Tony Levine (born October 28, 1972) is a former

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

coach who last coached at

Purdue Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, United States, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donat ...

as the special teams coordinator, co-offensive coordinator, and tight ends coach. He is a former head coach for the

Houston Cougars football The Houston Cougars football program is an NCAA Division I FBS football team that represents the University of Houston. The team is commonly referred to as "Houston" or "UH." The UH football program is a member of the Big 12 Conference. Since th ...

team. Levine now owns and operates a

Chick-fil-A Chick-fil-A, Inc. ( , a Word play, play on the American English pronunciation of "wikt:filet#Pronunciation, filet") is an American fast food restaurant chain and the largest chain specializing in Chicken burger, chicken sandwiches. Headquarter ...

restaurant in the

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...

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. A walk-on

wide receiver A wide receiver (WR), also referred to as a wideout, and historically known as a split end (SE) or flanker (FL), is an eligible receiver in gridiron football. A key skill position of the offense (American football), offense, WR gets its name ...

for the

Minnesota Golden Gophers The Minnesota Golden Gophers (commonly shortened to Gophers) are the college athletics, college sports teams of the University of Minnesota. The university fields a total of 21 (9 men's, 12 women's) teams in both men's and women's sports and com ...

under

Jim Wacker James Herbert Wacker (April 28, 1937 – August 26, 2003) was an American football coach and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at Texas Lutheran University (1971–1975), North Dakota State University (1976–1 ...

, Levine became a three-year starter and was twice named to the Academic All-

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives in 1 ...

team. After his graduation from Minnesota, Levine played

arena football Arena football is a variety of gridiron football designed to be played indoors. The game is played on a smaller field than American or Canadian football, designed to fit in the same surface area as a standard North American ice hockey rink, an ...

for the Minnesota Fighting Pike and started his own sports marketing company (Levine Marketing Group) in 1996. Before coming to Houston, the St. Paul native coached at Texas State, Auburn,

Louisiana Tech Louisiana Tech University (Louisiana Tech, La. Tech, or simply Tech) is a public research university in Ruston, Louisiana, United States. It is part of the University of Louisiana System and classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – Hig ...

Louisville Louisville is the most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeast, and the 27th-most-populous city in the United States. By land area, it is the country's 24th-largest city; however, by populatio ...

and the NFL's

Carolina Panthers The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. The t ...

Early and personal life

Levine was born in

Saint Paul, Minnesota Saint Paul (often abbreviated St. Paul) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Ramsey County, Minnesota, Ramsey County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, ...

, to Marvin and Harriet Levine.UH coach takes pride in family, football
/ref>
/ref> His father, Marvin Levine, worked as a

certified public accountant Certified Public Accountant (CPA) is the title of qualified accountants in numerous countries in the English-speaking world. It is generally equivalent to the title of chartered accountant in other English-speaking countries. In the United Stat ...

and played big-band trumpet.Meet Tony Levine: The Most Popular Football Coach in Houston – Tablet Magazine
/ref>Levine travels lengthy path to UH's top job - The Daily Cougar
/ref> His mother, Harriet, was a high school guidance counselor. His brother, Jeffrey Levine, is a band and orchestra director at Jefferson High School in

Bloomington, Minnesota Bloomington is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States. It is located on the north bank of the Minnesota River above its confluence with the Mississippi River, south of downtown Minneapolis and just south of the Interstate 494/Inter ...

and is also one of the most accomplished trumpet players on the Minnesota music scene. Levine and his wife Erin have four children (Ben, Asher, Willa, and Eli).

High school and college

Attending Highland Park High School in Saint Paul, Levine finished ranked in the top 10% of his graduating class and was a multi-sport athlete, playing tennis, soccer, basketball, track, baseball and football. Levine was also a member of the marching band and jazz band, where he excelled at saxophone. He was named a high school All-American saxophone performer in both his junior and senior years. As a high school junior, he joined the football team for the first time and played free safety. His senior year, Levine moved to wide receiver and was chosen for the Minnesota All-State team. He graduated from HPHS in 1991, and had considered studying music at

University of Rochester The University of Rochester is a private university, private research university in Rochester, New York, United States. It was founded in 1850 and moved into its current campus, next to the Genesee River in 1930. With approximately 30,000 full ...

