CANTON, Ohio -- Tony Dungy would like to see the NFL's Rooney Rule used in the manner it was intended.
The new Pro Football Hall of Fame member said Friday that he doesn't believe teams are "following the spirit of the rule now." The rule, designed by and named after Pittsburgh Steelers owner Dan Rooney, requires teams to interview minority candidates for coaching and front-office positions.
"What it was designed to do is slow the process down and for teams to investigate candidates," said Dungy, the first black coach to win a Super Bowl. "Then you can look at the whole sphere of candidates.
"Teams still want to get a coach [quickly] and fill a staff. People who do their homework will unearth good coaches if they investigate everything."
He pointed to Pittsburgh's Mike Tomlin and Arizona's Bruce Arians as examples of coaches who got jobs because teams were thorough in their searches.
Dungy, whose Indianapolis Colts won Super Bowl XLI in February 2007, has been a mentor to many NFL head coaches, including Tomlin, Lovie Smith and Jim Caldwell.
Tomlin has led the Steelers two Super Bowls, winning one in 2008. Smith, now the head coach at the University of Illinois, led the Chicago Bears to a Super Bowl appearance, in which they lost to Dungy's Colts. Caldwell, now the Detroit Lions head coach, served as an assistant on two different Super Bowl-winning teams.
Tomlin, Smith and Caldwell are black. Owners who hired them were willing to look beyond the norms, Dungy said.
"People can't be afraid to go outside the box," Dungy said. "When I came up [through 15 years as an assistant coach], I might not have been a big enough name to sell tickets, or I didn't fit the mold. If someone does not have confidence in themselves, they won't hire those guys. They'll make the safe hire.
"We've got to get past that."
Dungy, who turned around perennial loser in Tampa Bay before winning the championship with Indianapolis, will be inducted into the Hall of Fame on Saturday night. He went 139-69 as a head coach, and had only one losing record -- in 1996, his first year with the Buccaneers.
He has words of support for anyone seeking coaching opportunities.
"Don't ever allow anyone to make you think you can't do something," he said. "You can't let history stand in your way. Stay encouraged."
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.