Chuck Amato Retires From College Football

Former NC State head football coach Chuck Amato has officially retired from college football, after 45 years coaching the sport.

Amato spent the past 6 seasons as the Associate Head Coach, and Defensive Coordinator at Akron.

“It’s been a while that I’ve been thinking about this.” Amato said. “Bobby Bowden preached for years the three ‘F’s– faith, family, and football– in that order. My wife has a sister and brother who are not doing well right now, and I’ve got twin boys (grandsons) in my house, and they just kill me. [he said with a laugh] I said to myself, ‘Maybe it’s time to go ahead and let someone else do it.’ Just be happy and glad. I’ve been around. I’ve been to the top of the mountain twice, and if it wasn’t for a wide left and a wide right, there’d be five of them (national championships). But I’m ready to retire, and I have to find something to do. If anybody out there has something they can give me, call me.” (Link)

Akron head coach Terry Bowden had this to say about the impact of Amato’s departure.

“One of the hardest things I’m going to have to do as the head coach at the University of Akron is to replace Chuck Amato, my associate head coach, defensive coordinator, and linebackers coach, who has decided after an illustrious career at Florida State, N.C. State, and Akron to retire,” head coach Terry Bowden said. “We’ll have another person in here, but I’m not sure you can ever replace a guy like Chuck Amato. The thing that he has done to add character to our team, to add leadership, to be a mentor to our young men, and he’s done it for nearly 50 years of coaching, that’s irreplaceable in a lot of ways. On an individual basis, his development of linebackers was above all else. In his six years here, Justin March, Jatavis Brown, and Ulysees Gilbert—two of them playing in the NFL and the other I’m sure will have the opportunity, he’s continued to be one of the premiere linebacker coaches in the country. We’re excited about what he’s done during his tenure here, getting us to two bowls in the last three years, getting us to a (MAC East) division championship for the first time in 12 years, beating our rival in three straight years, I think without Chuck Amato, that would not have been nearly as easy to obtain.” (Link)

Amato played linebacker at NC State from 1965-67, and was a part of NC State’s 1965 Co-ACC Championship. He was also a 2-time ACC Wrestling Champion at Heavyweight.

His first college coaching experience came at NC State, and he served as an assistant coach for 9 years. He began as a Graduate Assistant, then became the Defensive Back’s coach, and eventually took the Defensive Coordinator role for the final four years.

After two seasons as Arizona’s Linebacker coach, he moved on to Florida State, where he would spent 18 seasons as an assistant coach in different areas of the defense.

In 2000, Amato became the head coach at his alma mater, and held that post for 7 seasons. In 2002, he led the Wolfpack to an 11-3 record, and a Gator Bowl victory over Notre Dame. The 11 wins were the most in a single season in NC State history, and they finished the season ranked 12th. He finished his tenure at NC State with a 49-37 record.

Chuck “the Chest” has officially retired, and we wish him the best.