University of North Carolina Athletics
Grad Assistants Learning From Ground Up
August 21, 2008 | Football
Aug. 21, 2008
By Sergio Tovar
Sometimes reaching a goal can take a lot of hard work. But that may actually be an understatement for graduate assistants around the country aiming to one day become a Division I football coach.
Brad Davis and James Bettcher, Carolina's graduate assistants, start their days before the sun rises and work for at least the next 16 hours. The GAs prepare practice plans, attend meetings, go to practice, input player statistics, break down film, scout opponents, work on special projects for the coaches and much more.
"My wife Erica is unbelievable because there are probably not that many people who will allow their husbands to be gone for 20 hours a day and not see them," Bettcher, the team's defensive graduate assistant, said.
"She's asleep when I wake up in the morning, she's asleep when I get home and a lot of times she's waiting up for me just to say hi and see how my day went."
Because of the little amount of time that both graduate assistants have to go home, Davis decided to start spending the night at his office.
"I haven't been home for about a week," he said. "I think I've been home once in the past two weeks."
Davis, the offensive graduate assistant, has an interesting setup in his office at Kenan Stadium that includes an air mattress placed against the wall and a box with a pillow and a cover.
But he isn't complaining.
"It's cool because a lot of guys would gnaw their arm off to be in this position," Davis said. "It's a great opportunity to further my coaching career."
Bettcher said that he is glad to be working for Butch Davis and John Blake because of how good they are at their jobs and how much they can teach him about how to run an effective defense.
"There are not two better defensive line coaches in the country - in football," Bettcher said. "For me to be able to be under those guys and learn and grow and be able to coach under them makes me feel like I'm in one of the best situations in the country."
Both graduate assistants are in their first year on the Tar Heel coaching staff. Davis, who held the same position at Texas A&M University the past two years, got a position at Carolina because of his connections with Blake and Sam Pittman - both of whom coached him at Oklahoma University. Bettcher came to UNC after working with special teams coordinator John Lovett at Bowling Green for two years.
"What we basically decided when we became graduate assistants was to invest in our careers by learning from these older, seasoned guys," said Davis.
Davis said that what he is learning from the coaches is the most valuable part of his job. But he also enjoys being somewhat of a liaison between the players and coaches.
"(The players) can come talk to us about things that they may not want to talk to the coaches about - we can be their buffer," he said.
"But our coaches do a great job to empower us as GAs - we're not just the players' friends, we're authority figures but at the same time we can put our hands around these guys, talk to them and crack a joke here and there that some of the full-time guys couldn't get away with."
Bettcher, who played center for the University of St. Francis in Indiana, said the part of his job that he finds the most rewarding is seeing how players develop both as people and as football players.
Linebackers coach Tommy Thigpen, who served as a graduate assistant for former Carolina head coach Carl Torbush during the 1998-99 season, said the work the graduate assistants do is priceless.
"They do a lot and to us they're very valuable," Thigpen said. "We really can't live without them."
Thigpen said he enjoyed his time as a graduate assistant even though it seemed as if the work never ended.
"You put in long hours, but you learned a lot," Thigpen said. "The work never stops, it always keeps coming."
Last year's defensive graduate assistant Shawn Terlecky is now the cornerbacks coach and recruitment coordinator for his alma mater, Div. II Mercyhurst College. Former Carolina offensive graduate assistant and letterman John Dunn moved to a similar position working with the offensive line for the defending national champion Louisiana State University.
Joe Dailey, who played quarterback and wide receiver for the Tar Heels for the past two seasons, landed an offensive graduate assistant position at Buffalo this year.
Both graduate assistants hope to one day be full-time coaches.
"I'll work 20 hours a day for the next x amount of years," Bettcher said. "I don't care as long as I have an opportunity like this - to be around guys like these because it's fun, it's rewarding, it's entertaining and you do something you love."
