BleedGopher
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per ESPN:
The Fast Food Guys: Eric Johnson and Tony Levine
In January 2015, Eric Johnson received a call at the Culver's restaurant he had just opened. A college football coach was on the line. He didn't give his name but provided some background information and said he was thinking about a new career.
The previous spring, Johnson made national headlines by leaving Iowa, where he had been part of the coaching staff for 15 years, to open a Culver's. He went from recruiting coordinator at the University of Iowa on a Friday to trainee at ButterBurger University the following Monday. That November, Johnson opened the Culver's in Hendersonville, a suburb of Nashville, Tennessee.
Three years after the initial call, Johnson received a text message from the coach, who had left college football to start a Chick-fil-A franchise. On May 17, Tony Levine, the former Houston head coach who spent last season as a Purdue assistant, opened his Chick-fil-A in Missouri City, Texas.
Both Johnson and Levine loved coaching but loved their families more, and the demands of college football had taken a toll. Johnson can be around for his 2-year-old son, Robert, in ways he couldn't for twin daughters Jamieson and Sydney, born in June 2004, on the last day of an Iowa football camp.
"We planned having our daughters then so I could actually be home with them on their birthday," he said. "That's how life is in football. ... I lost a little bit of the passion because I wanted to be with my family more than friends and co-workers."
Johnson had coached ever since graduating from Vanderbilt, but he always had an interest in business. He consulted one of his parents' neighbors, who owned Pizza Huts and Taco Bells, and thought that the Culver's environment best reflected a Midwestern experience he said he felt similar to his experience with coach Kirk Ferentz and the Iowa program.
After 16 weeks of training in Prairie du Sac, Wisconsin, Johnson went to Tennessee. His wife and daughters joined him right after the opening. By December 2016, he had opened three Culver's franchises in the Nashville area.
Just like in coaching, his day begins at 5 a.m. He spends several hours on administrative work before breakfast with his family. Then, it's shuttling between restaurants. If there's a problem, he tackles it, even if it's working the grill for 12 hours straight.
Most of his job is managing and leading. Johnson wants young employees to become managers, managers to become general managers, and general managers to become partners.
"You have to constantly coach," he said. "My philosophy is the same thing we had at Iowa: making sure that our players -- or in this case our team members -- go out better than they come in, whether it's life skill, a skill in the business world or how they treat people."
Johnson still gets his competitive fix. He and two silent partners own three of the seven Culver's in Tennessee.
"It's up to us to kind of blaze the trail," he said. "Those restaurants have Craig Culver's name on them, and right below is owner and operator Eric Johnson. That means something."
Levine spent 14 months away from coaching after Houston fired him in December 2014. After coaching for five college teams and one in the NFL, he thought about whether he could find a way to still impact others while spending more time with his wife and four young children. And, ideally, not leave Houston.
He ultimately returned to football, joining Jeff Brohm at Western Kentucky and then Purdue. Despite a successful 2017 season as Purdue's special teams coach and co-offensive coordinator, Levine announced his resignation in January, saying it was "the right time" to step away.
Chick-fil-A has long been a Levine family favorite, but Tony had no experience running a restaurant. What he could offer was leadership, recruiting and development, which helped him get through Chick-fil-A's selective process. The chain receives more than 40,000 franchise inquiries annually, but only 100 to 115 restaurants open each year. Chick-fil-A approved Levine to open a franchise five minutes from the subdivision where he has lived since 2008.
He spent two months assessing 700 job candidates, putting them through a four-step application process. He eventually hired a 110-person team -- about the size of an FBS roster.
"They're from age 15 to 65 and from every type of background, culture, race, religion," he said. "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 opening was a weeklong affair, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and a dinner for Levine's former Houston players and assistants. Levine didn't want the restaurant staff to start without "a live simulation scrimmage," so they held a free lunch and a free dinner.
This spring, he coached flag football for his older sons and won a league championship. He attended his daughter's dance recitals. He helped his wife, Erin, who in December was diagnosed with breast cancer but now is "on the road to recovery," Tony said.
This fall, Levine will coach his youngest son's flag football team. He'll also try to catch as many college games as he can. Weekends are different now. It doesn't hurt that Chick-fil-A's are closed on Sundays.
"Yesterday, my cell phone did not ring one time," he said. "If you've been coaching at the college level, you're normally not able to say that, if ever."
http://www.espn.com/college-footbal...-coaches-put-skills-work-cannabis-chick-fil-a
Go Gophers!!
