Amato Says He Holds No Grudges Toward N.C. State

amato1.jpgFormer N.C. State football coach Chuck Amato said Friday he doesn’t hold any grudges toward the Wolfpack, but admits that his return to Raleigh on Thursday will be an emotional one.  In the article, Amato also said that he and legendary coach Bill Parcells had  a conversation about The Chest’s days on the Wolfpack sideline:

Amato said Parcells told him, “Chuck, don’t hold grudges. People in the football world know what you did at North Carolina State and how far you brought that program. You did things nobody else could get accomplished. You raised about $100 million for facilities, which are second to none in country, and you brought enthusiasm and excitement to that place.”

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57 Responses to Amato Says He Holds No Grudges Toward N.C. State

  1. redfred2 10/11/2008 at 5:38 PM #

    A lot of people may not, but I really do appreciate what Chuck Amato was able to accomplish at NCSU. He may have his head in the sand about the talent he left behind, or at least the balance of talent anyway, but he did start a buzz around the NCSU FB program like never before. As always, there is blame to be laid at Amato’s feet for not being able to capitalize or keeping the momentum going, especially the momentum he had going over these POWDER BLUE PANSIES WHO I JUST WATCHED PICK OFF ND LATE IN THE FOURTH QUARTER!!!

    DAMNIT!!! FIRST TIME I REMEMBER E V E R PULLING FOR A notre dame FB TEAM.

  2. redfred2 10/11/2008 at 6:04 PM #

    It would have been especially SWEET for unc to have lost that game after that terrible call they got on the third down reception/incompletion.

    THAT SUCKED!!! Oh well.

    Oh yeah, somebody send Charlie Weiss some nail clippers, his finger nails are longer than my teenage daughter’s. Jeez.

  3. Noah 10/11/2008 at 6:07 PM #

    Why WOULD he hold grudges? He didn’t do a good job, acted unprofessionally and got fired for it.

  4. cowdog 10/11/2008 at 6:27 PM #

    Further, though I hold no grudge with Chuck, other than he had very little to do with ex teammates and ex players under him in the Holtz era…If indeed Parcells spoke with him…Who the hell is he to gauge Wolfpack enthusiasm?

    Never knew the Tuna was so close to our program.

  5. RAWFS 10/11/2008 at 6:41 PM #

    I do think that Amato ramped up enthusiasm — sellouts of season tickets more or less coincided with his era, right?

    While I agree 100% with Noah, I am willing to give him his due — he did put the excitement back in Wolfpack football after a long cooling off period in the O’Cain era. That and it was his salesmanship that got the expansion of the stadium rolling.

    He did leave behind some decent skilled players but for some reason he never seemed to be able to get his head around the need to for deep powerful lines that could plow open gaps for the stable of backs he recruited to NC State.

  6. buttPACKer 10/11/2008 at 6:42 PM #

    personally, I appreciate what Chuck did for the program, but it was certainly time to usher in the TOB era! . . . I wish him all the best–except on FSU/NCSU gameday!

  7. cowdog 10/11/2008 at 6:49 PM #

    Phillip Rivers may have had a huge hand in ramped up enthusiasm RAWFS, though I can’t speak closely only 2nd hand about the dead zones. Livin’ in Cali from ’79 to 2003.

    That article like some of the things Chuck did rubbed me the wrong way.

  8. LRM 10/11/2008 at 7:18 PM #

    Chuck Amato’s ego knows no bounds.

  9. redfred2 10/11/2008 at 8:03 PM #

    Amato is an ALUM, he once wore a Wolfpack uniform, I’m also pretty certain he had the best of intentions and wanted to see lasting success at NCSU just as much, or more, than any of us. PLUS, he’s now down at FSU.

    I had hoped he would do it and be here for decades, I hope he does well from here on out for all of those reasons above, and I’ll leave it at that.

  10. eas 10/11/2008 at 8:10 PM #

    He deserves credit without a doubt. Yes, his ego is huge but so was his love for the program. He was an awesome recruiter (well with certain positions…..But didn’t do well at many important ones) and “salesman” of the program. He got a lot of people thinking again and therefore opened their pockets for top notch facilities.

    Unfortunately, he could not manage the egos of the players and coaching staff. Probably the biggest downfall was he absolutely couldn’t hold on to good coaches or any coaches for that matter. Tresman was the one bad decision he would love to take back.

    It was certainly time for TOB but without CTC’s work with our facilities and program we may not have ended up with TOB. So we can probably think him for that as well. Another boost for his ego but a well deserved one IMHO. I do miss the crazy fits on the sidelines from time to time but I don’t miss the shoes/glasses.

  11. SMD 10/11/2008 at 8:14 PM #

    Perhaps there was no way around it, since this week is Chuck’s return, but I thought that his comments were sorta prima-donna-ish. While certainly the media is going to focus on that angle to an extent, he took the question and expounded at length on it.

    In other words -ego, ego, ego – which in my estimation is why he lost so many assistants and is what ultimately led to his downfall.

  12. wolfpackdawg 10/11/2008 at 8:49 PM #

    He failed as a coach here. What else matters?

  13. turfpack 10/11/2008 at 8:52 PM #

    Chuck should be thanked for what he did for the football program.
    But -the lack of recuiting a complete set of postions for the team and not trusting his coaches to coach w/o his two cents-plus pissing off your home state Highschool coaches doesn’t bode well for success.
    I don’t hold ill will toward Chuck-wish he would have succeeded -but
    I hope we kick FSU ass thursday night. GO PACK!

