Throwback Thursday: Dungy-Moore

Tony Dungy and Tom Moore coached together for the Indianapolis Colts from 2002-08. Dungy was the head coach. Moore was the offensive coordinator. With Peyton Manning throwing the football they won a lot of football games. They had a lot of fun. They won a Super Bowl. Tony Dungy and Tom Moore had known each other for thirty years when they got together in Indianapolis in 2002.

Tom Moore was the running backs coach for the University of Minnesota when he recruited Tony Dungy to be the quarterback of the Golden Gophers. After the 1973 season Moore made the questionable move to become the offensive coordinator of the New York Stars of the World Football League. He quickly returned to the University of Minnesota in 1975. As offensive coordinator he worked closely with Dungy for the 1975-76 seasons. Dungy went undrafted in the 1977 NFL Draft. The Canadian Football League was very interested and wanted to negotiate with him. Instead he chose to sign with the Pittsburgh Steelers. It was Moore again as the Steelers receivers coach that recommended team and player unite. Dungy was moved to defense and played in the secondary for the Steelers from 1977-78 learning the Bud Carson zone defense that most would come to be called Dungy's own. Dungy played a final NFL season with the San Francisco 49ers in 1979. He was in the New York Giants training camp in 1980 but that was it for his playing career. Coaching was next. He joined the Steelers coaching staff as the defensive backs coach working with Moore once again. Moore and Dungy spent the 1980s as Pittsburgh Steelers coaches. By 1984 Moore was the offensive coordinator and Dungy was the defensive coordinator.

From 1989-91 Tom Moore and Tony Dungy spent their first significant time apart since their football lives merged in 1973. Dungy joined the Kansas City Chiefs coaching staff in 1989. Moore became the assistant head coach of the Minnesota Vikings in 1990. They reunited once again in Minnesota in 1992 when Dungy was hired as the Vikings defensive coordinator. That union lasted only two years when Moore became the offensive coordinator of the Detroit Lions in 1994. Dungy became the head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1996. He was fired after the 2001 season because the owners wanted a hot, new offensive coach. He was quickly hired by the Colts. Moore was already in Indianapolis. The two remained together until Dungy retired in 2008. Winning Super Bowl XLI.

The football careers of Tony Dungy and Tom Moore are incredibly, improbably linked. Wherever Moore was it wasn't long before Dungy was there as well. Moore recruited Dungy to Minnesota as high school football player. Moore recruited him to the Steelers as an undrafted free agent. After his playing career, Dungy joined the Steelers coaching staff that already included Moore. Dungy joined the Vikings coaching staff that already included Moore. When Dungy was hired as head coach of the Colts his likely first choice as offensive coordinator was already there.