 Chizik atCentennial Olympic Park, 2018 | |
| Biographical details | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1961-12-28)December 28, 1961 (age 63) Tarpon Springs, Florida, U.S. |
| Playing career | |
| 1981 | Florida |
| Position | Linebacker |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| 1986–1987 | Seminole HS (FL) (DC/LB) |
| 1988–1989 | Clemson (GA/OLB) |
| 1990–1991 | Middle Tennessee (DE) |
| 1992–1994 | Stephen F. Austin (LB) |
| 1995 | Stephen F. Austin (DB) |
| 1996–1997 | Stephen F. Austin (DC/DB) |
| 1998 | UCF (DC/LB) |
| 1999–2001 | UCF (DC/DB) |
| 2002–2004 | Auburn (DC/DB) |
| 2005–2006 | Texas (co-DC/AHC/LB) |
| 2007–2008 | Iowa State |
| 2009–2012 | Auburn |
| 2015–2016 | North Carolina (DC) |
| 2022–2023 | North Carolina (AHC/DC) |
| Head coaching record | |
| Overall | 38–38 |
| Bowls | 3–0 |
| Accomplishments and honors | |
| Championships | |
| 1National (2010) 1SEC (2010) 1 SEC West Division (2010) | |
| Awards | |
| Broyles Award (2004) Home Depot Coach of the Year (2010) Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year Award (2010) Paul "Bear" Bryant Award (2010) Bobby Bowden National Collegiate Coach of the Year Award (2010) SEC Coach of the Year (2010) | |
Eugene C. Chizik Jr.[1] (born December 28, 1961) is an Americanfootball coach who was most recently the defensive coordinator and Assistant Head Coach for Defense atNorth Carolina.[2][3] A veteran of the coaching ranks, Chizik previously was UNC'sdefensive coordinator for the 2015 and 2016 seasons, and served as the head coach of theAuburn football team from 2009 until the end of the 2012 season.[4] Chizik's2010 Auburn Tigers football team completed a 14–0 season with a victory overOregon in theBCS National Championship Game, andquarterbackCam Newton won theHeisman Trophy. Chizik playedcollege football at theUniversity of Florida in 1981 for head coachCharley Pell.[5]
Chizik was born inFlorida. Chizik earned a bachelor's degree in education from theUniversity of Florida in 1986, and received a master's degree in guidance and counseling fromClemson University in 1991.[6]
Chizik began his coaching career atSeminole High School, serving as theirdefensive coordinator and inside linebacker coach from 1986 to 1988. While coaching at Seminole High School, he taught at Bauder Elementary School. He then became a graduate assistant atClemson from 1988 to 1989, working with the outside linebackers. During his time at Clemson he coached in the 1988Citrus Bowl and the 1989Gator Bowl, under secondary coachBill Oliver.[7]
His initial full-time coaching job was as thedefensive ends coach atMiddle Tennessee State from 1990 to 1991. In 1990, the Blue Raiders won theOhio Valley Conference championship. His next assignment was atStephen F. Austin State University, serving as their linebackers coach from 1992 to 1995. SFA advanced to theDivision I-AA semifinals in 1995.[6] He was then promoted to the defensive coordinator role, which he held from 1996 to 1997. He then served as the defensive coordinator and secondary coach for theUCF Knights from 1998 to 2001.
While at UCF inOrlando, Chizik frequently visited practice sessions of the NFL'sTampa Bay Buccaneers studying the team's defensive scheme developed by then-Buccaneers head coachTony Dungy, defensive coordinatorMonte Kiffin and linebackers coachLovie Smith.[8]
Chizik later employed a very similar scheme atAuburn, where he served again as the defensive coordinator and secondary coach from 2002 to 2004. During this time, he had some of the greatest successes of his career to date. He coached in threebowl games, the 2003Capital One Bowl, 2004Music City Bowl, and 2005Sugar Bowl. His 2004 defensive unit led the country in scoring defense, giving up 11.3 points per game, and the total defense ranked 5th, which is the same ranking the 2003 team recorded.[9] He garnered the 2004Broyles Award, which is given each year to the top assistant coach in the nation. The2004 Auburn Tigers football team finished 13–0 that year, won the SEC title, and defeatedVirginia Tech in theSugar Bowl. It placed second in the finalAP andCoaches polls.[10]
In 2005, Chizik was hired byTexas to serve as their co-defensive coordinator, assistant head coach, and linebackers coach.[11] During his time at Texas, the team won the 2005NCAA Division I-A national football championship by defeatingUSC in the2006 Rose Bowl.
