Former Coach | Notre Dame Hit HR With Chansi Stuckey Hire
Before he was the head coach at Northside High School, Chad Alligood was an assistant coach at the Georgia high school.
One of his standouts back then was an athlete named Chansi Stuckey.
“It was my first year at Northside as an assistant coach,” says Alligood, who was hired as head coach two years ago.
“We have stayed pretty close the whole time since then.”
Stuckey left Northside and went on to play quarterback and receiver at Clemson before spending time in the NFL as a wideout with the Jets, Browns and Cardinals.
Stuckey’s playing career ended in 2011 and in 2019, he returned to his alma mater as a graduate assistant. In 2021, he was hired as receivers coach at Baylor and made the move to Notre Dame this offseason.
Looking back, Alligood could see the signs years ago.
“His football IQ was off the charts,” the coach says. “He understood the game so well. It frustrated you because Chansi knew all the answers before you asked him. It would be kind of funny.
“Chansi was just a gym rat. He thought he was the next Michael Jordan, though. Chansi thought he was going to be the next great basketball player, but he figured out real quick that he was special on the football field and changed his tune. Hard worker. You never had to question his work ethic or anything.”
A future in coaching wasn’t really obvious, if only because Stuckey seemed destined for success regardless of what path he took.
“You knew Chansi was going to be something special because of his demeanor,” says Alligood. “His attitude was so outgoing. You just knew that there was something in him that he was going to be special at. Not sure coaching was going to be the route for Chansi, but you just knew by his character and his personality that he was destined to do something great.”
So why did Stuckey decide to get into coaching so many years after he stopped playing?
“To make a difference in somebody's life,” Alligood says. “Chansi's faith is really strong to him. Just from the conversations that we've had through the years, I really think that he just wanted to give back to kids and to spread the gospel and influence others as his coaches influenced him.
“I think that's what it was all about for him. He could have done a lot of other things, which he has. He got involved in a lot of things after his NFL career, but something about just being around young people and influencing them was a big pull to him.”
And the schools Stuckey has coached at over the past few years align with Stuckey’s values, according to Alligood.
“No doubt, no doubt,” the coach says. “That was huge to him. I remember talking to him a couple days before he goes to interview at Notre Dame. We talked a lot about that.
“I think Coach (Marcus) Freeman was a big pull for Chansi just because of the values that he has. I think that was real huge for Chansi, finding a place that mirrored up with his values and his thoughts and what he wanted to do in this profession. I think that's why Notre Dame was such a good fit for him.”
Alligood expects Stuckey to have “instant success” on the recruiting trail.
“I just think when Chansi gets in a room with a young football player, a mom, a dad, they'll see how genuine he is and how passionate he is about he helping their child out,” he says.
“I think a big thing for Notre Dame is you get somebody from the South, you get these kids from the South coming to South Bend and I think that's a huge hire for Coach Freeman and what he's trying to do.”
While Stuckey’s name may have been a surprise for Irish fans given his short résumé, not Alligood.
“No surprise at all,” he says. “When people get to know him, you'll see why he's where he is so fast. No surprise to anybody who knows Chansi, who's ever been around him just because of who he is and his work ethic. He's going to do things with A-plus effort every day. When the Notre Dame fan base and the Notre Dame athletic department really gets to know Chansi, they're going to know they hit a home run with this hire.”
During his press conference to introduce his new staff, Freeman said within 30 minutes of meeting with Stuckey, he knew Stuckey was the right person for the job.
Alligood knows what Freeman meant.
“There are a lot of people who can do to X's and O's. You need the right people. I know as a high school head coach, you've got to find the right people first and personalities mesh. That's just Chansi. I challenge anybody to call somebody and find somebody with a negative word to say about Coach Stuckey. That's the impact that he's had. I don't know if you can find one person to say anything negative about him.”