Virginia defensive coordinator Jon Tenuta has been involved in college football as a player or assistant coach since 1978. He’s worked for 12 different teams and 15 different head coaches.
Jon has never coached in the pros and his only head coaching experience was as an interim coach for the 2007 Roady’s Truck Stops Humanitarian Bowl in Boise, Idaho. He lost.
Jon has worked for five different ACC schools and is the Kevin Bacon of college football. Here’s a look at how connected he is:
Joe Paterno: For his first seven seasons as Penn State head coach, Paterno had an assistant coach named George Welsh,
…who was hired as the head coach at Virginia in 1982,
…the same year that JON TENUTA was a graduate assistant. (2 degrees)
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Tom Landry: From 1972 to 1980, the Dallas Cowboys coach had a running back and assistant coach named Dan Reeves,
…who later became head coach of the Denver Broncos from 1981 to 1992,
…and in 1989 hired offensive coordinator Chan Gailey,
…who coached Georgia Tech from 2002 to 2007
…where JON TENUTA was his defensive coordinator. (3 degrees)
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Vince Lombardi: Began coaching the Green Bay Packers in 1959,
…and one of his star players was an offensive tackle named Forrest Gregg,
…who became head coach of SMU in 1989,
…when JON TENUTA coached defensive backs. (2 degrees)
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Dean Smith: Coached UNC basketball for 36 years,
…and had Bill Guthridge as an assistant for the last 30.
…In 1997, Guthridge took over as UNC head coach,
…and two years later, he let Julius Peppers walk on to the team.
…Peppers also played football for UNC, winning the Lombardi Award in 2001,
…when JON TENUTA was the DB coach. (3 degrees)