For the last seven years, Carter-Finley Stadium has had two constants on the sideline. One is the barrel-chested coach Chuck Amato, and the other is the 6-foot-4 North Carolina state trooper by his side, who even after seven years still remains anonymous to most fans.

Even though Amato’s bodyguard’s name remains unknown to masses of N.C. State fans, he does have a familiar face. They recognize him jogging alongside Amato both onto and off the field and also from the way he towers over the coach when standing next to him.

State trooper Sgt. Joe Bright has had countless memorable scenarios being a part of the Wolfpack family — doing a job that he does on his own time, on top of a 40-hour work week.

“Man, if I didn’t enjoy it, I wouldn’t be doing this for seven years. The N.C. State football staff is almost a part of family. I really enjoy and thank the Lord for the opportunity to work with everybody on staff, everybody. From the equipment managers and personnel to medical staff to secretaries,” Bright said. “It’s one big family atmosphere.”

One of the duties of Bright is to escort the team to the stadium from the hotel that they stayed at the night before. One time, this mundane task got a little hectic on the way to Chapel Hill.

“The only real issue I’ve had, it was either three or four years ago when I was escorting the team to Carolina, I had a flat on the way,” Bright said. “I had to get the buses off to the side of the road and try [to] get my tire changed and to go ahead with the escort. We went ahead and got Chuck on the bus while I tried to change my tire.”

Bright said it was then that Amato’s brother, who favors his famous sibling, stayed with the trooper and helped direct traffic.

“Word got out that I had a flat and coach was out directing traffic for me while I was changing the tire, but it was his brother,” Bright said. “That was probably the biggest problem I’ve had with the escort.”

Bright’s other responsibility is to try to deter anyone trying to surround Amato for good or bad intentions.

“Sometimes you want an autograph signed, and we may be running a little behind schedule — coach is going to sign the autograph anyway but I’ll pose as the bad guy and push him through the autographs so we can try to stay on schedule,” Bright said.

Bright said the only time he had an issue with Amato’s safety was in 2003 in a game against Maryland, where a controversial ending had fans throwing objects on the field and both teams nearly brawling.

“The main thing was coach trying to get our players in our locker room. I was more concerned about his safety and he was more concerned about his players,” Bright said.

Bright said he was recommended for the job by his supervisor since he had experience with the game of football, having played in college himself.

“I keep up with [football] and I happen to have experience going down the road and traveling and going to a couple races and stuff so I was familiar with being out and about,” Bright said. “My supervisors thought I’d be pretty good for this particular assignment.”

Bright used to play for East Carolina, where he was an outside linebacker. The officer still gets questions whether he could still play football.

“Well my mind may think that but my body got a couple years on it,” Bright said.

One such instance happened when State traveled to Georgia Tech for a Thursday night game.

“There was an interview going towards the locker room, and there wasn’t a camera [on the field] and they were shooting it from one of their far away cameras,” Bright said. “And the angle of the camera made me look like I was about 6-foot-8, 320 pounds. From what I understand there was a lot of comments about how huge that trooper was that coach had and how they need to put him on the field too. I didn’t have the opportunity to see it but I got a lot of comments about that comment.”

Even though he did play for one of the Pack’s rival schools, at a time when the rivalry was much bigger, Bright said he is completely converted now, as well as his family.

“Oh by all means my whole family’s State fans now pretty much,” Bright said.

Bright’s immediate family consists of his wife, whom he has been married to for 13 years, and also four kids ages 3, 10, 12 and 18.

“There’s not a day that I don’t meet or see coach Amato that he doesn’t ask about my family sincerely,” Bright said. “They really enjoy being able to see their dad on TV with coach Amato. It was a privilege just to be a member of the North Carolina Highway State Patrol, and this is just a bonus. Sometimes I think my colleagues get more out of it than my kids do.”

Bright got to show off his football roots in one game, catching a pass as it sailed out of bounds. He also has displayed his love for the game and the Pack, when State defeated Florida State for the first time ever in Tallahassee, Fla.

“They had a picture in the paper of me with Chuck and I think I was jumping higher than he was,” Bright said. “Some of the people are like ‘I don’t know who was more happy — you or coach Amato.’ I was happy for him.”

Bright said he has the picture framed in his house.

“It’s hard for me to stay within my official capacity when I’m so familiar with the sport of football. That’s why you’ll see me up and down the sidelines like everybody else normally does. I pretty much get into the games,” Bright said. “I enjoy watching the boys play and achieve.”

Balancing his escort duties with State football in addition to state highway patrol may put Bright in a tough spot one day, if Amato goes a few miles over the limit, but he dismissed the notion.

“Coach don’t speed,” Bright said. “I couldn’t stop him because he doesn’t speed. I’ve passed him a couple times but he doesn’t speed. Good answer huh?”