Tony Dungy is taking a stand against the Washington Redskins’ nickname.
The Hall of Fame head coach and NBC Football Night in America analyst told William C. Rhoden of The Undefeated: “If the team doesn’t want to change, the least I can do is try not to use it.”
Dungy added: “It’s not hard to change the name. When I’m on the air, I try to just refer to them as Washington. I think it’s appropriate.”
Redskins owner Daniel Snyder has long been opposed to a name change. In fact, he said in 2013 that he would “never” change it.
Dungy is among those who believe that a name change is well past due: “You can say, ‘This has been a historic name and we’ve used it for this team for X number of years, but in this day and age, it’s offensive to some people, so we’re going to change it.’ I don’t think that’s hard.”
Earlier this week, Washington coach Ron Rivera was asked about whether it was time for the team to switch its team name, to which he responded that he believes that that is a conversation “for a different time.”
“I think it’s all about the moment and the timing,” Rivera said during an interview on 670 The Score’s McNeil & Parkins Show. “But, I’m just somebody that’s from a different era that when football wasn’t such a big part of the political scene. That’s one of the tough things for me, too, is I’ve always wanted to try to keep that separate. People have wanted me to get involved in politics, when I was coaching and I kept telling them, ‘It’s not for me to get up here and influence people.’
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“I have my beliefs, I know what I think. I support the movements, support the players. I believe in what they’re doing and, again, I think that there are certain elements to certain things that it’s all about the timing and the best time to discuss those things.”
