Tony Dungy once again stirred up some Hall of Fame voting controversy at the Super Bowl this weekend.
Dungy, who is part of the committee that votes on the Pro Football Hall of Fame nominees, has not disclosed if he voted for Bill Belichick or not. Belichick, of course, did not make the Pro Football Hall of Fame in his first year on the ballot, despite winning six Super Bowls. Dungy, who won a Super Bowl with the Colts, is refusing to say who he voted for.
The NFL on NBC analyst was asked multiple times over the course of the Super Bowl week in San Francisco to disclose his vote. Dungy repeatedly refused to do so. Some believed that he could be saving that moment for the Super Bowl pregame show, which aired on NBC.
But Dungy didn't disclose anything.
© Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images.
Dungy repeatedly refused to disclose his vote.
“First of all, we don’t know that they didn’t get inducted in the Hall of Fame,” said Dungy, when asked by Ryan Glasspiegel at Super Bowl Radio Row this week. “I’m a voter. I have not heard who’s in or who’s out, so I’m not going to make a comment on it and speculate. We’ll find out, I think, on Thursday who’s in and who’s out.”
One ESPN host wants Dungy fired "immediately" for not disclosing his vote on the air.
ESPN host calls for Dungy to be fired
ESPN host Michael Kay thinks that NBC should fire Dungy "immediately" for not revealing his vote on the air.
“Tony Dungy, again, who’s getting paid by NBC, was asked on the never-ending pregame show whether or not he voted for Bill Belichick,” Kay said, per Awful Announcing. “He said he’s not going to discuss it. First of all, if I’m NBC, I’d fire him on the spot. We’re paying you whatever amount of money we’re paying you. You are discussing it. What’s your value to us if you’re making news and you’re not discussing it with us? I mean, for him not discussing it, you know that he’s one of the 11 people that didn’t vote in Bill Belichick.”
Dungy is not prohibited from disclosing his vote, according to the Hall of Fame's bylaws.
“I don’t get Tony Dungy’s game,” Kay continued. “I don’t get it. Supposedly a good guy, God-fearing man. You do something that is a big part of history. You keep the greatest coach of all time from being a first-ballot Hall of Famer, and you don’t have the guts to discuss it? You have the temerity to say, ‘Nah, I’m not going to discuss it.’ Why not? Why won’t you discuss it?”
Kay believes this makes Dungy look really bad.
“It just doesn’t make sense to me,” Kay said. “I think this makes him look really bad. And for a guy who has pretty much a pristine reputation, [he] does not come out looking good with this.”