Tony Dungy’s influence in the football world has shrunk a lot this year.
After losing his gig as a “Football Night in America” analyst as part of NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” shakeup, the Super Bowl-winning coach was among those who lost their Pro Football Hall of Fame vote with the number of voters getting slashed from 50 to 28.
Dungy, 70, appears to have taken the news in stride.
“I served my time on the committee, I was glad to do it,” Dungy told USA Today. “It was something that was important to me. I don’t mind not being on the committee. I know they’ve made decisions on how they want to do things and that’s fine.
“My suggestion to them would be to examine the process and don’t have three-, four- and five-person classes going forward, when we have more candidates in the mix. It doesn’t make sense to put less people in.”
The Hall of Fame voting process was scrutinized after it was revealed in January that Bill Belichick was not elected as a first-ballot Hall of Famer, despite holding the record for most Super Bowl wins as a coach with six.
He’s also third all-time in regular-season wins (302) and first all-time in playoff wins (31).
Most of the people who lost their vote were writers, though Dungy’s Colts running mate Bill Polian and ESPN’s Lisa Salters also were axed.
“I’m not bitter or upset or anything about not being on,” Dungy told USA Today. “They asked for my time on the committee, I did it, I enjoyed it. It wasn’t easy, but it was something I felt good about doing.”
Dungy was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2016. He joined NBC in 2009 after retiring from coaching.
