Gene Chizik quit football to spend more time with his family. And he wants the media to stop ripping apart the families of college football coaches.
[divider]
Compare: CFB Teams | CFB Players
[divider]
Chizik was an assistant coach at various program from 1988-2006 before becoming head coach at Iowa State (2007-08) and Auburn (2009-12). He did win a national championship during his second season with the Tigers, but was fired after just four seasons, with a three-win 2012 pushing him out the door.
After two years off, he became North Carolina defensive coordinator in January 2015, a position he held for two years, during which his family remained in Alabama. Chizik resigned abruptly in February 2017 and released a powerful statement saying he needed to be a family man.
"At every stop in my coaching career, I have emphasized to my players that family must come first; that family comes before football. Simply put, it is time for me to walk the walk."
Chizik appears to be done coaching but he's not done standing up for the difficult off-the-field burden placed upon coaches and their families. On Friday morning, he tweeted at "keyboard cowards" that don't understand the line between football and real life.
Everybody who enters the coaching profession knows the deal. Produce, or get fired. It’s just that simple. But for all fans who hide behind keyboards & smear coaches, you’re not just ripping coaches apart. You’re ripping wives and children apart, too. #keyboardcowards #CFB
— Gene Chizik (@CoachGeneChizik) November 17, 2017
It's unclear if he's referencing a particular situation as the likes of Butch Jones, Jim McElwain and others riding the coaching carousel, but that's beside the point. He nailed it.
It's easy to barrel past the line that separates a coach doing his job on the field and a human being doing his job off the field. Speculating about potential coaching changes and potential replacement candidates or questioning a coach's on-field decision-making is one thing.
Tearing into a coach's personal life is another. He may be a public figure who signed up for a job that comes with football-related public criticism but he and his family did not sign up for a job that comes with non-football-related public criticism.