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a state university system, system of Public university, public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. The system has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration o ...

University of North Texas The University of North Texas (UNT) is a public university, public research university located in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. Its main campus is in Denton, Texas, Denton, with a satellite campus in Frisco, Texas, Frisco. It serves as the ...

and

University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire The University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire (UW–Eau Claire, UWEC or simply Eau Claire) is a public university in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, United States. It is part of the University of Wisconsin System and offers Bachelor's degree, bachelor's and ...

, however he ultimately did not pursue a degree in music. In football, Levine was recruited by several Division II and Division III schools, but did not receive any scholarship offers. However, he received a call from a

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

graduate assistant coach, Dave Spiegler, to invite him to walk-on as a receiver, which he accepted. Levine paid for his first two years at Minnesota independently. During the second game of the

1993 season The General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its calendar advanced 24 hours to th ...

against Indiana State, Levine started for injured teammate Omar Douglas. In that game, he caught seven passes for 121 yards and a touchdown. Head coach

then offered Levine a scholarship, and eventually made Levine a starter for the team in the 1994 and 1995 seasons. In his three years playing for the team, he was a two-time Academic All-

Team member. Levine earned two

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

s, one in

physical education Physical education is an academic subject taught in schools worldwide, encompassing Primary education, primary, Secondary education, secondary, and sometimes tertiary education. It is often referred to as Phys. Ed. or PE, and in the United Stat ...

from Texas State in 1999 and one as an

educational specialist The Education Specialist, also referred to as Educational Specialist or Specialist in Education (Ed.S., EdS or S.Ed.), is a specialist degree in education which is an advanced professional degree in the U.S. that is designed to provide knowledge ...

in adult education from Auburn in 2003.

Professional playing career

After finishing his career at Minnesota, Levine joined the Minnesota Fighting Pike of the

Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 Arena Football League season, 1987 season, making it the third longest-runnin ...

. However, his professional career only lasted the 1996 season, as the team folded thereafter. In his season with the Fighting Pike, Levine caught 8 passes for 83 yards and 1 touchdown.

Coaching career

Early coaching career

In 1996 Levine began his career as a coach, when he returned to his high school alma mater, Highland Park High School. He served as head coach of the freshmen team before he departed for Texas for a position at Texas State. During his time there, Levine rented an apartment at Pennington Funeral Home in Downtown San Marcos. His monthly salary was $976, and he did not own an automobile. Levine walked approximately one mile to campus each day. He simultaneously attended classes as a student, and earned his first master's degree in physical education from the university in 1999. His next career move was to move to Auburn. Similar to his time spent at Texas State, Levine attended classes at the university, and eventually earned a degree at Auburn as an

Educational specialist The Education Specialist, also referred to as Educational Specialist or Specialist in Education (Ed.S., EdS or S.Ed.), is a specialist degree in education which is an advanced professional degree in the U.S. that is designed to provide knowledge ...

in adult education in 2003. He later held coaching positions at

and the NFL's

Houston

Tony Levine was hired by Houston head coach

Kevin Sumlin Kevin Warren Sumlin (born August 3, 1964) is an American football coach who is the associate head coach, co-offensive coordinator, and tight ends coach for the University of Maryland. Sumlin served as the head football coach at the University of ...

to be the special teams coordinator in 2008. During his time in this position, Houston achieved great success, and finished the 2011 season undefeated in regular season play. He was named interim head football coach of the Cougars immediately after Sumlin left his team for Texas A&M; however, on December 21 — eleven days before the Cougars were due to play in the 2012 TicketCity Bowl — Houston dropped the "interim" from Levine's title and formally named him as the school's 12th head coach. The Cougars then defeated No. 22

Penn State #Redirect Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with ca ...

in the TicketCity Bowl.Berman, Mark
Kevin Sumlin is Leaving the University of Houston
KRIV, December 10, 2011. Houston finished No. 14 in the Coaches Poll for 2011. Levine was relieved after three seasons at Houston on December 8, 2014, with an overall record of 21–17, and three bowl appearances. On what seemed to be a promising year, the Cougars lost their inaugural game in TDECU Stadium to UTSA 27-7 – a disappointment compounded by the loss in the season opener to Texas State 30-13 two years prior.

