Rhiannon Potkey

USA TODAY NETWORK - Tennessee

To say Zach Azzanni was surprised by the interest from the Chicago Bears would be an understatement.

The University of Tennessee wide receivers coach had no clue he was even on any NFL radars.

“Hell yeah, I was shocked. Absolutely,” Azzanni said late Wednesday night. “I was all full speed, throttle down for next season here. That thing came and kind of staggered me a little bit.”

The Bears offered Azzanni the job as their wide receivers coach on Monday night, and his hire was officially announced on Wednesday.

Tennessee receivers coach Zach Azzanni leaving Vols for NFL

Azzanni, 40, replaces Curtis Johnson on John Fox’s staff in Chicago. Johnson left to take the same position with the New Orleans Saints.

Azzanni spent the last four seasons at UT, serving as the recruiting coordinator and wide receivers coach in 2013-14 before being promoted to passing game coordinator in 2015.

Azzanni, a Michigan native, had no connection with the Bears and didn’t know anyone on the staff before they reached out to him.

“They called me based off reputation of how our players have played here and in my past performance as a receivers coach,” Azzanni said. “They wanted to go the college route and wanted someone with energy and new ideas. They interviewed some guys and didn’t like them and they just kept going and calling people. My name kept popping up. They called a bunch of coaches in the SEC and they told them you need to call this guy. This is the guy you need to hire. It was the darndest thing.”

Azzanni’s career goal wasn’t to coach in the NFL. He enjoys college football and helping develop young players.

“I didn’t go to interview intending on taking the job. I certainly wasn’t looking to leave the University of Tennessee,” Azzanni said. “It had to be right and I had to do my homework and they had to offer me the job too. They did and then I did a bunch of homework and realized it was an opportunity I couldn’t turn down. It’s the NFL. The best of the best. There are only 32 of those jobs in the world.”

Family played a major role in Azzanni’s decision. He and his wife, Julia, have four young daughters - Ava, 9, Lyla, 8, Zia, 4, and Lucia, 4 months. Despite having not lived a decade yet, Illinois will be the seventh state his older daughters have called home.

“The challenges of recruiting in college have gotten tougher and I have spent a lot of time away from my family. The NFL is a different lifestyle and I have young kids. It was appealing to me to be able to see my kids more,” Azzanni said. “Football is great and you are not going to find anyone more driven than me, but my family is everything to me and my little girls are everything to me. It’s a big deal to be able to see them a little bit more.”

UT coach Butch Jones let Azzanni conduct the team’s mat drills at 6 a.m. Wednesday so he could say goodbye to the players before completing his exit paperwork.

“They were great. They were happy for me and they were excited,” Azzanni said. “I feel like I finally got that room for the most part the way I want it and those kids I recruited and hand-picked are some great young kids. That room has some high-character kids, and I feel like the best is yet to come. It was hard for me to tell them I was leaving, but this is Tennessee and I know they will get a great coach in here.”

Although he is moving to the NFL, Azzanni wouldn’t rule out a return to college or even a return to Tennessee. As he knows all too well, the life of a football coach is a nomadic existence.

“My family loved it here and I loved it here. This is a great place - not a good place - a great place to live and to coach,” Azzanni said. “Butch has been great to me and my family and all the coaches have been awesome. It wasn’t an easy decision to leave, but this new challenge is exciting for me and it just seemed like the right time.”

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