Unlike Urban Meyer, Gene Chizik really is a coach who quit to spend more time with his family

[augolf1716 21,102]

Since it slow I thought I would put this in football. Like or dislike Gene he seems to have his priorities in order.

 

Article by Mike Bainchi in the Orlando Sentinel todaya

 

How many times have we rolled our eyes over the years at possessed, obsessed football coaches like Urban Meyer who tell us with straight faces how important it is to spend time with their families?

And then, astonishingly, you get a chance to look into the sincere eyes of Gene Chizik — a college coaching lifer who decided to really and truly do something about it.

“It was time — time for me to actually walk the walk,” Chizik, the former national championship-winning head coach at Auburn and ex-defensive coordinator at UCF, told me the other day. “My son is a sophomore in high school, and I’d seen two of his baseball and two of his football games in the previous two years. It was time for me to hang it up and go be a family man, a husband and a father.”

Three months ago, Chizik announced his resignation as the University of North Carolina’s defensive coordinator and moved home to Auburn, Ala., where his family has been living even after Chizik was fired as the Tigers’ head coach in 2012.

At 55, he could have easily parlayed his success as UNC’s defensive coordinator into another big-time head-coaching job, but he chose family over football. The seed to his resignation was planted in August when he was putting the Tar Heels defense through its paces at fall practice and noticed proud parents moving their excited kids into UNC’s freshman dorms. That’s when it hit him: His two twin daughters — Landry and Kennedy — were doing the same thing at Auburn and he wasn’t there to help them.

After two years of being a FaceTime father and long-distance husband who worked in North Carolina while his wife Jonna and three kids were in Auburn, Chizik is back home now and just finished a stretch of watching his son Cally play in 22 straight high school baseball games.

“I absolutely love football and I have always loved it since I was 4 years old and sitting in my dad’s lap watching the old Green Bay Packers and Minnesota Vikings,” Chizik says. “Football has been extremely good to me and my family, but up until now I had no regrets about any decision I’ve ever made in regard to my profession.

“It reached a point where I didn’t want to have any regrets in regard to my family either. This was an opportunity for me take the last 2 1/2 years of my son’s high school career and be there with him and, believe me, I’m loving every minute of every one of his games. I’m never going to get these games back; I’m never going to get these days back.”

 

Chizik didn’t want to be like so many football coaches who miss birthdays, forget anniversaries and skip dance recitals just so they can sleep in the office and spend 18 hours a day figuring out which way a silly ball is going to bounce. One of the most heart-wrenching coaching epiphanies I’ve ever witnessed came two decades ago when the great Jimmy Johnson returned from his mother Allene’s funeral and tearfully laid the groundwork for his retirement from coaching.

On the day his mother died, Jimmy wasn't there because he was too busy preparing for the Miami Dolphins’ next game. On the day of his mother's wake, Jimmy wasn't there either. And when he finally arrived at the funeral and saw his two sons and his cancer-stricken father, that's when the iconic coach realized there are many things in life more important than 3rd-and-3. That’s when he realized that no man lays on his death bed thinking to himself, “I wish I had only spent more time breaking down special-teams tape.”

“My mother's funeral made me realize that I need to spend some time with the people I care about,” Johnson said then, his voice cracking. "Coaching is 15 hours a day, seven days a week. And I've done that for the last 34 years. It cost me spending time with my sons, and it cost me a marriage.

“There's a time you pull back and say, `Be with the people you care about. Don't short-change them. They love you. Give them just a little bit back.' You hear football coaches list their priorities, and they always say religion first, then family and then football. And yet they work at football 15 hours a day, seven days a week. And they spend an hour a week at church and two hours a week with their family. To me, that tells me football is first, and everything else is second.”

Gene Chizik isn’t willing to make football his God any longer.

He has recognized what others before him couldn’t — or wouldn’t:

That being addicted to football can be just as devastating to families as being addicted to drugs or alcohol.

