Kevin Revis always kept a watchful eye on the success of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football program, despite spending eight seasons on the coaching staff at Jacksonville State - quite possibly UTC's biggest rival in the sport.
There are plenty of reasons why Revis remained connected to the Chattanooga area and the Mocs even as he worked for the Gamecocks in Alabama.
Revis played for the Mocs, starting 33 games on their offensive line from 2011 to 2013 and earning All-Southern Conference recognition as a senior. Some of his teammates are assistants on the current UTC staff: defensive line coach Nic Davison, tight ends coach Jacob Huesman and safeties coach Jordan Tippit. And after his time on the field for the Mocs was over, Revis watched as his brother Jacob also enjoyed success as an offensive lineman for the program, including being an All-SoCon first-team selection and receiving All-America recognition in 2016.
"I've always wanted to come back here and have the opportunity to coach," Revis said Wednesday. "It's come full circle now."
Revis has joined Rusty Wright's staff as offensive line coach, UTC announced Wednesday, becoming the Mocs' third coach at that position in 14 months. Chris Malone exited in January 2021. Tommy Galt was hired in May and oversaw the line this past season but recently left to mover closer to family. Now the job belongs to Revis, who was a graduate assistant and assistant offensive line coach for two years at Jacksonville State and its offensive line coach the past six, but was most recently at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, having been hired in January.
During his time on staff at Jacksonville State, the program won seven All-Ohio Valley Conference championships. The Gamecocks also had 10 offensive linemen receive All-America recognition from at least one publication in the same span, and 25 offensive linemen were All-OVC selections, including 18 first-team picks. The entire starting offensive line made the All-OVC lineup in both 2016 and 2017, with seven first-team selections among the group.
The job not only brings Revis back to his college alma mater in Chattanooga but gives him an opportunity to be closer to family - he's from nearby Dayton, and his wife Patterson is from Asheville, North Carolina. They have a daughter, Miller, and are expecting their second child later this month.
His name? Chatt.
"My folks and my brother are already making plans to go to away games," said Revis, who was an all-state player and a Times Free Press Dynamite Dozen selection during his time at Rhea County High School.
"They're going to be at home games. Coaches I've known over the years or that I've played against are all excited just being close to all of them. I still have a lot of childhood friends that live in Chattanooga, so it's really just a unique opportunity, kind of a different perspective I have on it because I played offensive line here and it was special to me."
Revis spent his first two college seasons at Tennessee, redshirting for the Volunteers as a freshman in 2011, before transferring to UTC. He's the sixth former Mocs player currently on staff, joining Davison, Huesman, Tippit, Wright and outside linebackers coach Tyrus Ward.
"The thing I'm most excited about, I've seen how he's developed offensive linemen," Wright said in UTC's release announcing the hire. "He was at Jacksonville State for a long time and won a bunch of ballgames there. He developed a lot of all-conference and All-Americans. That development is something we have to do at our level and continue to do.
"Having him back as a stabilizing presence, a guy that really wants to be here. I really look forward to seeing him get in there and have an impact in that room."
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3.