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Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren watches practice during training camp in Kirkland, Wash.

"With Mike and Tony we're talking about individuals who will likely be in the Hall of Fame someday," said current Packers coach Mike McCarthy. "I never had the opportunity to work with Mike but the respect in the building (in Green Bay) is still very present. He and Ron Wolf (former Packers GM) turned this franchise around from where it wasn't very strong to being a perennial Super Bowl contender. Believe me, just to pull into work and sit in the same chair that Curly Lambeau, Vince Lombardi and Mike Holmgren sat in is truly an honor."

Raiders coach Lane Kiffin is just 33 but his father, Monte, was Dungy's defensive coordinator when Dungy was in Tampa Bay from 1996 through 2001.

"Tony's been so good for coaching because he's shown so many people — coaches and th e general public — you don't have to be old fashioned," Kiffin explains. "You can have balance. He's a strong Christian, a great family person, he leaves the office when he's done working — that's not the old school coaching way. Old school meant you had to stay and watch more film because you had to work longer than everybody else. It's a contest. He's shown and he's been outward about it that you don't have to do it that way. You get your work done, you have balance in life and you can communicate with players and have relationships with players. Tony relates to his players, he's at ease with his players. He's one of them and they play for him out of respect for him."

So much of Dungy's legacy is tied to the type of person he is that his consistent brilliance is sometimes overlooked.

But not by his peers.

"When I view coaches and their personalities and what they believe in, I believe it is reflected in their teams," says McCarthy. "I don't think anybody has had their teams be more reflective of them than Tony. Year in and year out they are just solid and consistent. Tony is probably the most consistent coach in the NFL since I've been involved at this level."

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"I haven't really thought about it but I kind of see myself as a combination of the people I work for and as someone who taught fundamental football and who tried to strike a balance between winning and having a life off the field," he says. "Someone who helped every player be a better player and a better person. That would be my goal. When I think about what I'd like to be remembered for in coaching it would be that I helped my organization to win and I helped the cities I worked in to be a better place to live."

Unlike Holmgren, Dungy hasn't officially said this is his final year with his team.

"My decision will probably come about two weeks after the season," he says. "I've done that the last three. Take the emotion of the season out, sit down with my wife and make a decision on that."

Holmgren, meanwhile, has a farewell season to deal with. And he's trying to distance himself from that reality. He acknowledges it will be emotional.

"I have talked about that on occasion and the question does come because it will be pretty emotional. That's why I’m purposely handling it a certain way. It's business as usual. The players and coaching staff knows it. I would be less than honest if I didn’t say I was a little emotional and that I will reflect on a lot of things."

But he leaves the door ajar, just a bit.

"Who knows what the future holds?" he asks. "I don’t know how I'll feel (after a year away) and that’s one reason I’m taking the time away. I know I haven’t gotten the game out of my system and that I still have the energy."

Once a coach, always a coach. But it's hard to stick a dismount from an NFL sidelines.

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