North Carolina has hired Jovan Dewitt as its special teams coordinator and outside linebackers coach, the program announced Monday. He replaces Scott Boone, who was not retained last week.
Dewitt arrives in Chapel Hill via Nebraska and UCF, where he spent the the past four seasons working for Scott Frost.
Prior to that, Dewitt coached special teams and linebackers at Army, where he worked with Heels defensive coordinator Jay Bateman.
“We’re excited to add Jovan, his wife Lisa, and their three children, Maya, Kira and Jovan Jr., to the Carolina football family,” head coach Mack Brown said. “Jovan brings a wealth of experience in special teams and is known as one of the best special teams coaches in the nation. He also has a long history coaching linebackers, and because he spent time working with Coach Bateman at Army, he’s familiar with what we’re trying to do on defense, which should really help us. For those reasons, we felt like he would be an excellent addition to our staff. We expect Jovan to have a positive impact on both of those areas, as well as recruiting, and we look forward to having the Dewitt family in Chapel Hill.”
More important than his coaching exploits, Dewitt is a point of personal inspiration for all who know him, having defeated throat cancer earlier this year.
“You learn to appreciate the little things,” Dewitt told The Athletic. “I find myself, pregame, wherever we’re playing, walking a couple more laps around the field. I breathe in the air and think about how I’m fortunate to do what I’m doing. The highs aren’t as high, and the lows aren’t as low.”