“It’s all-consuming,” says Chizik, the former Florida Gators linebacker who’s been coaching since he graduated from UF in 1985. “It envelops your life 24/7. It doesn’t end when you go to church, it doesn’t end when you step in the door at home, it doesn’t end when you take your kids to a baseball game. It never ends. And that’s why I had to drop the anchor and get off the ship.”

These days, he is drawing up a new game plan and it has nothing to do with improving his team’s pass rush, disguising its coverages or begging 17-year-old high school recruits to sign with his team.

“My game plan now,” says this happy, stress-free, born-again ex-coach with the perpetual smile splashed across his face, “is to get up every day and figure out how to be a better husband and father.”

[AUIH1 1,515]

Chizik is a good guy and I totally agree with your post.  I dislike Urban far more than I dislike Saban.  

 

wde

[bigbird 60,460]

Its hard to maintain balance in coaching...almost impossible. Well done, Coach

[fredst 9,064]

33 minutes ago, bigbird said:

Its hard to maintain balance in coaching...almost impossible. Well done, Coach

Except, he isn't coaching, lol. I do applaud his choice though; he's fortunate to (apparently) have the financial wherewithal to choose the way he did.

[Rednilla 5,383]

I just wonder what he's going to do to occupy his time now that he's no longer pulling 15 hour days as a coach. I mean, going to kids' sporting events is important, but I can't help thinking he might well have the itch to get back into coaching in a couple of years after his son graduates high school. Maybe he and Malzahn can mend fences enough that he'd take some kind of position at Auburn, thus staying close to his family while still getting a dose of football. Much as I don't think he makes for a great head coach, he's definitely a great defensive mind, and maybe he truly does have the humility to come back and work under his former OC. I doubt it, but it'd be pretty cool if they can make it work.

In any case, though, good for him for actually putting family first for a change. 

[bigbird 60,460]

1 hour ago, fredst said:

Except, he isn't coaching, lol. I do applaud his choice though; he's fortunate to (apparently) have the financial wherewithal to choose the way he did.

Once a coach always a coach

[augolf1716 21,102]

5 minutes ago, bigbird said:

Once a coach always a coach

That is true

[3rdgeneration 6,469]

Love this man. He was part of a terrible, perfect storm of a football season. If you believe in God, you understand that He allows trials to come into our lives to shape our character. Chizik has surely grown as a person through all that he's been through. It is obvious he loves his wife his kids. I truly respect him and hope that, one day, he will be again associated with Auburn athletics.

[augolf1716 21,102]

He looks/sounds much happier and relaxed

[kd4au 1,145]

I've said it before and I'll say it again,I like Chizik and I'm a Chizik fan.

[Guest WarEagleSteve]

45 minutes ago, kd4au said:

I've said it before and I'll say it again,I like Chizik and I'm a Chizik fan.

For better or worse, he's always going to be in that Larry Coker, Barry Switzer (Cowboys version) "worst coach to win a championship" conversation but I always thought he was a stand-up dude. Glad to see he's found some balance and genuine satisfaction in his life. Would that we all were so fortunate. 

[AUpreacherman22 3,884]

Great decision Coach!

Thanks for posting Golf.  This may wind up in a sermon sometime pretty soon. ?

[abw0004 10,110]

Very happy for him.  If he does get bored and needs a new job, maybe hire him as a defensive analyst like Al Borges is for offense?  This way he still has the free time since he is not allowed to recruit, gets to work for Auburn again, and still gets to be involved with football.  It seems like a good fit to me.  One of course if Gene is ever up for it.

[AuburnNTexas 7,134]

This is a man who has his priorities in the right place well done Mr. Chizik.

[AU64 10,122]

58 minutes ago, abw0004 said:

Very happy for him.  If he does get bored and needs a new job, maybe hire him as a defensive analyst like Al Borges is for offense?  This way he still has the free time since he is not allowed to recruit, gets to work for Auburn again, and still gets to be involved with football.  It seems like a good fit to me.  One of course if Gene is ever up for it.

