North Carolina State University Athletics
Behind The Scenes With Tony Haynes: Their Similarities Are Different
9/27/2001 12:00:00 AM | Pack Athletics
Sept. 27, 2001
By Tony Haynes
One coaches at NC State, the other at North Carolina.
Judging solely from their places of employment, one would assume that Chuck Amato and John Bunting are as different as red and blue. As we all know, Wolfpackers and Tar Heels go together about as well as Frank Sinatra and Jimi Hendrix.
But when Amato and Bunting peer at each other across the green Bermuda grass of Carter-Finley Stadium this Saturday, they'll both have a common understanding of each other, and of what this longtime Big Four rivalry is all about.
A linebacker at NC State from 1965-67, Amato was famous for his aggressive style and fiery competitiveness.
A linebacker at UNC from 1969-72, Bunting was famous for his aggressive style and fiery competitiveness.
Amato was a three-year letterwinner with the Wolfpack.
Bunting was a three-year letterwinner with the Tar Heels.
Upon returning to his alma mater as head football coach in 2000, Amato said, "It's good to come home."
Upon returning to his alma mater as head football coach in 2000, Bunting said, "I've come home."
As Yogi Berra's son Dale once said, "their similarities are different."
"I think it's kind of interesting," Bunting said. "It's ironic I suppose that he was a linebacker and I was a linebacker. We're both defensive coaches by trade. I know he has a lot of enthusiasm for both the game and his alma mater, and I think you know enough about me to know that I love football, I love football players, I love team play, and I really love this university."
Which university was that coach? Oh yea, that was Bunting talking.
In an era when coaches are fond of saying things like, "we're treating this like any other game," you get the feeling that neither Amato nor Bunting will downplay the importance of winning this week.
For them, it never was, nor it will ever be "just another game."
"I remember as a freshman in 1968, I went down to my first pep rally to hear [former UNC coach] Bill Dooley speak," Bunting recalled. "He got up there with the microphone and went, "beat Cow College." That was it. He said it about two more times: "beat Cow College, beat Cow College." After that inspiring speech, we went out and got the hell beat out of us."
As if he wasn't already popular enough, Amato was treated like a rock star after his first NC State team marched out of Chapel Hill with a 38-20 win over North Carolina last year. The Wolfpack victory thrilled Pack fans, who had endured a seven-year drought in the series prior to Amato's arrival.
Following their playing days, Amato and Bunting would eventually choose different paths. Amato immediately joined the NC State staff as a graduate assistant while Bunting played 10 years for the NFL's Philadelphia Eagles and two more in the USFL.
Three decades later, both are back where they always felt they belonged, one in Raleigh, the other in Chapel Hill.
"You've heard me say it, and we've all heard John say it: it's definitely a meaningful thing to go back to your alma mater," Amato said. "When I took this job, I said that your best opportunity to get a head football coaching job is at your alma mater and at a university where you've worked."
Chuck Amato and John Bunting: so similar and yet so different.
