DUNGY & HARRISON NAMED AS ANALYSTS ON "NBC's FOOTBALL NIGHT IN AMERICA"
NEW YORK - June 3, 2009 - Tony Dungy, the historic Super Bowl coach whose teams made the playoffs each of the last 10 seasons, unprecedented in this era, and Rodney Harrison, the three-time All-Pro and two-time Super Bowl champion, will join NBC's Emmy nominated studio show "Football Night in America" as analysts. The announcement was made today on a media conference call by Dick Ebersol, Chairman, NBC Sports and Executive Producer, "NBC Sunday Night Football." Both Dungy and Harrison were part of NBC's Super Bowl XLIII pre-game coverage.
EBERSOL ON DUNGY: "Over the past few years I've enjoyed getting to know Tony through numerous production meetings and his work on our Super Bowl coverage, and have been impressed by the way he handled himself not only as a coach and communicator but more so as a human being. What I learned is that in addition to his obvious Super Bowl credentials, Tony is a gifted storyteller. That was confirmed by his outstanding work on our Super Bowl studio show.
"It's a remarkable feat that Tony's teams made the playoffs for 10 straight seasons, given that he was playing a first-place schedule most years and under a salary cap."
EBERSOL ON HARRISON: "Rodney is someone we've had our eye on. He is a strong communicator and personality, and our initial thoughts about him were confirmed when he did a terrific job for us at the Super Bowl. We have no doubt that Rodney will be as hard-hitting with his opinions as he was with his body on the football field.
"To paraphrase one of his teammates, 'Rodney was as blunt with his opinions as he was with this hits.'"
DUNGY
Dungy recently retired as head coach of the Indianapolis Colts after making the playoffs in each of his last 10 seasons (7 with Indianapolis; 3 with Tampa Bay). Dungy's crowning achievement came in Super Bowl XLI, when he became the first African-American coach to lead his team to a Super Bowl victory as the Colts defeated the Chicago Bears. A former NFL defensive back, Dungy is one of only three men to win Super Bowls as both a player and head coach joining Mike Ditka and Tom Flores. Dungy is the author of the best selling book "Quiet Strength," as well as a children's book. His third book "Uncommon: Finding Your Path to Significance," was recently released.
In Dungy's six seasons as head coach of the Bucs, his teams made the playoffs in four of those years, reaching the NFC Championship Game in 2000. In his 13 seasons, Dungy's teams posted a losing record just once, his first season in Tampa Bay.
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