In November 2006, Chizik was hired to replace outgoing coachDan McCarney as head football coach ofIowa State. McCarney resigned after going 4–8 in his final season, despite five bowl appearances during his tenure, the most of any Iowa State coach at that time. Chizik's contract with ISU was a six-year deal worth a guaranteed $6.75 million. With incentives, the total had the potential to be more than $10 million.[12] In Chizik's first season, Iowa State finished 3–9, including a 15–13 upset victory over Iowa, and back-to-back wins against Kansas State and Colorado. The Cyclones also experienced a notable improvement on defense. In the year prior to Chizik's arrival, Iowa State was ranked 102nd nationally in total defense[13] and in Chizik's first year, they improved to 65th.[14]
In 2008, Iowa State won their first two games against South Dakota State and Kent State before losing their final 10 games to finish the season 2–10. Among all 119Division I FBS teams, the team ranked 111th in total defense, 115th in passing defense, and 95th in rushing defense.[15] Following the 2008 season, Chizik fired two assistant coaches and demoted both his offensive and defensive coordinators. Chizik's name came up frequently as a coach who would be on the hot seat for the following season, though all acknowledged the difficulty of the job given the lack of resources and difficult schedule.[16][17]
On December 13, 2008, Auburn University hired Chizik to succeed former head coachTommy Tuberville, who resigned from the position after finishing 5–7 in the 2008 season.[18] Auburn athletic directorJay Jacobs released a statement that said: "I know that we have found the right fit for Auburn. Gene's body of work during his 23 years in this profession is remarkable. He has a strong knowledge of this athletics program, this university and the community, and he knows how to be successful in the Southeastern Conference. He is a high-energy coach that is an outstanding motivator and demands a tough, physical style of football."[19][20]
Chizik first retainedJames Willis to continue coaching linebackers. However, less than one month later, Willis left Auburn to coach for theUniversity of Alabama.Ted Roof eventually replaced Willis and served as Auburn's linebacker coach and defensive coordinator. Roof had previously been the defensive coordinator at Minnesota before coming to Auburn. Chizik hiredGus Malzahn as his offensive coordinator. Malzahn enjoyed the nation's top offense at Tulsa the previous two seasons. He subsequently hiredCurtis Luper andTrooper Taylor, both of whom were coaching atOklahoma State, to coach running backs and wide receivers. Chizik also broughtJay Boulware from his ISU staff to be the special teams coordinator and hired former Auburn playerTracy Rocker away from Arkansas to coach the defensive line. The final hire was UNC linebackers coachTommy Thigpen as safeties coach.
Chizik's incentive-laden contract at Auburn was for five years with a salary of approximately$1.9 million per year, an $800,000 increase from his Iowa State contract.[21][22] Iowa State was paid $750,000[23] by Chizik to be released from his contract which was paid by a loan from Auburn that was forgiven $150,000 for every year Chizik coaches, and would have been paid off entirely if he reached the end of the five-year deal. For the BCS Championship 2010 season, Chizik earned a base salary of $2.1 million plus bonuses worth an additional $1.1 million, including $500,000 for 13 wins, an SEC title, a BCS bowl appearance, and winning the AP SEC Coach of the Year, and an additional $600,000 for winning the BCS Championship Game.[24][25]
In his first year, Chizik led the Tigers to the2010 Outback Bowl, a fairly quick turnaround for a team that went 5–7 the year before. The next year, he led the team to a 14–0 record and the BCS National Championship—the first undisputed national championship in school history. With the loss of several players who opted to go pro, Chizik's third-year record slipped to 8–5. The 2012 season was the first season that Chizik did not haveGus Malzahn on staff; Malzahn had accepted the head coach position at Arkansas State following the 2011 season. The 2012 season was disappointing as the team finished 3–9 and was outscored 150–21 in its final three SEC games—including a 49–0 loss to Alabama in the Iron Bowl. With Malzahn's absence, media and alumni criticized coach Chizik, claiming he only won a championship at Auburn due to Malzahn's playcalling and assisting him as head coach.[26]
Chizik was released after four seasons, and Auburn bought out his contract for $11.09 million. Chizik received $7.5 million based on his December 1 contractual buyout amount and assistant coaches received the remainder.[27]
Overall, Auburn went 33–19 during Chizik's tenure as head football coach. His only winning record in conference play was the 2010 national championship season.
