We finally have an explanation for Gene Chizik’s famous ‘shacket’

It’s been a couple years since we’ve seen Gene Chizik on the sidelines as a head coach. After he let Auburn in 2012, he served as UNC’s defensive coordinator for two seasons before announcing his retirement last February.

One of the things Chizik was known for, especially at Auburn, were his famous shackets — the jackets that looked more like shirts:

In a recent interview with AL.com, Chizik revealed the true story behind the shackets, and why he wore them like he did:

He smiles and laughs as the first photos pops up — the “shacket” — which was a term he was apparently unaware of. When we introduced the term to him, he deadpanned to the camera as if he was Jim Halpert.

”So what I had my equipment guy do is, I told him that I don’t like short short-sleeves. So we would get whatever Under Armour sent us and we’d cut the sleeves off of it, we’d hem ‘em,” Chizik said. Similar to Belichick’s signature look, this seems to be a more weather-versatile approach to a cutoff sweatshirt.

”Dana, our equipment guy who’s still at Auburn, would actually custom make all of my game day tops so that they would fit me the way I wanted them to fit.” Chizik liked for the sleeve of the jacket to come down right above the elbow.

The shacket isn’t officially dead even though Chizik isn’t coaching — Syracuse’s Dino Babers rocks one occasionally! (His is a little shorter on the sleeves, though.)

So does Miami’s Mark Richt!

There are some other different sideline styles out there, too. For instance, Minnesota’s P.J. Fleck has adopted the shirt and tie under an extremely athletic, non-formal jacket look:

Thank you, Chizik for giving us the real secrets behind shackets.