Indianapolis Colts coach Jim Caldwell is not Tony Dungy.

Caldwell exudes calm, poise, patience and confidence. He displays no ego, avoids controversial statements and treats everyone - from the greatest player to the lowliest media member - with respect and honesty.

OK, maybe he is Tony Dungy. Or at least an awful lot like him.

“I told (Dungy) I used to think I had poise until I met him,” Caldwell said. “I used to think I had a sense of self-control until I met him. I used to think I was somewhat unflappable until I met him. There are a lot of things he does that there's no way I can emulate because it's just not in my character. But there are some things that come very naturally to me.”

Talk to the Colts players and they'll tell you Caldwell is his own man, a little more vocal than Dungy, a bit more hands-on in some day-to-day work. But they'll also tell you the similarities clearly exist and are nothing but positive.

When Colts owner Jim Irsay tripled Caldwell's salary and made him head-coach-in-waiting in order to stave off other NFL teams, it had everything to do with continuity. It had everything to do with making sure someone who understood the culture of the Colts would take over when Dungy retired.

There's always some disruption during a coaching change. For the Colts' switch from Dungy to Caldwell, the disruption was slowing down and easing over a speed bump rather than spinning on a patch of ice.

“He's been consistent in his moods the entire time, much like Coach Dungy was - very consistent, very disciplined,” Colts quarterback Peyton Manning said. “But he has things that are unique to his personality - little sayings, little philosophies that are unique to him. The players have bought into those philosophies.”

Caldwell, 55, made some obvious moves to set the tone of his leadership. He changed defensive coordinators and special-teams coaches. He let the team know how he envisioned his defense growing into the role of “hunter, not hunted.”

He showed he would not be pressured by public sentiment in his biggest second-guessed move. That came when he took Manning and other starters out of the game in the third quarter of the Jets game Dec. 27, sticking to a predetermined policy of following a plan that would make the Colts freshest and healthiest for the postseason. You can still debate the decision - amongst yourselves; Caldwell would prefer not to rehash - but you can't deny the firmness of the move.

While the players may have grumbled privately at first, they rallied behind the decision of their leader.

Like Dungy, Caldwell's sideline demeanor fits perfectly with the Colts' never-panic mode, and that's a reason why they were able to come back from fourth-quarter deficits seven times in 14 regular-season wins.

Numerous times over the course of the season, Caldwell was asked how he felt he put his stamp on this team. He always responded by saying that wasn't something he worried about. Of course, by declining to make major changes, he did put his stamp on the team. If it resembles Dungy's, so be it.

“We didn't come in and just make outlandish, unnecessary changes just to say we were going to put our stamp on things,” Caldwell said. “We certainly wanted to keep the things that have worked for us. A lot of things have been done awfully well around here.

“I think it would have been egotistical to make changes for the sake of change. It's that old quote: ‘Be careful of the person who wants to change everything or the person who wants to change nothing.' I think we were somewhere in between.”

One of Caldwell's most notable moves was bringing in defensive coordinator Larry Coyer and altering, but not entirely changing, the defensive philosophy. Coyer's style, which Caldwell liked so much he always hoped to bring him in when he became head coach, is predicated on speed and aggression.

The use of the blitz - or the threat of the blitz - has changed the way opposing offenses deal with the Colts. If a defense can get a quarterback to release the ball quicker than intended, it can throw off an offense's timing. When timing is thrown off, the chance to make stops and cause turnovers increase.

Caldwell's style was groomed over the years, notably with seven seasons of coaching under Joe Paterno at Penn State, and later during eight seasons as head coach at Wake Forest. He had more losses than wins, but Wake Forest was a tough place to sell football. He won a bowl game and Wake Forest ranked among the top 25 in passing four times. He preaches an aggressive style on both sides of the ball.

“Coach Caldwell, one of the things he has preached to us this year is that we're going to be the hunters,” linebacker Gary Brackett said. “No matter what someone else has to play for, no matter what attitude, bravado, whatever it is they bring in here, we are going to be the hunters.”

The hunter in Caldwell has put him in a place where few have gone before. Only two rookie coaches have ever won a Super Bowl: the Baltimore Colts' Don McCafferty (1970 season) and the San Francisco 49ers' George Seifert (1989 season). Seifert, like Caldwell, inherited a superb team. The 49ers were coming off a Super Bowl win under coach Bill Walsh and Hall of Famer quarterback Joe Montana the previous season.

The Colts don't have the 49ers' track record of Super Bowl wins, but they did log the most wins in a decade, set a record for most consecutive 12-win seasons (seven) and set a record 23-game regular-season winning streak.

All those feats were started by Dungy, and completed by Caldwell.

Caldwell said he talks - or texts - with Dungy every week. They were friends before. They remain friends today.

“I think Coach Caldwell speaks to how much respect he has for Coach Dungy,” Manning said. “He still uses him as a mentor, and why wouldn't you? But at the same time, he's been a head coach before, in college, and he has some things he sticks to that may be a little different from what's been done here in the past.

“The team has bought into that. There are different ways of doing things. As players here, we've followed the head coach's lead and that has served our team well.”

Jim Caldwell is not Tony Dungy.

Are they similar? They're both strong leaders. They're both winners. The Colts will take that kind of common ground all the way to the Super Bowl.