Kevin Leon Beard (born January 20, 1981) is an American football coach and former player who is the wide receivers coach for

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, incl ...

. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

at the

for

Larry Coker Larry Edward Coker (born June 23, 1948) is a former American football coach and player. He previously served as the head coach of the University of Miami and the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA). Coker's 2001 Miami Hurricanes football ...

, and afterward played professionally in the

AF2 The AF2 (often styled as af2, and short for arenafootball2) was the Arena Football League's developmental league; it was founded in 1999 and played its first season in 2000. Like its parent AFL, the AF2 played using the same arena football ru ...

from 2005 to 2006, and in the

Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 season, making it the third longest-running professional football league in ...

in 2007. In 2015, Beard returned to Miami as the wide receivers coach.

High school years

Beard attended

Plantation High School Plantation High School (commonly referred to as PHS) is a high school located in Plantation, Florida, part of the Broward County Public Schools district. As of 2022, the school serves 1,931 students in grades 9 through 12. It was originally loca ...

Plantation, Florida Plantation is a city in Broward County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the population was 91,750. It is a principal city of the Miami metropolitan area. The city's name comes from the previous part-owner of the land, the Eve ...

and was a student and a standout in

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

and

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

. In football, as a junior, he made 50 receptions for 850 yards (17.00 yards per reception) and 15 touchdowns. As a senior, he was a first team All-

Broward County Broward County ( , ) is a county in the southeastern part of Florida, located in the Miami metropolitan area. It is Florida's second-most populous county after Miami-Dade County and the 17th-most populous in the United States, with over 1.94 ...

selection, a second team All-State selection, and was named by the ''

South Florida Sun-Sentinel The ''Sun Sentinel'' (also known as the ''South Florida Sun Sentinel'', known until 2008 as the ''Sun-Sentinel'', and stylized on its masthead as ''SunSentinel'') is the main daily newspaper of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, as well as surrounding Br ...

'' as a Broward County co-Offensive Player of the Year. In basketball, as a senior, he was a second team All-State selection. Beard graduated from Plantation High School in 1999.

College years

Beard attended the

Coral Gables, Florida Coral Gables, officially City of Coral Gables, is a city in Miami-Dade County, Florida. The city is located southwest of Downtown Miami. As of the 2020 U.S. census, it had a population of 49,248. Coral Gables is known globally as home to the ...

from 1999 to 2003. After redshirting in 1999, he played mostly on special teams and as a reserve in 2000. During Miami's national championship season in 2001, he caught 25 passes for 409 yards, adding four catches for 41 yards in Miami's Rose Bowl win over Nebraska at the end of the season. He caught 23 passes for 262 yards and four touchdowns in 2002 before suffering a season ending knee injury. Beard was a

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

of Miami's 11–2 2003 squad, contributing 19 catches for 249 yards and a touchdown. Beard's teammates at Miami included future Pro Bowl wide receivers

Andre Johnson Andre Lamont Johnson (born July 11, 1981) is a former American football wide receiver who played most of his 14-year career with the Houston Texans of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Miami, and was drafted by ...

Santana Moss Santana Terrell Moss (born June 1, 1979) is a former American football wide receiver who played in the National Football League (NFL) for fourteen seasons. He played college football for the University of Miami, where he earned All-American hon ...

, and

Reggie Wayne Reginald Wayne (born November 17, 1978) is a former American football wide receiver who played 14 seasons with the Indianapolis Colts of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at the University of Miami, and was drafted ...

Coaching career

Beard began his coaching career as the wide receivers coach at the University School in

Davie, Florida Davie is a town in Broward County, Florida, United States, approximately north of Miami. The town's population was 110,320 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. Davie is a principal town of the Miami metropolitan area, which was home to ...

, where he remained from 2010 to 2013. He was named assistant director of Football Operations at the University of Miami in August 2014. In 2015, he became Miami's wide receivers coach, though he was not retained by Miami's new head coach

Mark Richt Mark Allan Richt (born February 18, 1960) is a retired American football head coach, former player, and television analyst. He was the head football coach at the University of Georgia for 15 years and at the University of Miami, his alma mater, ...

in 2016. Beard worked as a quality control assistant at

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

during the 2016 season before accepting a job as wide receivers coach at Florida International in December of that year. In February 2017, Beard was hired as the wide receivers coach at the University of Tennessee, reuniting with fellow former Miami staffer and interim coach Larry Scott, who had been hired as the Vols' offensive coordinator following the 2016 season.Luke Slabaugh,
Beard Set To Be Vols' Next Wide Receivers Coach
" WBIR.com, February 28, 2017.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beard, Kevin 1981 births Living people American football wide receivers Miami Hurricanes football players Kansas City Brigade players Chicago Rush players Sportspeople from Plantation, Florida Players of American football from Broward County, Florida South Georgia Wildcats players Spokane Shock players Miami Hurricanes football coaches FIU Panthers football coaches Tennessee Volunteers football coaches Players of American football from Fort Lauderdale, Florida High school football coaches in Florida Georgia Bulldogs football coaches Toledo Rockets football coaches