Their only sin is wanting to win

The Super Bowl coaches are devout Christians.
By MICHELLE KAUFMAN
MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS
MIAMI -- Much will be made of the skin color of the two Super Bowl XLI coaches, and certainly, it is historically significant that Chicago's Lovie Smith and Indianapolis' Tony Dungy are the first black coaches to reach the grandest NFL stage. Their names forever will be linked because of the barrier they broke together.
But the more you learn about these two men, the more it becomes apparent their close friendship stems not from their race, but from something far deeper -- their convictions. Both are devout Christians who don't drink or curse. Rather than belittle players with profanity-laced tirades on the sidelines, they shoot a stare that delivers the message loud and clear.
He won't break
The worst you'll get out of Smith is "Jiminy Christmas!" and that's only when he's really mad. Dungy's former NFL teammates lost a lot of money on bets trying to make him swear, and he has considered leaving coaching for a career in prison ministry.
Both men insist on making room for family and faith in the violent and narcissistic world of pro football. They suffered through tragedies with their sons, and were reminded to embrace life beyond the sideline. Dungy's son James committed suicide at age 18 in December 2005. In his eulogy at the jam-packed Idlewild Baptist Church outside Tampa, Dungy said: "I urge you not to take your relations for granted. Parents, hug your kids each chance you get. Tell them you love them each chance you get. You don't know when it's going to be the last time."
Smith's scary moments with his two sons were more private. In 1988, while he was an assistant at Arizona State, his then-toddler son, Matthew, fell into a pool and nearly drowned. Smith jumped in and dragged his son out, and Smith's wife MaryAnne performed CPR until the paramedics arrived. In 2000, his son Mikal, now 30, was diagnosed with a slow-growing brain tumor doctors continue to monitor.
Kind, but strong
"The thing about my dad and Coach Dungy that I'm most proud of is that they showed you can get to the Super Bowl by being soft-spoken and treating people with respect," said Mikal Smith, who just completed his first year as an assistant coach at Trinity College in Illinois. "It doesn't mean they're soft people. They're both pillars of strength. They proved good things happen to good people in due time."
Dungy, who gave Smith his first NFL job with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1996, said: "I'm so happy that Lovie got to the Super Bowl because he does things the right way. He's going to get there with a lot of class, no profanity, no intimidation, but just helping his guys play the best that they can. That's the way I try to do it, and I think it's great that we're able to show the world not only that African-American coaches can do it, but Christian coaches can do it in a way that, you know, we can still win."
They took wildly different paths but wound up in the same place -- the pinnacle of their profession.
Smith, 48, was raised in Big Sandy, a two-stoplight East Texas town best known as the needlepoint mecca of the South. His mother Mae worked at a lawn furniture factory, and his father Thurman battled alcoholism much of his life but spent his final years sober and was close to Lovie, who was named after his Aunt Lavana. Mae is still alive, but diabetes stole her eyesight. She listens to Bears games on the radio and will be at Dolphin Stadium next Sunday to soak in the sounds of her son's historic game.
Backgrounds
Smith played defensive end and linebacker in high school, earning pocket change by baling hay for three cents per 40-pound bale.
Dungy, 51, was born in Jackson, Mich., to a pair of educators -- his father Wilbur a physiology professor, his mother Cleomae a high school English teacher. Academics were priority No. 1 in the Dungy household, and it apparently paid off. Dungy's brother is a dentist, one sister is a nurse and another is an obstetrician.
Dungy, a high school quarterback, went on to set all sorts of passing records at the University of Minnesota from 1973-76. He was known as a cerebral player who loved to dissect film with coaches. He wasn't big and didn't have a particularly good arm, so he was passed over in the NFL draft. But he signed as a free agent with Pittsburgh, was converted to defensive back, and became part of the famed "Steel Curtain" unit of the late 1970s. He retired in 1980.
It was right about that time Smith completed his career at the University of Tulsa, where he was a two-time All-American linebacker. He went back to Big Sandy to coach his high school team. In 1983, became a coach at Tulsa, then made several other college stops before 1996, when he was introduced to Dungy.
Coaching careers
Dungy's coaching career began at 25, as an assistant at the University of Minnesota. Before long, he had been hired by the Steelers, and in 1984 he became the first black defensive coordinator in NFL history. He was one of the most respected assistants in the league for more than a decade, and finally, in 1996, he was given the top job by the struggling Buccaneers.
In assembling his staff, he made it clear he wanted "teachers," and several Bucs scouts recommended Smith, a first-year assistant at Ohio State. Dungy interviewed Smith at the NFL combine in Indianapolis and knew almost instantly that he had found his man.
"After about 15 minutes with Lovie, he showed he had a command of the game ... but not in a know-it-all, come across the wrong way," Dungy said. "I knew he'd be sharp and a guy players would gravitate to. It didn't take us long to know he was going to be really, really good."
Angelo involved
Bears general manager Jerry Angelo, who made Smith his head coach in 2004, was the Bucs' director of player personnel when Dungy was hired in 1996, and he is not surprised Dungy and Smith became fast friends.
"Tony and Lovie are very similar in terms of character, and ... you'd have to really know both men well to realize that they do have some different personality traits," Angelo said. "Lovie shows his emotion a little bit more than Tony, but otherwise, they are very much alike."
Dungy wound up putting together an all-star coaching staff: Herman Edwards went on to become head coach of the New York Jets and now Kansas City; Rod Marinelli is head man at Detroit; Mike Tomlin was just named coach at Pittsburgh.
Jack Oliver, a pastor at Idlewild Baptist Church, got to know Dungy well during his Tampa Bay days.
"If I had to pick one word to describe Tony Dungy, I'd use Christ-like, and by that I mean he always thinks of others first and he lives what he believes. He is such a humble man, despite his success and fame. He'd come and sit in Bible class Wednesday nights just like anyone else. He is proof that nice guys do finish first."
Co-celebrated successes
Two weeks ago, Smith and his wife made the three-hour trip from Chicago to Indianapolis to watch Dungy's Colts face Edwards' Chiefs in a playoff game. The coaches and their wives had dinner at a Chinese restaurant, reminisced about old times in Tampa, and celebrated their successes.
"My dream was for Tony Dungy to get to the Super Bowl, and that dream was fulfilled," Smith said. "I owe a lot to him, and I know that. He gave me a chance."
Dungy and Smith have also paved the way for minority coaches, like the Washington Redskins' Doug Williams did when he became the first black quarterback to play in the Super Bowl, back in 1988.
"I think about my generation of kids, who watched Super Bowls, never really saw African-American coaches and didn't necessarily think about the fact that you could be the coach," Dungy said. "You could be a player. You couldn't necessarily be the quarterback. Then we saw Doug Williams play and win, and guys a little bit younger than me all of a sudden felt they could be a quarterback. Now you see Donovan McNabb and Michael Vick, guys like that, because of what Doug did.
"And hopefully, young kids now will say, 'Hey, I might be the coach one day.' So that's special."