listen to Tony Dungy talk about fatherhood on FamilyLife Today.