KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Tennessee coach Butch Jones said he wants his players to feel comfortable when they get out of their comfort zone. Jones might have been practicing what he preaches when he hired receivers coach Kevin Beard.
Examine Jones’ new hires and you’ll find Brady Hoke, Mike Canales and Walt Wells, guys who have been around the college game for more than 20 years. But Beard has been a full-time college assistant for just one season, at Miami (his alma mater) in 2015. The man Beard replaced, Zach Azzanni, had been a college assistant for 16 years, seven with Jones.