The Chief is reportedly back on Rocky Top.

Ken Lay of Vols Wire reports that long-time SEC assistant John Chavis is back in Knoxville, Tennessee as an assistant at West High School coaching a team competing in the Knoxville Area Middle-School Age Conference. Former Tennessee quarterback Jeff Francis is the head coach of the team.

Chavis, 63, spent decades in the SEC as a coach and player. He played nose tackle at Tennessee from 1976-78 and then started his coaching career as a Vols graduate assistant in 1979. From 1980-89 he was a defensive line coach and defensive coordinator at Alabama A&M (1980-83; 1986-88) and Alabama State (1984-85) before he returned to his alma mater in 1989. Chavis coached Tennessee’s defensive linemen and linebackers from 1989-94 before being promoted to defensive coordinator on Phil Fulmer’s staff, a position he held from 1995-2008.

Chavis left UT in January 2009 to become the defensive coordinator at LSU under Les Miles. He remained on Miles’ staff through the 2014 season until he left for Texas A&M, joining Kevin Sumlin’s Aggies staff in 2015. Chavis was at Texas A&M until 2017. He was not retained by Jimbo Fisher and became the defensive coordinator at Arkansas under Chad Morris, a position he held through the end of last season. Morris was fired during the 2019 season.