CHAPEL HILL – In addition to introducing Gene Chizik as the new head of its defense, North Carolina also introduced co-defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach Charlton Warren on Thursday.
Warren comes to UNC after serving as the defensive coordinator at Indiana this past season. His 17-year career began after he lettered for three seasons at the Air Force Academy. After spending 10 years in the service, Warren has been defensive backs coach or defensive coordinator at seven schools, including Air Force, Nebraska, North Carolina, Tennessee, Florida, Georgia, Indiana.
In his first stint at North Carolina, Warren led a UNC secondary that only gave up 11 passing touchdowns in the 2015 season. North Carolina also had the most improved pass efficiency and yards per pass attempt defense. In 2016, North Carolina ranked 10th nationally in passing defense, only allowing 180.8 yards per game.
Among the topics discussed in Thursday's presser were how his and Dre’ Bly roles can co-exist, the roster's talent level, his relationship with Gene Chizik, and much more.
Above is the full video of Warren's presser, and below are notes and pulled quotes from what he had to say:
*Charlton Warren’s 17-year coaching career has taken him to seven different schools, including three SEC schools in three years. With Warren's extensive experience around elite programs, he knows the investment necessary to build a successful program, and he can see the investments made in the North Carolina football program.
"In my 17-year coaching career, this is one of my favorite stops," Warren explained. "The people, student-athletes, the culture around the program, and just the environment you find yourself here from a living standpoint in Chapel Hill. Very fortunate that Coach Brown called and gave me the opportunity through Coach Chizik to have the opportunity to come back here.
“And like I said, this place is so great it's one of the greatest combinations of academics and athletics that you could hope for in the United States. With the resources and the investments made into football and the advances made with Coach Brown that you can see throughout the building, with the players, with the recruiting has been phenomenal, so I'm super blessed and grateful to be back here."
*When Chizik accepted the opportunity to head up UNC’s defense, Warren was the one coach he wanted to bring with him to Chapel Hill. In 2015, the duo took a unit that ranked 119th in scoring defense the year before improving it to where it led the ACC in interceptions and the 42nd ranked scoring defense the following year. It also improved from allowing 39 points a game to 24.5. So, when Warren was given a chance to reunite with his mentor, the opportunity felt "natural."
"Coach Chizik's been one of my mentors in football, said Warren. “When I had the opportunity to first meet him, which was really a cold call when I was at the University of Nebraska, and he was taking the job here at Carolina. Cold call. I had never met him, obviously knew his reputation, knew his name as a DB guy as a coordinator and head coach there at Auburn. So I did the interview process there, and that really started a mentorship, a friendship.
"With Coach Chizik, I respect him to no end. I went to him for career advice with different moves to different programs. So one, the respect and the admiration I have for Coach Chizik is up there, so for him to call me and say, look, I'm getting back in, and you're the one dude I wanna bring with me if you're willing to do it. I was flattered by that, and then to have Coach Brown call me Hall of Fame coach, national champion. The first time I was here how much the people in this community just loved him as a coach.
“Again, flattered and then for me being a guy from the South, recruiting base in the South. Being here before coaching guys like MJ Stewart and Myles Dorn and Des Lawrence and Cole Holcomb and just that whole crew of guys we had. It just seemed to be the right thing to do, it felt natural, felt right, and I got a chance to be back in the place I love being with a guy that I admire in college football."
*According to Rivals recruiting services, the 2015 roster Warren inherited only had two 4-star defensive players and no 5-star players. This time around, Warren will get a defensive group that includes nineteen 4-stars and two 5-stars. With this much talent in Carolina's locker room, Warren felt like returning to Chapel Hill gave him a great chance to succeed.
"I think whenever you step into a program or an opportunity, you wanna feel like you have a chance to win, and you have a chance to win because of the resources poured into it,” explained Warren. "You have a chance to win because of your recruiting base, to go along with the culture of your program, so as I step into North Carolina right now with this group, I feel like the resources are in place that's like the recruiting is in place and has been elevated from a level than when I was here years ago, so that's very appealing as you decide to leave a job and take a job.
"And you feel like you are poised to continue with success for years and years to come. I think coming here tells you I feel that Coach Brown and the athletic department are doing a tremendous job of putting this program in a position to excel and continue to grow over the years, so for me, it was huge in my decision to come back."
*Miscommunication between the safeties and corners has been an issue in the past. One of the more recent examples is the go-ahead touchdown allowed against NC State. To prevent 'catastrophic' plays from happening in the future, Warren plans to work very closely with Dre Bly and the corners to make sure the two units are on one page.
"When I was here the first time Dre’ (Bly) wanted to get into coaching, so I've known Dre being a phenomenal NFL player and a Tar Heel himself," he said. "As he came in, he had the opportunity to sit in my meetings, summer workouts, and summer camp. He and I built a relationship back then and sort of got him going in coaching, and since then, as I left and he became a coach. We've communicated on different things, techniques, schemes, just questions about the business, so we have a tremendous relationship.
“Okay, on the secondary part of it, I'm a firm believer that corners, stars, safeties, dimes, whatever you wanna call them, they gotta be on the same page. Because when we bust, they strike up the band for the other team because we gave up an explosive play or catastrophic plays; it's a touchdown. I love having a room full of the same bodies because if we all say cross the street and turn left, it can get interpreted differently between who's saying it. So we'll be together a lot, we'll meet together a lot because I want everybody on the same page. We can't bust on that end; the communication has to be supreme in this day and age with the tempo of offenses, the formations, the no-huddle like you have to be on the same page.
“So the roles are there's a secondary, I'm in charge of secondary, Coach Bly has the corners, but we will do a lot of things together, especially in that meeting room, so that we're on the same page. But we're all gonna grow as coaches. We're all gonna grow as guys that have a great football IQ, but the scheme for sure will be communicated throughout. Then we'll do different things functionally and technically in practice so that we can maximize his talents and my talents."
*Communication and a simplified message were common themes during Warren's meeting with the media. Warren understands when the player's aren’t over-communicating and their jobs are simplified, the results will show on the field.
“Once we get everybody every single play, 11 guys are acting as one,” said Warren. “So, I think that's the first thing we gotta make sure we can do, is that whatever is called, all eleven guys understand the call, know the call, and execute the call at a tempo that we like. An attacking tempo that we like, I think that's the first step to a great defense. And that's to the one thing we'll start from day one, making sure we accomplish."
