Dave Canales is a 43-year-old head coach in charge of leading the Carolina Panthers on January 25, 2024, as the team’s seventh coach in its history.
The Panthers head coach met his wife, Lizzy, while he was studying at Azusa Pacific and also played college football there. They first parted ways when Lizzy decided to spend a semester abroad while staying in touch with Canales via email; once she returned, the coach finally asked her out on a date.
Meet Dave Canales’ Significant Other, Lizzy
Lizzy is a professional writer and speaker who co-wrote a book with Dave called, “The Marriage? The Question That Changed Everything.”
Like Dave, Lizzy was also an athlete during high school and college. Owing to her Master’s degree in Secondary Health Education, Lizzy taught CrossFit for nine long years, as she enjoyed helping people maintain a healthy lifestyle and stay in shape.
Dave and Lizzy have four children: Ashby, Benjamin, Beatrice, and Amaya. The family often attended home game matchups while Dave was an offensive coordinator with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
What Is Dave Canales’ Book About?
The Panthers head honcho has a compelling story that goes beyond football. Just 16 months before landing his dream job, Canales co-authored the book with Lizzy — an exposé of sorts. The book detail’s Dave’s journey through personal troubles, including infidelity, pornography addiction, and binge drinking. He also details how the couple managed to rebuild their marriage through faith and counseling.
In the book, Canales does not shy away from his past mistakes. He writes about his struggles with pornography, which he describes as a “gateway drug” that distorted his view of sex and intimacy.
The Panthers coach also revealed that he cheated on his wife just a month before their wedding. He writes:
“Before I was ever unfaithful to her, I was already there in my mind. Bad habits combined with addiction made it hard for me to resist temptation. It was a pattern I knew well before we started dating.”
His transparency extends to admitting that, early in his marriage, he would take off his wedding ring and act as though he wasn’t married while out with friends. The path to recovery involved a complete lifestyle change, including quitting alcohol altogether and confronting his narcissistic tendencies.
Canales published the book in September 2022, while Dave worked with the Seattle Seahawks as a position coach.
KEEP READING: Dave Canales’ Net Worth, Salary, and Career Earnings
They said they wanted to release this book so that they can help other couples who are facing similar issues in their marriage and can make it to the other side as Canales did:
“We wanted other people to feel safe starting this journey toward a vibrant marriage by helping them see they are not alone,” they wrote in the preface.
He emphasizes that while his long hours as an NFL assistant coach weren’t the cause of his issues, they did provide more opportunities to make poor choices. The book also discusses how the couple found their way back towards faith and belief in God, which was instrumental in their healing process.