I never thought I would have to defend the words of a future Hall of Fame coaching legend on a matter of football. Quite honestly, there should never be a need.

Tony Dungy is a Super Bowl winning coach and player. In Super Bowl XLI, he became the first African American head coach to win a Super Bowl. His .668 career winning percentage puts him in the top ten winningest coaches in NFL history, alongside the likes of John Madden, Vince Lombardi and Don Shula. During his playing career, he led the Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers in interceptions. There may not be a man alive who knows more about the game of football than Tony Dungy.

And yet, in the media circus surrounding Michael Sam’s entrance into the NFL, Dungy has received intense criticism for saying, among other things, that he would not have drafted openly gay NFL player Michael Sam.

So what? Really, so what? Has Dungy not shown us through a career of coaching excellence that he knows what he is doing? Moreover, is he not, at the least, entitled to his own opinion on how he coaches his team?

This is not a Donald Sterling situation. Dungy didn’t say he would bar Sam from his team because of his sexual orientation. It’s not a matter of discrimination. This is a football coach giving his opinion on an athlete.

In a secondary statement, Dungy clarified his remarks:

“I was asked whether I would have drafted Michael Sam and I answered that I would not have drafted him. I gave my honest answer, which is that I felt drafting him would bring much distraction to the team…”

“…What I was asked about was my philosophy of drafting, a philosophy that was developed over the years, which was to minimize distractions for my teams. I do not believe Michael's sexual orientation will be a distraction to his teammates or his organization. I do, however, believe that the media attention that comes with it will be a distraction.”

Tony Dungy knows an NFL locker room far better than the journalists, the pundits and the talking-heads of the nation’s media. And his statement wasn’t meant to be an overarching narrative of every NFL head coach’s views.

Attitude towards off-the-field circumstances varies from coach to coach. In an air-tight Belichick locker room, you can be sure that the only conversation in the club house is about the game. On the other hand, an up-tempo coach like Pete Carroll knows how to use off-the-field gimmicks to energize his team and keep the atmosphere fresh and lively. Neither philosophy is wrong. The important thing is that both coaches have developed proven, winning strategies.

Dungy’s philosophy should not be viewed any differently. He firmly believes that “the best players make the team, and everyone should get the opportunity to prove whether they're good enough to play.”

So stop with the criticism. Stop the debate. He’s not anti-Michael Sam and he doesn’t believe sexuality should play a role in the evaluation process. He wouldn’t have a problem with Michael Sam on his team, and he doesn’t have a problem with Sam being in the league.

If you want to know why Dungy wouldn’t have drafted Michael Sam, think about why you read this article and all the uproar a few words have caused. 

This is a piece that never should have had to be written.

You can contact Matthew Tufts here or follow him on Twitter.