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Amato finito
Wolfpack announces
departure of head football coach
From staff and
electronic reports
©2006 Bonesville.net. All rights reserved.
Less than 24 hours after
N.C. State closed its season with a home loss to East Carolina, Wolfpack
athletic director Lee Fowler announced that football coach Chuck Amato
will not be retained for next season.
Amato, who posted a
49-37 overall record and 25-31 Atlantic Coast Conference mark during his
seven years as leader of the Pack, finished the 2006 season with a 3-9 record.
The three wins came during the first five weeks of the season over
Division I-AA powerhouse Appalachian State and robust ACC foes Boston College and Florida State.
What followed were seven
straight defeats, capped by State's fifth loss in its last seven
meetings with the Pirates dating back to 1987, when the series between
the schools was interrupted for several years in the wake of an unruly
on-field celebration in Carter-Finley Stadium involving ECU fans
exuberant over their team's victory.
That the firing came on
the heels of the
21-16 loss to ECU on Saturday night was reminiscent of the
scenario immediately preceding the
ouster of Amato's predecessor. Former NCSU coach Mike O'Cain was
terminated after his team lost its final game of the 1999 season to the
Pirates, 23-6.
With Amato's departure and
the announcement last month by UNC-Chapel Hill that John Bunting will
not return as its football coach, Pirate fans will have the chance next
season to get a first-hand look at their respective successors. ECU will
face both the Wolfpack and the Tar Heels in Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium in
2007.
Former Cleveland Browns
and Miami Hurricanes coach Butch Davis has been hired to replace Bunting
in Chapel Hill.
Fowler, who praised
Amato's attitude and the lofty
aspirations he inspired in the program, attributed the decision to
end the former Wolfpack linebacker's tenure to the team's lack of winning consistency
over the last three
years.
“No Wolfpack fan can
question the excitement and enthusiasm that Chuck Amato brought to the
N.C. State football program when he came here in 2000,” said Fowler in a
release posted on the school's official athletics Website. “His dreams
have become our dreams and that has translated itself into our great new
facilities, record ticket sales and five bowl appearances in seven
years.
"However, because the
results on the field in two of the last three seasons have fallen far
below where we feel our program should be at this point, we have decided
to take the program in a new direction.”
N.C. State qualified for a
postseason bowl in each of Amato’s first four years as coach and
guided the team to victories in three of those contests, but the
Wolfpack finished with losing records in 2004 and 2006.
Amato, who was lured from
the staff of Bobby Bowden at Florida State to take the helm of his alma
mater's football program, had three years remaining on his contract.
“Chuck Amato has been a
part of Wolfpack football for more than four decades and as a head coach
has raised our expectations and goals,” stated Chancellor James L.
Oblinger in the release. “We appreciate everything that Chuck has done
for the program and our student-athletes. We wish him all the best in
the future; he will always be a member of the Wolfpack family."
Fowler added that the
search to find Amato’s replacement will begin immediately and would be
national in scope.
Amato issued the following
statement:
“When I came to North
Carolina State University, I set my dreams very high. My vision was to
take this program to places that it had never been before in 100-plus
years of playing football. We really don’t know how long or how
difficult it is to be able to attain those types of goals because we’ve
never been there before in football.
“I didn’t come here to use
this job as a stepping stone like many others have or could. I wanted to
surround myself with people who would help me stretch my vision and not
choke my dreams. This is obviously a disappointing decision for me, but
I would never do anything to hurt North Carolina State University. This
season was a big disappointment but I’m very proud of what I
accomplished during my tenure. I believe that my relentless persistence
and my passion have brought an enthusiasm, an energy and an emotion that
couldn’t be equaled. Those same qualities are just as strong in me today
as they were the first day I took this job. I haven’t lost my passion,
my will to succeed, or my joy.”
PAGE UPDATED
02/23/07 11:32 AM.
©2006 Bonesville.net and
other Publishers. All rights rights reserved. This material may not be
published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Game accounts and
statistics may be compiled from various sources, including but not limited
to staff, East Carolina University, opposing team and Conference USA reports.
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