Steve Silverman

Lovie Smith closes his eyes and thinks about it. His team is on the precipice of the Super Bowl, needing only to beat the Saints in the NFC championship game.

About 180 miles away in Indianapolis, his friend, colleague and former boss Tony Dungy finds himself in the same situation. A victory over long-time nemesis Bill Belichick and his Patriots will send the Colts to the Super Bowl.

While Brian Billick and Jim Fassel were close friends when the Ravens and Giants met in Super Bowl XXXV, it is doubtful that two better friends have ever opposed each other on sports’ biggest stage.

One other thing: They would be the first two African-American coaches to lead teams to the Super Bowl.

That it isn’t the biggest headline of the week is an indication of how much social progress has been made in the NFL. A decade or so a go, any time a black man was interviewed for a head coaching job it was front-page news.

While some view sports as nothing more than kids’ games played by rich and spoiled athletes, it has also provided many of society’s most visible signs of integration and racial progress. Starting with Jackie Robinson’s crossing of baseball’s color line in 1947, progress in race relations has been made. It has not been easy or painless, but African-Americans have taken major steps up the ladder.

When Dungy was the Buccaneers’ coach, Smith was his linebackers coach. They became good friends, and they remain close.

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Smith went to Indianapolis during the wild-card round of the playoffs to watch Dungy’s Colts play the Chiefs. Smith, Dungy and Kansas City coach Herman Edwards and their wives had dinner together before that game. Smith and Dungy converse regularly during the season. The idea of facing the Colts in the Super Bowl has the normally placid Smith excited.

“It would be special if that happened,” Smith said. “Tony is a good friend. I’m a big Colts fan; since they’re on the AFC side. It would be special. We realize the position we’re in, and it hasn’t happened a lot of times. It would be great if that would happen.”

Al Bello / Getty Images file Tony Dungy

This is the first time that two African-American coaches have been in the NFL’s version of the final four at the same time. Smith acknowledges that the NFL has made progress in its hiring of African-American coaches and would like to see even more is made. The league was on the verge of facing a discrimination lawsuit until the Rooney Rule was adopted in 2002. That rule requires franchises to interview at least one African-American candidate any time there is an opening at the head coaching position.

There were seven African-American head coaches in the NFL this season, the most in league history — though Dennis Green in Arizona and Art Shell in Oakland were fired at the end of the season.

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