KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Twirling his whistle furiously, John Chavis instructs one of his linebackers to get wider.
"Line up right there on his foot," Chavis barks. "Let's run it again. On the hop. Let's go!"
It's reminiscent of the way the man they call "Chief" coached football for 30 consecutive years in the SEC from 1989 to 2019, including the past quarter-century as a defensive coordinator at four different schools.
Only now, instead of coaching Tyrann Mathieu, Jamal Adams and Al Wilson, he's a volunteer on the West Middle School team in Knoxville, Tennessee.