The Fast Food Guys: Eric Johnson and Tony Levine
In January 2015, Eric Johnson received a call at the Culver's restaurant he had just opened. A college football coach was on the line. He didn't give his name but provided some background information and said he was thinking about a new career.
The previous spring, Johnson made national headlines by leaving Iowa, where he had been part of the coaching staff for 15 years, to open a Culver's. He went from recruiting coordinator at the University of Iowa on a Friday to trainee at ButterBurger University the following Monday. That November, Johnson opened the Culver's in Hendersonville, a suburb of Nashville, Tennessee.
Three years after the initial call, Johnson received a text message from the coach, who had left college football to start a Chick-fil-A franchise. On May 17, Tony Levine, the former Houston head coach who spent last season as a Purdue assistant, opened his Chick-fil-A in Missouri City, Texas.
Both Johnson and Levine loved coaching but loved their families more, and the demands of college football had taken a toll. Johnson can be around for his 2-year-old son, Robert, in ways he couldn't for twin daughters Jamieson and Sydney, born in June 2004, on the last day of an Iowa football camp.
"We planned having our daughters then so I could actually be home with them on their birthday," he said. "That's how life is in football. ... I lost a little bit of the passion because I wanted to be with my family more than friends and co-workers."
Johnson had coached ever since graduating from Vanderbilt, but he always had an interest in business. He consulted one of his parents' neighbors, who owned Pizza Huts and Taco Bells, and thought that the Culver's environment best reflected a Midwestern experience he said he felt similar to his experience with coach Kirk Ferentz and the Iowa program.
After 16 weeks of training in Prairie du Sac, Wisconsin, Johnson went to Tennessee. His wife and daughters joined him right after the opening. By December 2016, he had opened three Culver's franchises in the Nashville area.
Just like in coaching, his day begins at 5 a.m. He spends several hours on administrative work before breakfast with his family. Then, it's shuttling between restaurants. If there's a problem, he tackles it, even if it's working the grill for 12 hours straight.
Most of his job is managing and leading. Johnson wants young employees to become managers, managers to become general managers, and general managers to become partners.
"You have to constantly coach," he said. "My philosophy is the same thing we had at Iowa: making sure that our players -- or in this case our team members -- go out better than they come in, whether it's life skill, a skill in the business world or how they treat people."
Johnson still gets his competitive fix. He and two silent partners own three of the seven Culver's in Tennessee.
"It's up to us to kind of blaze the trail," he said. "Those restaurants have Craig Culver's name on them, and right below is owner and operator Eric Johnson. That means something."
Levine spent 14 months away from coaching after Houston fired him in December 2014. After coaching for five college teams and one in the NFL, he thought about whether he could find a way to still impact others while spending more time with his wife and four young children. And, ideally, not leave Houston.
He ultimately returned to football, joining Jeff Brohm at Western Kentucky and then Purdue. Despite a successful 2017 season as Purdue's special teams coach and co-offensive coordinator, Levine announced his resignation in January, saying it was "the right time" to step away.
Chick-fil-A has long been a Levine family favorite, but Tony had no experience running a restaurant. What he could offer was leadership, recruiting and development, which helped him get through Chick-fil-A's selective process. The chain receives more than 40,000 franchise inquiries annually, but only 100 to 115 restaurants open each year. Chick-fil-A approved Levine to open a franchise five minutes from the subdivision where he has lived since 2008.
He spent two months assessing 700 job candidates, putting them through a four-step application process. He eventually hired a 110-person team -- about the size of an FBS roster.
"They're from age 15 to 65 and from every type of background, culture, race, religion," he said. "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 opening was a weeklong affair, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and a dinner for Levine's former Houston players and assistants. Levine didn't want the restaurant staff to start without "a live simulation scrimmage," so they held a free lunch and a free dinner.
This spring, he coached flag football for his older sons and won a league championship. He attended his daughter's dance recitals. He helped his wife, Erin, who in December was diagnosed with breast cancer but now is "on the road to recovery," Tony said.
This fall, Levine will coach his youngest son's flag football team. He'll also try to catch as many college games as he can. Weekends are different now. It doesn't hurt that Chick-fil-A's are closed on Sundays.
"Yesterday, my cell phone did not ring one time," he said. "If you've been coaching at the college level, you're normally not able to say that, if ever."
http://www.espn.com/college-footbal...-coaches-put-skills-work-cannabis-chick-fil-a
Go Gophers!!