Former North Carolina State University football coach Chuck Amato has died at the age of 80 following a battle with throat cancer.
Amato had been in hospice care for multiple months as he continued to battle the disease.
A Pennsylvania native, Amato played college football and coached it at NC State while going on to become one of the most prolific coaches in program history.
Amato served as head coach of the team for seven years – including four years with Philip Rivers at quarterback.
Others who were coached by Amato include former first-overall pick Mario Williams and former first-round picks John McCargo and Manny Lawson.
Amato played for the Wolfpack from 1965 to 1967 before going into coaching high school football two years later.
Former NC State head coach Chuck Amato has died after a long battle with throat cancer
Amato, who played for NC State, coached the team for six seasons and won four bowl games
Amato put up a record of 49-37 for his alma mater in his only head coaching job
He eventually returned to Raleigh as an assistant coach for NC State from 1971 to 1979 – rising from a grad assistant to becoming the defensive coordinator.
Amato left for Arizona in 1980 before switching to Florida State in 1982. He would coach in Tallahassee until 1999 – serving as defensive line coach and linebacker coach as well as being the associate head coach.
From there, he moved back to his alma mater to take his only head coaching job. Between 2000 and 2006, Amato, who fans nicknamed ‘Chuck the Chest’ – put up a record of 49-37 and won four bowl games – including the Gator Bowl over Notre Dame in 2003.
That season, NC State finished 12th in the AP Poll – the second-highest end-of-season finish in school history.
However, after suffering two losing seasons in his final three years, he wasn’t retained. During his time at the helm, he developed a coaching tree that included the likes of defending national champion Indiana coach Curt Cignetti and Duke coach Manny Diaz among others.
Diaz addressed his passing in a press conference, offering his condolences: ‘I don’t know of anybody who loved NC State University more than Chuck Amato did and I’m very grateful for what he did for me in my time and in my time with him.’
After getting cut from NC State, he returned to his former job at Florida State before ending his career with five years as the associate head coach/defensive coordinator at Akron. When his coaching career ended in 2017, he went back to Raleigh and hosted a radio show.
