End of an era: Tony Dungy retires

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH/AP) - Colts Owner Jim Irsay announced the retirement of head coach Tony Dungy Monday afternoon. Associate Head Coach Jim Caldwell will replace Dungy.

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A tearful Dungy took to the podium around 5:20 p.m. Dungy thanked his family and reminisced about his special career.

"I've been really blessed. I've worked for the best owner, the best president in the league. I am thankful to the lord for the career that I've had," said Dungy.

Dungy said he'll never forget Irsay calling him seven years ago.

"He told me we have to connect with our community and we have to connect with our young fans and make them Colts fans. These seven years have been better than I ever imagined," said Dungy.

Dungy has said in the past that once he left, he'd be gone for good. However, Dungy seemed to back away from that stance a bit.

"I can't imagine coming back right now. But, who knows what the future holds. You can never say never," said Dungy.

While Dungy indicated he wouldn't immediately uproot himself from the organization, he said, "I do plan on being around and being here a lot. You'll be seeing me quite a bit." He also made a point to say that the torch will be passed to associate head coach Jim Caldwell.

"He's not going to try and do it like I did it. It's going to be Jim Caldwell's team," said Dungy.

Irsay and Colts President Bill Polian also reflected on their time with Dungy. Irsay spoke first and actually made the official announcement.

"It's been an incredible journey. You dream about having the kind of relationship I have with Tony," said Irsay.

Irsay mentioned several times his personal relationship with Dungy during his speech.

Colts President Bill Polian spoke next. Polian couldn't contain his emotions as he spoke about Dungy's on-the-field accomplishments.

"This season I think most of us around the team, I believe, was his greatest coaching job of all," said Polian.

A source told 24-Hour News 8 that Dungy spent the morning in the Farm Bureau Colts complex saying goodbye to coaches and players.

Nine days ago, Dungy said after the Colts' overtime playoff loss to the San Diego Chargers that he would spend about a week deciding whether to return for an eighth season as their coach.

He spent much of that time in Tampa, Fla., where his wife and children moved full-time about a year ago.

Background...

The plan to have Caldwell replace Dungy was put in place last year when the coach pondered retirement. Caldwell joined Dungy's staff in Tampa Bay in 2001, then moved with Dungy to the Colts in 2002 and was the quarterbacks coach. A year ago, Caldwell was elevated to associate head coach though he continued to coach Peyton Manning and Jim Sorgi.

Dungy has spent the past five years debating whether to leave football, each year taking about a week to meet with his family, which now lives in Tampa. He has always said when he left, he would not return.

He has always listed his priorities as faith, family and football, and returned to coach in 2008 when the Colts opened the new Lucas Oil Stadium only after team owner Jim Irsay agreed to let Dungy use a private jet to commute home.

The decision ends a tenure in Indianapolis during which Dungy became the first black coach to win a Super Bowl. He reached the playoffs all seven seasons, winning five division titles and appearing in two AFC title games.

Dungy finishes his career as the Colts' franchise leader in victories, going 85-27 in the regular season and 7-6 in the playoffs.

But Dungy's teams were also eliminated from the playoffs four times without winning a game, including the past two seasons after winning the Super Bowl -- prompting some to speculate that Dungy's indecision may have hurt the Colts' focus.

Dungy also spent six seasons in Tampa Bay, rejuvenating a moribund franchise and turning it into a perennial Super Bowl contender in the late 1990s and the early part of this decade. The 53-year-old coach left Tampa with a career record of 54-42 in the regular season becoming the winningest coach in franchise history there, too, and got the Buccaneers to the NFC title game in 1999.

He's the only coach in NFL history to produce six straight 12-win seasons and 10 consecutive playoff appearances.

Dungy's career, which includes an all-time league-high average of 10.7 regular-season wins, also included tragedy. In December 2005, his son, James, committed suicide while attending school in Tampa. He left the Colts for one game, then received the game ball from his players after they made a goal-line stand to beat Arizona in the season-finale.

The Colts' season ended two weeks later with a shocking loss to eventual Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh.

Dungy always said he intended to retire by the time he turned 50, but hung around longer because he enjoyed the game and the Colts players.

But his family priorities won out this time. His son, Eric, will be a high school senior in the fall, and those close to him thought Dungy wanted to accompany his son on college visits.

Caldwell's only other head coaching experience came at Wake Forest, where he went 26-63 from 1993-2000.