I found it funny reading this book as I really didn't know what to expect. Since I like to read for personal insight and development, I felt this would be a book where I might get some golden nuggets of life's insights that I might not otherwise have privy. In fact, this is actually a book my wife bought because she loves football and Tony Dungy.



This is a personal story about Tony Dungy, the current National Football League head coach of the Indianapolis Colts. The story does not beat you to death with superfluous details yet it does begin early in his life. To get the ideas and message across to the reader in an enjoyable, educational, and personal manner, the book is sincerely written from that point of view. I found the book easy to read, get involved in, and experience the feeling portrayed by Tony in expressing the events of his interesting life.

What did and did not surprise me about this book was the expression of Tony's strong Christian faith and the impacting part God has played in his life from early on and through the present day. It was so interesting to read about his journey of many years in a short book that included Tony's strong Christian faith, his sharing the message of Jesus Christ though many platforms and active participation. I was pleasantly surprised, rather enjoyed, and was personally impacted by his experiences.

I'm not as big a football fan as my wife. In fact many times I refer to myself as a NFL widower during the season. Well, now that we have the NFL channel this "season" is all year long. Currently we are into watching as many of the preseason games as possible. Imagine trying to watch 54 games in 26 days. Needless to say, my wife is in seventh heaven. Now to my point, I have learned a great deal about football from "Quiet Strength" although the book is not a "football" book by any means. What I mean is the book is not overwhelmingly about the intricacies of football and the business. Yes, you do get to see behind the scenes but again, it strictly deals with Tony Dungy and those people he has interacted with throughout his career. You will find that you will recognize many people who have been and still are currently in the profession, either as players or coaches. I found that kind of fun.

Having a full 301 pages in hardback and 16 pages of color pictures, Tony's life and important people are captured with captions. Seeing the people that he speaks of in the book, I rather enjoyed. I felt it made me connect a little bit more and gave me a sense of personal attachment to him and his life.

I would like to share with you what really hit home for me in reading this book. First it was his strong personal Christian journey, then it was the behind the scenes look at the NFL and coaching, and finally I took away the statements that Tony had placed on the wall of the locker room in Tampa Bay. "Do what we do." "Whatever it takes." "No excuses, no explanations.Encompassing such a great meaning and impact, here we have so few simple words. In addition, I found a quote on a handout from Tony to his Tampa Bay Bucs team, just before a game with the Chicago Bears, to be very impacting on me personally. You'll have to read it on pages 124 and 125. I'm sure it will have an impact on you if you are into personal development at all.

In summary, I would highly recommend this book to anyone wishing to have a very positive, motivating, and personally impacting experience. As I said earlier, the tid bits of golden nuggets gleaned from reading this book are both very personal and may have a strong impact on your thinking and life. I found I now have an even greater respect for Tony Dungy, the NFL, all coaches in the profession, and it was so cool to actually recognize many of the names of coaches and players even though I'm only a novice football fan. Read, enjoy the experience and have fun.