CHAPEL HILL – Gene Chizik would like to be back at North Carolina for a third season as defensive coordinator, he said following the Tar Heels’ practice Monday at the Koman Practice Complex.
Chizik met with the media to field questions about his unit preparing to face West Virginia in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl on December 27 in Charlotte, but eventually the questioning got to his job performance this season and future, notably if he deserves to return.
“Fair question,” Chizik replied. “For me, I’m probably different than almost every coach maybe in America, or at least there’s a few in my spot; I’m very blessed to be able to look at every season, and after every season decide what is the best for me, what is the best for the university, what is the best for everybody. And then the universities have to do the same thing. They have to look at the overall picture, and they’ve got to decide what’s best for them.
“To answer your question, I don’t know all of what will happen at the end. We know this is a big man’s sport. Everybody’s got to assess and evaluate. And in the end, we will come up with whatever is the best for the university. We will come up with whatever is the best for this program.”
To that, based on what Chizik said Monday, it will be about the outcome of a full evaluation some time after the bowl game. Because if it’s up to him, his preference is to return.
“Yes, yes,” he said, when asked just that.
The Tar Heels (8-4) are ranked No. 95 nationally in total defense allowing 405.4 yards per game. They are 86th in rushing defense (163.1), 100th in passing yards allowed (242.3), and 64th in pass efficiency defense.
In addition, the Heels are No. 73 in scoring defensive allowing 27.1 points per contest, in the middle nationally in third-down and fourth-down defense, No. 32 defending the red zone, and No. 118 in first downs allowed at 22.9 per contest.
“Yeah, I think so, without a doubt. What we’ll have to do is go back and look at the inconsistencies. If you take the first half of the season, you can point to some really, really good production… There are some things that we were very subpar, and unacceptable, really. But there were some progress made in some certain areas.”
The Tar Heels played well defensively early in the season. They entered the Miami game ranked 35th in total defense, and through the third quarter that night, Chizik’s unit had surrendered only 13 total points in the second halves to Power 5 opponents South Carolina, Minnesota, Pittsburgh, and Syracuse, plus the third period versus the Hurricanes, which is an average of 1.4 points per second-half quarter. But everything changed after that.
Miami scored two fourth-quarters touchdowns, and offenses for Virginia, Georgia Tech, Duke, Clemson, and NC State totaled 105 points in 11 second-half quarters, an average of 9.5 points per period.
Chizik noted an uptick in sacks registered, takeaways, TFLs from 2022. He said there “were some things we got better at,” but will have to look for the next step with respect to consistency.
UNC’s improvements Chizik noted from 2022 to this fall:
*No. 129 in TFLs to No.55
*No. 104 in turnovers gained to No. 22
*No. 127 in sacks to No. 45
Some other upgrades:
*No. 115 in total defense to No. 95
*No. 115 in passing yards to No. 100
*No. 114 in pass efficiency defense to No. 64
*No. 101 in scoring defense to No. 73 (30.8 to 27.1)
Chizik believes the pieces are in place and they need to continue growing, which includes bringing “in some players that fit what we’re doing.”
That and self-assessing once the bowl game is over will be the next step.
“That’s an on-going process,” Chizik said. “The bottom line is when everything stops, you can go back and gather up all the facts and look at everything you assess and do what’s best for everybody.”
