Gene Chizik returning to North Carolina as defensive assistant

Gene Chizik is making a surprise return to college football with the program he left five years ago.

The North Carolina Tar Heels announced Saturday that Chizik would return to the program with the title of assistant head coach for defense. Chizik will essentially serve as co-defensive coordinator along with Charlton Warren, another new addition who was previously the defensive coordinator at Indiana.

Chizik’s ties to North Carolina head coach Mack Brown are certainly in play here. He was the defensive coordinator at Texas under Brown in 2005 and 2006, when the Longhorns won a national title. Chizik later won another title as head coach at Auburn, and also served two seasons as defensive coordinator for the Tar Heels under Brown’s predecessor Larry Fedora.

Chizik has worked for ESPN since resigning from North Carolina in 2017, where he has occasionally bemoaned the state of the sport. His return certainly makes for an interesting fit.