Chizik fine with slower pace now
AUBURN, Ala. — Gene Chizik’s preparation for weekly football games last season didn’t require marathon video sessions, meetings or practices.
Instead, the coach who led Auburn University to a national championship season eight years ago would head to Auburn High School at 6:30 a.m. to help line the entry ways with school flags. Chizik and his wife, Jonna, would help set up for team dinners on the eve of games. For son Cally’s baseball games, Chizik would man the grill.
It’s been altogether eye-opening for a guy who was far too busy working to even know what many parents did behind the scenes, much less lend a hand.
“I had no idea what parents do,” Chizik recently said in his memorabilia-packed home office. “I had no idea, and it’s embarrassing for me to say it, but I was completely ignorant of all the things parents do to make things happen for their kids and their football and baseball teams.”
Last year, Chizik decided to find out. In February 2017, he walked away from coaching after two seasons as the University of North Carolina’s defensive coordinator. It was time, he said, not to just preach a family-first philosophy but “to walk the walk.”
Chizik said he managed to see only two of Cally’s football games and a pair of baseball games in two years at North Carolina with his family remaining in Auburn. Since returning, Chizik figures he has watched more than 50 of his son’s baseball games and 13 football games. He missed most of the volleyball matches played by his daughters, Kennedy and Landry, both now Auburn University students.
“Being away from home for two years was really, really difficult for everybody,” he said.
Chizik still stays busy, even if the 16-hour coaching days are over at least temporarily. He travels to speaking engagements and works as a college football analyst on the SEC Network. He has also developed a following on Twitter with his musings on life, dubbing them #WordsofChizdom.
For now, though, everything revolves around Cally’s upcoming senior season.
Chizik, 56, said he has received overtures about defensive coordinator jobs and some head coaching positions and doesn’t rule out a return to the sidelines — though not before next season.
A recent day with Chizik included a visit to a building he owns across from the Auburn campus where workers are getting one side ready for a new sandwich shop. Strolling purposefully — as always — in that direction, he stopped to chat with two young men who called out “War Eagle!” from the back of a moving truck.
Then it was off for a visit to one of his three Louie’s catfish and wings restaurants, where he advised an employee taking a semester off that college is not something you can do “half-hearted.” Later, he headed to the gym for a workout before watching Cally’s football practice.
Still, there are signs Chizik is trying to stay prepared in case he returns to coaching after this fall. He spent two days with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers studying defensive backs and visited the Chicago Bears with a focus on the defensive line and thirddown pressure.
After going 5-19 in two seasons as Iowa State’s head coach, Chizik helped rebuild an Auburn program that hadn’t exactly been packed with talent before he led the Tigers to a 33-19 record in a peak-and-valley stretch from 2009 to 2012.
In 2010, quarterback Cam Newton, a junior college transfer and future No. 1 NFL draft pick, won the Heisman Trophy and led the Tigers to a 14-0 record and the national title. The defense was powered by dominant tackle Nick Fairley, with scant star power beyond those two.
Two years later, Auburn got off to a shaky start after staff changes and quarterback problems, then bottomed out, losing to top rivals Georgia and Alabama by a combined score of 87-0 to finish winless in Southeastern Conference games for the first time since 1980. Fired a day after the Iron Bowl, Chizik still adamantly believes he could have turned things around.
“Look, perfect storms happen,” he said. “I felt like I could absolutely have gotten it flipped in one year. Nobody knew how to fix it better than me, I can tell you that.”
In a few months, Chizik might deem it time to get back into coaching, though he doesn’t really have to with his investments and the $7.5 million buyout from Auburn.
“I would never say never, but I will say that it’s got to be a perfect fit for me,” Chizik said. “I’m in a place in my life where I can take exactly what I want. I don’t have to concede anything to any job. I don’t have to, so I won’t.
“Do I have 10 years coaching left in me if I want? Probably more if I wanted it. But I enjoy this life.”