Chansky’s Notebook: A Friend In Need

Larry Fedora didn’t have to hire another fired football coach.

When UNC football had the worst defense in the nation two years ago, Larry Fedora fired his entire defensive staff and went looking for better coaches on that side of the ball. He settled on Gene Chizik as coordinator even though Chizik had been fired at probation-plagued Auburn two year earlier. Since Carolina was still in the middle of an NCAA investigation, and perception was an issue for the athletic department, some people criticized that hire, including me. I hoped Chizik would succeed because that would make everyone forget he had coached at a suspect school.

Former Illinois head coach Tim Beckman lost his job for poor treatment of his players throughout his three-year tenure. His relationship with UNC head coach Larry Fedora earned him a second chance as a volunteer assistant in Chapel Hill. (AP Photo/ LM Otero)

Chizik turned the Tar Heel defense around and was nominated for best assistant coach in the country. Fedora’s reasoning was that he was looking for a great defensive coordinator and Chizik would not have any responsibility that mirrored what got him in trouble at Auburn. Apparently, the same applies to Fedora’s hire of fired Illinois football coach Tim Beckman, who has joined the UNC staff as a volunteer assistant.

Beckman was fired at Illinois, where the Tar Heels happen to play in their second game of the season, for allegedly pressuring at least one member of the team to play injured. He won a small settlement for wrongful termination, which doesn’t prove his guilt or innocence. Beckman coached with Fedora at Oklahoma State and wanted to stay in college football, and Fedora helped his old coaching mate with a second chance.

That chance will not jeopardize the reputation of Carolina football, which had much more at stake with the Chizik hire. Beckman will break down tape and help put together scouting reports and will be five football fields away from the training room and any decisions made by the medical staff on whether anyone can suit up.

Sure, it may look like Fedora doesn’t care who he brings into his program, but the truth is he cares very much because he is helping a friend in need. A good lesson for his players.

Gene Chizik was a much riskier hire since there was no guarantee he could improve that awful defense from 2014, and then the criticism would have come back harder. Beckman is a much lower profile hire, and this one is in the category of helping a colleague. Right or wrong, you have to admire Fedora for doing something he didn’t really need to do.

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