It’s been a few years since Gene Chizik has been a head coach in college football, but he is working his way back up the totem pole with his latest gig at North Carolina.
Gene Chizik took the Auburn Tigers to the National Championship in 2011BCS National Championship game, getting the best of Chip Kelly and his Oregon Ducks offense. But while Kelly eventually left for the NFL in 2013, Chizik found himself out of a job as he was fired just a few seasons after winning a national championship.
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Chizik is now working his way back up the coaching totem pole, as he spent a few years out of college football before landing his latest gig on the sidelines for the North Carolina Tar Heels.
According to Brandon Zimmer from ESPN.com, the North Carolina Tar Heels have hired former Auburn head coach Gene Chizik as the team’s next defensive coordinator.
Former Auburn coach Gene Chizik has accepted the North Carolina defensive coordinator position, a source tells ESPN.
— Brandon Zimmerman (@BZSEC) January 1, 2015
It has been since the 2012 season that Gene Chizik has coached in college football, as he failed to secure a sideline job after his dismissal from Auburn. Perhaps it was the way he flamed out or perhaps it was the really shady stuff that was going on during his watch that seemingly got him blacklisted, but for whatever reasons Gene Chizik has been out of college football.
He wasn’t banned by the NCAA and didn’t incur the wrath of any football deities, but he sullied his own name with his flame out at Auburn. Larry Fedora believes in Chizik though, and this opportunity to rebound as defensive coordinator may end up paying off big in the end if the Tar Heels flourish and Gene Chizik is able to get back in the good graces of those in college football.