Former LSU defensive coordinator John Chavis has returned to coaching, recently taking a gig at West High School in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Chavis played nose tackle for the University of Tennessee Volunteers football program from 1976-1978. Following his playing career, he became a graduate assistant at Tennessee in 1979.
He earned his first collegiate coaching position at Alabama A&M where he was the defensive line coach from 1980-1983. Then, Chavis went on to Alabama State and was the Hornets’ defensive coordinator from 1984-1985 and then returned to Alabama A&M from 1986-1988 as their defensive coordinator.
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Chavis coached the defensive line and linebackers at Tennessee from 1989-1994 and was promoted to defensive coordinator in 1995.
Following the 2008 season, he accepted a position at LSU as the Tigers’ defensive coordinator. Chavis helped coach a number of great defenses during his time at LSU from 2009-2014.
During the time Chavis was leading the defense, the Tigers produced numerous NFL draft picks from the defensive side of the ball. Former players at LSU under Chavis include Tyrann Mathieu, Morris Claiborne, Patrick Peterson and Sam Montgomery.
Though the Tigers never won a national championship with Chavis leading the defense, the program continued to develop next-level talent at every position.
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In 2014, the Tigers put together 19 total sacks as a defensive unit in Chavis’ final year in Baton Rouge. The other five seasons combined, LSU had a total of 184 sacks under Chavis while he was the defensive coordinator.
The Tigers produced elite defenses every season that Chavis was leading the way. After the 2014 season, he moved on to become the defensive coordinator at Texas A&M from 2015-2017, and later held the same position at Arkansas from 2018-2019.
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