FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (July 30, 2021) – As luck would have it,
Chaz Davis had more than one connection leading him back to the university he spent so much time around growing up.
In addition to an extended family history with the school, Davis found a familiar face from the University of Georgia in
Taylor Isbell on the football staff at Northern Arizona. Looking for an opportunity to continue his career after nearly four years working with the Bulldogs' program, the move to Flagstaff seemed like a perfect fit.
"Truly, coming into the Dome every day for me is special," Davis said, who knows his way around the building after years of visiting family and watching games on Saturdays.
Both of his parents attended NAU in the late 80s, as did many of their siblings, with his mom holding the position of student body president and his dad leaving with two degrees after finishing his MBA. If that wasn't enough of a reason to visit town throughout his childhood, one of Davis' uncles, Kurt Davis, spent years as NAU's vice president for marketing and public affairs in the late 90s and early 2000s.
That meant Friday night football games of his own immediately followed by late-night trips to Flagstaff to catch games on Saturday. All the history led to a graduate assistant position for recruiting and operations this past year, and now his role of director of player personnel.
For Isbell, he called the decision to bring Davis into the program as one of the best things he has done at NAU.
"He has more skin in the game than all of us do, so you'd be foolish not to figure out a way to retain him and let him sell the school," Isbell said. "Because he's going to be able to do it better than anybody in this department."
While Georgia's football program includes a vast number of staff members, and Davis and Isbell focused on their respective departments of operations and video, the former left an impression that would be familiar to anyone who has met Davis during his time in Flagstaff thus far.
"I remember seeing Chaz around doing the exact same thing he does now. Going up, speaking to everybody, a smile on his face and fist bumping people," Isbell said. "When you're at a school like the University of Georgia, everything's pretty tense and tight. You're walking through the hall and everybody's super serious. And then Chaz is just coming through fist bumping everybody, that's just him."
It's an infectious personality, one that surely was needed around the Lumberjack program as the season moved into the spring and wound up being just five games. It also became the perfect example of why Davis switched up his career plan while at Georgia.
Majoring in journalism, Davis wanted to be a sportscaster when he first arrived in Athens. Linking up with the football program in the spring of his freshman year, it soon became clear that working within a team provided the atmosphere he was really interested in.
"I was enjoying working for the football team a little bit more than my classes," Davis said. "Even with some of the awesome internships that I was fortunate enough to do in the summertime, I realized that at least for the time being I wanted to pursue trying to work for a team, being a part of it."
A year in and Isbell said he's enjoyed watching Davis growing into the job as he learns more and more of how to manage the day-to-day needs of everyone in the program. And as Isbell said, Davis knows the work means more to him than the average person who works at the university.
"I really do want to improve NAU Athletics and NAU Football every day that I come in and in whatever way possible," Davis said. "I enjoy building relationships with the players, being around them and the different personalities that they provide."
