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Dungy will ponder future with Colts after Super Bowl
Associated Press


INDIANAPOLIS -- Colts coach Tony Dungy will wait until after Indianapolis plays in the Super Bowl against Chicago to consider his future with the team.

Dungy signed a contract extension last year that would keep him in Indianapolis through 2009. But many have wondered whether the 51-year-old coach, who previously said he intended to retire at age 50, might resign if he wins the Super Bowl.

"That's something I've not thought a whole lot about," he said Wednesday. "I'll sit down with [owner] Jim [Irsay] and my wife at the end of the year. The first thing you have to do is make sure you're still wanted back. I never take that for granted any more."

Dungy made a similar statement after last season, when the Colts were eliminated from the playoffs in a 21-18 loss at home to eventual Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh.

He has said since then that he always anticipated returning to the sideline this season.

There's little doubt Irsay would like Dungy back.

Irsay has often praised Dungy for his commitment to football and his life outside of it, and recently called Dungy's coaching job in 2002 one of the best he's ever seen.

Dungy ranks among the active leaders in victories with a record of 114-62. He's gone 60-20 in five seasons with the Colts, who won their first AFC title during their Indianapolis era Sunday with a 38-34 victory over New England. It's the first time Dungy has taken a team to the Super Bowl as a head coach.

Before joining the Colts in 2002, Dungy spent six seasons in Tampa Bay.

Off the field, however, Dungy has endured trying times since coming to Indianapolis.

His mother, Cleomae, died in January 2002, and his father, Wilbur, died in June 2004. Tony Dungy's oldest son, 18-year-old James, committed suicide at his apartment in Tampa, Fla., in December 2005.

Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press