  14. Wulfpack 10/11/2008 at 9:23 PM #

    All show and no substance.

  15. ruffles31 10/11/2008 at 10:19 PM #

    The biggest shock from the News and Observer article was this sentence near the end:

    Efforts to reach N.C. State athletic director Lee Fowler on Friday were unsuccessful.

    Are you telling me that Fowler declined to open his mouth? Has someone put a muzzle on him? Or does he not get cell coverate at Lake Gaston?

  16. turfpack 10/11/2008 at 10:41 PM #

    ruffles31-The Latter….or he doesn’t give a s#$% – sorry we already
    knew that….or sometimes the rattle of AL cans in his boat drown out his ringer.

  17. tractor57 10/11/2008 at 10:52 PM #

    Coach Amato deserves some credit for things he did well – especially increasing the excitement around the football program and also some blame for things he didn’t do well like running a big time football program.
    He has my gratitude for those good things but the negatives outweighed the positives so he he is once again an assistant coach.
    Typical media take on the issue (mot to mention more ego building for the coach) and personally I don’t care if Amato talked to Parcells or not.
    The point that is rarely talked about anywhere other than places like this blog is if NSCU had a strong leader at AD Amato might well still be the coach (and of a relevant football program). The apparent lack of significant oversight from an AD into things like relationships with assistant coaches and/or players did nothing to help coach Amato deal with those areas in a more positive way.
    With a first time coach (and a flashy one at that) such behind the scenes assistance would have been a great help. With a more experienced head coach like TOB that becomes much less of an issue.

  18. Astral Rain 10/12/2008 at 1:38 AM #

    Chuck deserves cheers at CF. He wasn’t the best coach, but he cared, had heart , and never did anything that wasn’t for NCSU first.

  19. Ismael 10/12/2008 at 3:09 AM #

    I actually think it was Philip Rivers coupled with the exponential population growth in the triangle over the last 10-15 years. I say that because i see alot more NCSU – walmart fans. If people started giving more because of Amato talking, then that’s just dumb. People started giving more because the product on the field started looking alot better.

    Amato is a wolfpacker, but i’m glad he’s gone, The End.

  20. choppack1 10/12/2008 at 7:29 AM #

    And Chuck reinforces his cartoonish persona.

    When Chuck took over and brought in a very solid and expensive staff, I was VERY excited about Wolfpack football. We played an exciting, aggressive, cocky brand of football – and the results good.

    However, the longer Chuck stayed – and the bigger his footprint was on the program – the results started to decline pretty rapidly.

    The first clue was Philip’s final year. We swaggered into Groves Stadium and staggered out. Against OSU, down 17 w/ about 7 minutes left in the 4th quarter – we punt. Luckily, the Buckeye’s fumbled the punt – and the comeback was on. Somehow, the team got it together enough to head into Tallahasse w/ a shot at a shared ACC title. We had the ball w/ 2 minutes left in the 4th quarter and Rivers had just completed a long pass to Brian Clark at the 50…he fumbled. We lost in OT. We had dominated FSU (again) but had nothing to show for it. We would go 8-5 w/ a line up full of future NFLers.

    From there, of course, it only got worse. We had enough talent to beat the future ACC champs 2 years in a row, and were w/in a FG of doing it 3 times in a row, but because Amato could never get the guys to not only play hard, but also play SMART, we never got there.

    Somewhere, Chuck lost that charm, charisma and control that allowed him to get an elite coaching staff his first year and bring in amazing recruiting classes. When things started to crumble around him, like his AD, he talked and talked alot – not a good thing. Chuck paid for his mistakes – although he evidently doesn’t know he made them. Our AD needs to pay for his.

  21. Sw0rdf1sh 10/12/2008 at 7:44 AM #

    The man is an alum and a former coach.

    He will always be appreciated by me for that.

    That being said, I hope we make his plane ride home to FSU an unpleasant one next week.

  22. RAWFS 10/12/2008 at 7:47 AM #

    Cheer him coming on, cheer him going off and cheer for your Wolfpack.

    People WILL be watching out for this, and it is a rare game on national TV for NC State.

    Now is the time for Wolfpack fans to show the class that we all like to think we have.

    If someone you know is planning to heckle or boo our former coach, remind them gently that their actions will reflect on us all and that it is a lose-lose situation. The players wearing the home colors are the ones that should do the talking and that should be done by their play on the field.

  23. redfred2 10/12/2008 at 7:50 AM #

    ^Nice chop!

    I agree with astral also, I hope that the fans don’t reinforce what the tabloid sports media, along with Coach Fowler, love to talk more than anything on Thurs night, and that they’ll have the good sense to give Amato a decent welcome back to CF.

    If not, forget about sports commentary during the game, and plan on hearing the same old crap that the media has been shoveling out about NC State/NC State fans for another decade or so longer.

  24. redfred2 10/12/2008 at 7:57 AM #

    RAWFS beat me to the punch

  25. choppack1 10/12/2008 at 8:03 AM #

    Actually a good point about fan behavior. It’s actually kind of sad to see Chuck on the FSU sideline w/ Bobby.

    It will be the 2nd straight reunion game at Carter-Finley stadium. Hopefully we can go 1-1.

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