One year ago today, Chuck Amato’s team was 2-0 in the ACC after it defeated No. 17 Florida State 24-20. Seven consecutive losses later, Amato lost his job.

He would eventually return to FSU, where he previously coached for 18 years as an assistant to Bobby Bowden. Amato is now the linebackers coach and the executive head coach for the Seminoles.

Amato is feeling at home again in Tallahassee, Fla., Bowden said in a teleconference Sunday.

“This is where he raised his children, so he’s back in familiar surroundings,” Bowden said. “And now if we can just win, I think he’ll be happy.”

Amato was only available to reporters who were in Tallahassee this week, but he said at a Monday press conference in Tallahassee he doesn’t want N.C. State and Florida State’s game this Saturday to be about him.

“It is not about me. It’s about the players,” Amato said. “It’s about the players on both sides of the field.”

He spoke of his love for the players he recruited to the Wolfpack’s program. Amato said it’s been tough being away from them.

“I have purposely stayed away from these young men who I love to death up there because I didn’t want anybody thinking I was tampering with people I shouldn’t have been and whatever,” Amato said. “If there was one wish I could have is that I could meet them somewhere on a Friday and hug every one of their necks on a Friday night, and that’s it.”

Bowden said it’s an inevitable this week’s game will be a tough one for Amato.

“You know doggone well it will be an emotional game for Chuck. Chuck is emotional, and that’s what I like about him,” Bowden said. “He’s a very passionate person.”

Meanwhile, there haven’t been any bitter words from Amato about his alma mater and former place of employment, according to Bowden.

“They’re his guys. He wants them to see good. He wants them to do good. Now’s he not going to want them to do good against us this week, but he still wants them to succeed because they’re his kids,” Bowden said. “He has not bad-mouthed North Carolina State. He hasn’t bad-mouthed anybody.”

The coach who Amato has spent plenty of his career with said he still thinks N.C. State made a mistake in dealing with Amato.

“I don’t even know what happened up there,” Bowden said. “I thought they let a pretty good guy go.”

Curtis Crouch, a junior offensive lineman who said Amato was the only coach to visit his house during recruiting, said the game against the Seminoles this week won’t be any different for him.

“When I’m out there on the football field, it’s me against my opponent,” Crouch said. “I don’t really think of nothing else besides that, besides playing football.”

As Amato is settling in once again with FSU — he said he has the same office and phone number — Bowden said he’s sees a different side of his long-time friend.

“He seems more reserved. He seems more patient. It seems like you work all your life to be a head coach — then all of a sudden you are. So he doesn’t have that urgency right now. The urgency’s not there,” Bowden said. “He’s already been there, you know. He seems to accept that and seems to be enjoying what he’s doing.”

The coach also noted Amato’s working relationship with Seminoles defensive coordinator Mickey Andrews and how it has helped FSU get off to a 3-1 start.

“Chuck’s already had 18 years with Mickey. That’s why they fit in so good together,” Bowden said. “That’s probably one reason we’re doing pretty good right now.”

But even as Amato is back with Bowden, he still, at times, wonders what might have been at N.C. State.

“They’re winners,” Amato said of the team he left behind. “You can look at last year, and it was just like it was here [Florida State]. It was a season of inches. You go look at the number of times in the fourth quarter that game could have been won or lost. It was so close.”

Deputy Sports Editor Nick Jeffreys contributed to this story. Quotes from Amato are courtesy of FSU Media Relations.

Tallahassee Tales

Sports Editor Clark Leonard and Editor in Chief Josh Harrell will be blogging on Saturday and Sunday about the football team’s game against Florida State this weekend. Stay tuned to technicianonline.com for the blogs. The first blog will be posted Saturday.