2023-11-09 17:02:51
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Popular Franklin Street restaurants like The Rat and Zoom Zoom are long gone, and campus landmarks like the Scuttlebutt and Tin Can have been razed to make way for the Kenan Music Building and Fetzer Gym. But as Clyde Christensen makes his daily lunchtime walk around town and campus, it’s not hard to reach back 45 years and conjure up Mike Voight running the toss sweep for seven more yards and the Eagles’ Hotel California blaring out from a third-floor suite at Ehringhaus Dorm.
“They’ve put up a lot of new stuff, but the nuts and bolts and brick and mortar of this place are the same,” says Christenson, a Tar Heel quarterback from 1976-78 and during the 2023 season a volunteer offensive analyst on Coach Mack Brown’s staff. “I take a walk and have great memories. The big things are still the big things. They’ve put up a few parking lots, but at the end of the day, it’s still the same quaint, cool place where I came to school.”
Christensen was born in January 1956 at Los Angeles County Hospital and put up for adoption by his 15-year-old mother. He was welcomed into the Fresno home of Dick Christensen, a young Presbyterian minister, and his wife, and he grew up in the church, his faith serving as a cornerstone to his life ever since. Christensen was recruited out of the California JUCO ranks by Lou Holtz at NC State but then got a phone call from Jim Donnan, the offensive coordinator at Carolina under Bill Dooley.
One visit to Chapel Hill was all he needed to seal the deal.
“This campus sold me,” Christensen says. “I came here and made up my mind pretty quickly. I was a California guy who really wanted to find a college town. It was my chance to see the East Coast and places I’d never been before. I figured I’d get back to California eventually, but the Lord had other plans.”
Christensen was red-shirted in 1976 and then played in a reserve role at quarterback in 1977 (Dooley’s final team that went 7-3-1 and won the ACC championship) and in 1978 (Dick Crum’s first team that finished 5-6). He earned a degree in industrial management at Carolina and was a popular member of the team, absorbing everything he might regarding the inner workings of a coaching staff and how to teach the game.
“I just remember it being so tough,” he says. “Back in the day, Ehringhaus wasn’t air conditioned and you had three-a-days in August, and it was hot as all get out. The off-season was unbelievably tough and training camp was unbelievably tough. Everyone was in that dorm, everyone was suffering, everyone was grinding. I remember how it brought you together and you had to endure something that was extremely tough together.
“I am very grateful for that experience, for how it molded me and everyone else on that team.”
Christensen launched into a coaching odyssey that took him to Mississippi, East Tennessee, Temple, East Carolina, Holy Cross, South Carolina, Maryland and Clemson in the college ranks and Tampa Bay (twice), Indianapolis and Miami in the NFL. He’s won Super Bowls as receivers coach with the Colts following the 2006 season and quarterbacks coach with the Bucs following the 2020 campaign. He moved to the quarterbacks coach slot at Indianapolis and from 2009-15 coached Peyton Manning, then moved to Tampa Bay and coached Tom Brady during Brady’s three-year run with the Buccaneers.
“There is no position in the world of sports like the quarterback,” he says. “It’s so unique. You’re in that huddle and you’ve got all nationalities, body types and educations. You’ve got a receiver who wants the ball and a running back who wants the ball. You’ve got loud guys and passive guys. Meanwhile, you’ve got the other guys wanting to knock your head off. Your job is to keep everyone moving in the right direction.
“I admire Peyton and Tom so much. They might handle all that and manage their lives and a large income. You have to manage people coming at you from every direction, manage the naysayers and the media. Oh, and by the way, have a wife and children. And do it every week. It crushes a lot of people.”
Christensen met his wife Debbie, a cheerleader at Carolina, through a campus FCA chapter, and they had three daughters and now have six grandchildren. In the homestretch of his career, Christensen acknowledged that his wife “had chased my dream with me her whole life” and it was now time to move closer to her aging parents in Winston-Salem. He worked out a volunteer offensive analyst role with Brown and offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey and has been part of the Tar Heel program since last spring.
“I am so grateful to Coach Brown for giving me a little cubbyhole and a spot to hang out and get my football fix,” he says. “I don’t know what happens following the season, but at some level I would always love to be involved here. It’s my school. I love this place.”
No one quite appreciates the idea of “homecoming” the way Christensen does this week. He’s heard that teammates like Lawrence Taylor and Amos Lawrence might be in the house Saturday night.
“LT was a suitemate for three years,” Christensen says. “He was a great teammate and a loyal guy, one of the more loyal teammates a guy might ever have. We’ve stayed in touch over the years. There’s a bond among the Carolina guys in the league. Jeff Saturday, David Thornton and I wore our Tar Heel shirts when we were in Indy. You’d seek out the Carolina guys pre-game as you traveled through the league. The Carolina logo and colors carry a lot of weight.”
Often Christensen will arrive at Kenan Football Center early in the morning, take the elevator to the fifth floor where he can sit, read his morning devotional and watch the sun come up from the east. What goes around, does in fact come around.
Chapel Hill writer Lee Pace (Carolina ’79) is in his 34th season writing regarding Tar Heel football under the “Extra Points” banner. Look for his columns throughout the season. Write him at leepace7@gmail.com and follow him @LeePaceTweet.
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