As soon as Gene Chizik stepped to the microphone for his introductory press conference Thursday afternoon, he said two words:

“I’m blessed.”

The 60-year-old Chizik is now in his second stint with the UNC football program, having served as defensive coordinator under head coach Larry Fedora in 2015 and 2016. He will serve in the same position as he did when Carolina experienced its most successful year of the 21st century, an 11-1 season in 2015 which saw the Tar Heels win the Coastal Division and appear in their only ACC Championship Game.

“It’s an honor when you’re able to come back to a place that you have very fond memories of,” Chizik said.

Chizik has also worked under head coach Mack Brown before, having served as his defensive coordinator at Texas when the Longhorns won the 2005 BCS championship. Once former UNC defensive coordinator Jay Bateman’s departure was made official last Friday, Brown wasted no time in finding his replacement.

“Immediately, I picked up the phone and called a guy that I trust, and I care about deeply,” Brown said. “And I honestly said to Gene, ‘Gene, I’m gonna make a change… Would you like this job?’ And he said yes. He didn’t ask me anything about the job… he just said yes.”

Chizik, who had spent the past five years working at ESPN, said he would only get back into coaching if he found “the perfect fit, with the right people.”

“When I got this call from Coach Brown, he hit it on the head,” Chizik said. “He asked me if I’d be interested, and there was no hesitation.”

The news of Chizik’s hiring at UNC prompted strong responses from numerous former players on the 2015 and 2016 teams, including several from the offensive side of the ball.

“I’ve really been humbled by the… overwhelming response from a lot of the former players,” Chizik said. “Mitch Trubisky was one of the first guys to reach out, which was really cool.”

Once Chizik accepted the position, he had only one request of Brown: to bring along former assistant Charlton Warren, who worked under Chizik at UNC during his two seasons as defensive coordinator. Warren, who is also a graduate of the Air Force Academy, spent the five years since his time at Carolina at numerous schools, including Florida and Georgia. He will take over as Chizik’s co-defensive coordinator, and will also coach defensive backs with Dre Bly.

“It felt natural. It felt right,” Warren said of returning to the Tar Heels. “And I got a chance to be back in a place I love being, with a guy that I admire in college football.”

Warren also arrives back in Chapel Hill with a reputation as a strong recruiter. He will join a UNC program with recruiting momentum, as the Tar Heels have just signed a top 10 recruiting class for the 2022 season.

“You have to be able to reach young people,” Warren said. “And they have to feel like you care more about them in this process than just a guy that can run fast and jump high and catch a ball… I’m not a used car salesman.”

When asked if there would be a specific region of the country he would specialize in, Warren wasn’t hesitant:

“I will be in the region where there’s players,” he said. “Under any rock, in an igloo in Alaska, wherever that guy is, I’m gonna go help find him.”

With Warren and Chizik back in the fold, Brown will attempt to rekindle the good feelings which had been flowing through the UNC football program since his arrival in 2018. The Tar Heels saw great improvement during his first two seasons, but 2021 ended with bitterly disappointing results against NC State and South Carolina, which sent UNC to its first losing record under Brown since 1989. In Chizik’s two seasons as defensive coordinator, UNC went a combined 19-5 in regular season games. The 2015 season was also the last time Carolina won more than 10 games in a single year.

“I always believed great things happen in threes,” Chizik said. “[Brown and I] were together at the University of Texas… then we worked together at ESPN… and now this is time No. 3. So I’m excited about it.”

 

Featured image via UNC Athletic Communications


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