Gene Chizik reveals impact of Dre Bly's transition to UNC coaching staff

Dre Bly was a star defensive back during his time at North Carolina back in the 1990’s. Now that his playing career is a distant sight in the rearview mirror, Bly decided to get into coaching, where he’s now the cornerbacks coach at his alma mater under Gene Chizik’s defense.

Chizik, of course, was just brought on as the UNC DC under Mack Brown this offseason. And he decided to retain Bly as the CBs coach after getting to know him back during his first stint with North Carolina back in 2015 and 2016. He has the utmost respect for Bly as a former great player who has transitioned into an excellent coaching presence for the Tar Heels.

During a recent press conference, Chizik explained how hard it is to go from being great on the field to bringing that greatness out of younger guys as a coach.

“Everything starts with humility. And I think Dre understands that — being new to the coaching game in the college world — you have to be open to learning. And I think he’s been really great at being open. You know, when you’re a great player, things come naturally to you, usually. To be a great coach you have to coach those that it doesn’t necessarily come naturally to. And that’s why I think Dre is, you know, really growing as a coach and done a great job of communicating with the players, growing and learning new things.”

Naturally gifted athletes often have a hard time teaching less talented players how to improve. But according to Chizik, that area is a strength for Bly.

“I mean the things that we do in the secondary now, I think there’s a lot of nuances in there that require some open minds. Require that you study it and you change and you evolve, right. Everybody does things differently, and a lot of things that we do are different. But I think Dre has done a great job of learning that, being open to learning it, and wanting to be a great coach.”

Gene Chizik then remembered when Bly first started wanting to get into coaching, when he would visit the Carolina program to watch and learn.

“You know, it’s really interesting. When I was here the first time in 2015 and ’16, he had come and spent several days with us, and we wanted him to sit in meetings because he wanted to get into coaching. He had come, and of course, you know, we loved having him around. So he was in meetings and he kind of shadowed us for a couple days — might have even been a week or more — at different times. You could tell anyone he’d be a great coach. SO I think everything is the want to and the willingness and the humility to be able to have an open mind and say, you know, I want to learn. Doing it as a coach is different, and I think he’s done a great job with that.”