Ex-Colts coach Dungy is busy

May 14, 2009 at 12:00a.m.

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Tony Dungy is busier than ever, even though he’s no longer coaching the Indianapolis Colts.

In the past few weeks, he has met with former Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick at a federal penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kan., been involved with an education project in St. Louis and attended a Fellowship of Christian Athletes function for flood relief in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

On Wednesday, Dungy returned to Indianapolis to be the keynote speaker at a workshop for ex-offenders seeking jobs. That’s a typical workload for him since he stepped down in January.

“I’m doing way more than I thought I would be, and maybe more than I should,” Dungy said. “That’s one of the fun things about not being tied down to an NFL schedule. You have time to take a day to go wherever. To be able to say I can go here on this day and work on this project, that’s been the fun part of it.”

Dungy became the first black coach to win a Super Bowl, the first coach to make 10 straight playoff appearances and the first to win at least 12 games in six straight seasons. His regular season winning percentage of .668 is fifth all-time among coaches with at least 100 wins and his 10.7 regular season wins per year is tops among that group.

Dungy said he misses his colleagues, but not coaching. He visited the Colts’ practice complex Tuesday to reconnect with friends.

He enjoys helping troubled young men, and Vick, in Dungy’s eyes, is one of them.

Vick is serving a 23-month sentence for bankrolling a dogfighting conspiracy. Dungy wouldn’t offer details about his meeting with Vick, but compared the quarterback’s situation to many of the ex-offenders at the resource fair Wednesday.

“I think Michael is just like so many other guys that I have seen, so many other people who are nameless, faceless in that environment,” Dungy said. “It’s a young man that made a mistake and is looking for a chance to recover and move forward.”

President Barack Obama wanted Dungy to serve on a 25-person roster that is part of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. Dungy declined, but said he still will be involved with President Obama’s work.

“He [Obama] said he wanted me involved in the fatherhood part of the program because he knew I was passionate about that. Just to know that the President would feel like you could be helpful — that was quite humbling and gratifying.”