Chizik was named defensive coordinator at theUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on January 19, 2015.[28] He inherited a unit that had given up 497 yards per game in 2014; only three other teams in Power 5 conferences had surrendered more yards per game. The 2014 team ranked 120th nationally in overall defense. Through 11 games, Chizik's defense had surrendered 384 yards per game, a major factor in the Tar Heels going on a school record eleven-game winning streak and earning their 1st ACC Coastal Division championship.[29] Chizik's 2015 and 2016 defense units ranked 96th and 63rd nationally, respectively. Chizik resigned in February 2017.[30]
After a multi-year hiatus from coaching, Chizik returned to Chapel Hill and was named assistant head coach for defense, following the departure of defensive coordinatorJay Bateman. He replaced Bateman on January 8, 2022.[31] Chizik served as the de facto defensive coordinator, with the defense utilizing his preferred scheme, despiteCharlton Warren andTommy Thigpen having co-coordinator titles. His 2022 Tar Heel defense finished close to the bottom of the FBS in many statistical categories, ranking 102nd out of 131 teams in total defense.[32] Most notably, in an early-season game againstAppalachian State, Chizik's defense allowed forty points and 338 total yards of offense in the fourth quarter alone, though the Tar Heels would hang on to win 63–61.[33] After the 2023 season, UNC Head Coach Mack Brown announced that Chizik would not return for the 2024 season.[34]
Following his termination from Auburn, Chizik did media work related to football, includingESPNU coverage ofNational Signing Day and hosting a weekly football radio show onSirius Satellite Radio in 2013.[35] In 2014, he joined theSEC Network as a studio analyst.[36] Following his resignation from North Carolina after the 2016 season, he rejoined the SEC Network as an analyst.[37][38] He stepped down from the SEC Network upon his return to North Carolina in 2022.
Chizik is married to Joanna Chizik, the daughter of his high school football coach. They have identical twin daughters named Landry and Kennedy and a son Eugene Calloway, or "Cally".[6] Cally is named after a former player that Chizik coached atStephen F. Austin State University, Calloway "Cally" Presley Belcher. Belcher and Chizik had a very close relationship and Chizik named Cally in honor of Belcher, who died of abrain aneurysm after suffering a hit to the head in practice.[39]
| Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl/playoffs | Coaches# | AP° | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Iowa State Cyclones(Big 12 Conference)(2007–2008) | |||||||||
| 2007 | Iowa State | 3–9 | 2–6 | T–5th(North) | |||||
| 2008 | Iowa State | 2–10 | 0–8 | 6th(North) | |||||
| Iowa State: | 5–19 | 2–14 | |||||||
| Auburn Tigers(Southeastern Conference)(2009–2012) | |||||||||
| 2009 | Auburn | 8–5 | 3–5 | T–4th(Western) | WOutback | ||||
| 2010 | Auburn | 14–0 | 8–0 | 1st(Western) | WBCS NCG† | 1 | 1 | ||
| 2011 | Auburn | 8–5 | 4–4 | 4th(Western) | WChick-fil-A | ||||
| 2012 | Auburn | 3–9 | 0–8 | 7th(Western) | |||||
| Auburn: | 33–19 | 15–17 | |||||||
| Total: | 38–38 | ||||||||
| National championship Conference title Conference division title or championship game berth | |||||||||
| |||||||||
^ In 2022, Chizik's official title was Assistant Head Coach for Defense
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