Western Kentucky

Levine returned to coaching after sitting out the 2015 season, joining

Jeff Brohm Jeffrey Scott Brohm (born April 24, 1971) is an American college football coach and former professional quarterback. He is the head football coach at his alma mater, the University of Louisville, a position he has held since the 2023 season. Bro ...

's staff at Western Kentucky as co-offensive coordinator, special teams coordinator and tight ends coach. WKU finished the 2016 season with an 11–3 record and ranked No. 23 in the nation as Conference USA Champions. WKU finished the season 1st nationally in scoring offense (45.5 points per game), 5th in total offense (523 yards per game) and 5th in passing offense (336 yards per game). Levine was named the National Special Teams Coach of the Year by Phil Steele Magazine at the conclusion of the 2016 season.

Purdue

After Brohm was hired as the new head coach at

after the 2016 season, he brought Levine along to fill the same roles he had at Western Kentucky, with the official announcement made on December 31. Levine announced his resignation after one season in January 2018, saying it was "the right time" to leave.

After coaching

During Levine's hiatus from coaching in the 2015 season, he thought about a career change; as

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

journalist Adam Rittenberg noted in a 2018 story, Levine wished "to still impact others while spending more time with his wife and four young children. And, ideally, not leave Houston." As part of this process, he called Eric Johnson, who had left the

Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...

staff in 2014 to open a

Culver's Culver Franchising System, LLC, doing business as Culver's, is an American fast-casual Chain store, restaurant chain. The company was founded in 1984 by George, Ruth, Craig Culver, Craig, and Lea Culver. The first location opened in Sauk City, ...

restaurant in the

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area, at Johnson's new restaurant, asking for advice. While he went back to coaching at that time, Levine eventually applied to become a

franchisee, despite having had no restaurant experience. The company's franchisee selection process is notoriously selective—the company receives more than 50,000 annual franchise inquiries, but opens roughly 100 new locations each year. Nonetheless, the skills he practiced as a coach in leadership, recruiting, and player development transferred well to the company's selection process, and he was approved to open a new location five minutes' drive from his home. While preparing to open his new restaurant, he went through about 700 job candidates before hiring 110 of them—which, by coincidence, is about the same size as a typical playing roster in Division I FBS. In Rittenberg's story, Levine said about his staff,

They're from age 15 to 65 and from every type of background, culture, race, religion. It reminded me of sitting in homes again when I was coaching. It's similar, the evaluation of team members and putting them in the right position. Who's more up for the fast pace, won't get rattled when there's cars wrapped around a restaurant, can handle the stress and intensity of the drive-through?

The new restaurant opened on May 17, 2018, with festivities lasting a week. Before the opening, Levine held a free lunch and dinner as what he called "a live simulation scrimmage" for his staff, and the festivities also included a dinner for Levine's former Houston players and assistants. In the Rittenberg story, he made a telling point about the difference between his past life in coaching and his current career, saying, "Yesterday, my cell phone did not ring one time. If you've been coaching at the college level, you're normally not able to say that, if ever."

Head coaching record

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Levine, Tony 1972 births Living people American football wide receivers American restaurateurs Auburn Tigers football coaches Auburn University alumni Carolina Panthers coaches Houston Cougars football coaches Louisiana Tech Bulldogs football coaches Louisville Cardinals football coaches Minnesota Fighting Pike players Minnesota Golden Gophers football players Purdue Boilermakers football coaches Texas State Bobcats football coaches Western Kentucky Hilltoppers football coaches Texas State University alumni High school football coaches in Minnesota Coaches of American football from Minnesota Players of American football from Minnesota Jewish American players of American football 21st-century American Jews Jews from Minnesota Jewish American coaches of American football