I expect that even as an analyst there is always one more tape to take a look at or a game to break down....and next thing you know it's  10PM. 

Best to keep some distance and for the next couple years at least, just enjoy the family and do some volunteer work in the community..or some "talk show" gigs on one of the sports networks where he can work from home. . .

[gr82be 14,422]

1 hour ago, AuburnNTexas said:

This is a man who has his priorities in the right place well done Mr. Chizik.

Yes he does and the fact that many fans put such a priority on football and winning, the pressure on coaches is enormous. Yes they are paid well but they have to decide if it's worth it in the long run. I'm happy for him. 

[lutzcammed 469]

15 hours ago, augolf1716 said:

That is true

30 years later when I see my High School coaches I still address them as coach

[WarDamnEagleWDE 12,737]

FWIW, Urban didn't leave UF to be with his family. Urban had all kind of internal "workings" that pretty much made him leave. Personal and professional. He isn't a "good guy" as he is made out to be. 

[afblue 128]

17 hours ago, Rednilla said:

I just wonder what he's going to do to occupy his time now that he's no longer pulling 15 hour days as a coach. 

Valid point and one that many of us non-coaches need to address as well when retirement comes.  For many of us, the job fills up much of our lives and often is a major part of our identity and self-worth. While we naturally think about having the financial aspects of retirement in order, psychologically preparing for a different, post-career, life deserves our attention as well.  It sounds like Chiz has done some of that thinking in terms of having family take the central place in his life vice his career.  From my happy retired guy perspective, he'll have all sorts of opportunities for an interesting and meaningful life, whether or not it involves football.  Great decision by a really good guy.

[McLoofus 35,182]

29 minutes ago, WarDamnEagleWDE said:

FWIW, Urban didn't leave UF to be with his family. Urban had all kind of internal "workings" that pretty much made him leave. Personal and professional. He isn't a "good guy" as he is made out to be. 

It's humorous how many people bought that. Yeah, good thing he got out of the SEC pressure cooker so that he could go into semi-retirement at quiet little Ohio State. 

[ToomersStreet 795]

49 minutes ago, WarDamnEagleWDE said:

FWIW, Urban didn't leave UF to be with his family. Urban had all kind of internal "workings" that pretty much made him leave. Personal and professional. He isn't a "good guy" as he is made out to be. 

For several years after Urban left, when I would journey down into Florida and visit a bar or restaurant I could overhear UF fans talking about Urban.  For a guy that won two National Championships the Florida fan base does not have a lot of love for the guy.

[AUMASTERS 555]

6 hours ago, AUpreacherman22 said:

Great decision Coach!

Thanks for posting Golf.  This may wind up in a sermon sometime pretty soon. ?

Maybe before you start the sermon show the video to American Dream by Casting Crowns.

[AUMASTERS 555]

57 minutes ago, afblue said:

Valid point and one that many of us non-coaches need to address as well when retirement comes.  For many of us, the job fills up much of our lives and often is a major part of our identity and self-worth. While we naturally think about having the financial aspects of retirement in order, psychologically preparing for a different, post-career, life deserves our attention as well.  It sounds like Chiz has done some of that thinking in terms of having family take the central place in his life vice his career.  From my happy retired guy perspective, he'll have all sorts of opportunities for an interesting and meaningful life, whether or not it involves football.  Great decision by a really good guy.

Thanks for your service.

[McLoofus 35,182]

14 minutes ago, ToomersStreet said:

For several years after Urban left, when I would journey down into Florida and visit a bar or restaurant I could overhear UF fans talking about Urban.  For a guy that won two National Championships the Florida fan base does not have a lot of love for the guy.

That's the thing about winning at all costs, I guess. It has costs. 

[AUpreacherman22 3,884]

That's a great idea @AUMASTERS!

I have played that video before in a sermon, but it's been a few years. Could be time to do it again!

The contrast between Chizik and Jimmy Johnson is such a vivid illustration about priorities. Just add a Bible verse or two and it basically preaches itself.