CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- Ten years had passed between defensive coordinator jobs. Admittedly, Gene Chizik needed to relearn the game for one pretty big reason: Offenses today look nothing like offenses did in 2006.
So when he arrived at North Carolina in January, he got to work, putting in 18-hour days studying, learning and improving. When coaches left the office in time to have dinner with their families, Chizik stayed past 11 p.m.
All that meant something else, too. Chizik had to relearn how to live a coach’s life, after two years of much less stress as a television and radio analyst.