Breaking: Kevin Beard to be Miami Hurricanes new wide receivers coach

Kevin Beard is on his way back to where it all started. Beard, who played for the University of Miami out of Plantation (Fla.) High School and was UM’s wide receivers coach from 1999-2003, his first position coaching role in college, has been hired as the Hurricanes new wide receivers coach.

Beard will replace the role filled last year by Josh Gattis, the coordinator/WR coach who was fired after a 5-7 season that saw the offense average just 23.6 points and no wide receiver finish with more than 367 yards on the season.

Recruiting mission No. 1 for Beard will be flipping prized 5-star wide receiver Jeremiah Smith of Hollywood Chaminade from his Ohio State commitment. He also will be recruiting Smith’s teammate Joshisa Trader as well as highly coveted receiver Ryan Wingo. Smith essentially announced Beard’s impending hiring on Twitter Tuesday night.

Coach Kevin Beard a real one 💯

— Jeremiah Smith ✞ (@Jermiah_Smith1) March 1, 2023

And most of all he will be trying to inject life into the Canes WR room.

Beard spent the last four years coaching receivers at Toledo (with his first year with the Rockets spent as the director of player personnel and assistant recruiting coordinator).

At Miami he will look to turn around a unit that struggled mightily last year, using several different starters throughout the year (Key’Shawn Smith, Mike Redding, Colbie Young, Frank Ladson and Xavier Restrepo, with Jacolby George and Romello Brinson also starting a game apiece). In a new offense led by Shannon Dawson, the expectation is that the downfield passing game will get going and the offense will function a lot better than last season’s anemic group.

Beard has a reputation as an excellent recruiter and coach, and his results speak for themselves.

In 2022 at Toledo, Beard coached a receivers group led by second-team All-MAC selection Jerjuan Newton. The sophomore caught 53 passes for 830 yards and nine touchdowns. In addition, junior Devin Maddox made 39 catches for 548 yards and three touchdowns while sophomore DeMeer Blankumsee caught 41 passes for 512 yards and three scores.

Beard was ranked as the No. 5 recruiter in the Mid-American Conference for the Class of 2022.

In 2021, Beard led a receivers room that featured Maddox (41 receptions) and junior Isaiah Winstead (38 receptions). The receiving corps was deep, as seven Rocket wide receivers caught at least 13 passes.

In 2020, Beard coached a receivers unit that featured six receivers who caught at least 12 passes. Leading the way was Winstead, who hauled in 25 receptions and earned third-team All-MAC honors.

In 2019, Beard coached Bryce Mitchell to an All-MAC season in which he caught 35 passes for 679 yards and four touchdowns. In addition to Mitchell, senior Desmond Phillips and junior Danzel McKinley-Lewis both caught at least 35 passes and averaged over 10 yards per reception.

Prior to coming to Toledo, Beard was the wide receivers coach at the University of Tennessee in 2017, departing there after a coaching staff change following a rough 4-8 season.

Beard began his coaching career in the high school ranks, working with wide receivers as an assistant from 2010-13 at University High School in Davie, Fla. He returned to his alma mater in 2014, where he accepted a position as the assistant director of football operations. A year later, he was named the Hurricanes’ wide receivers coach and passing game coordinator. In 2016, Beard was hired by Georgia as the quality control coach for wide receivers.

Beard was a wide receiver at the University of Miami from 1999-2003, playing a key role on the Hurricanes’ 2001 national championship team. He caught 25 passes for 409 yards in 2001, including four receptions for 41 yards in Miami’s win over Nebraska in the 2002 Rose Bowl. Beard totaled over 900 receiving yards and nine touchdowns in his career, and served as a captain on the 2003 Miami team that went 11-2 and won the 2004 Orange Bowl. Beard enjoyed a four-year professional career in the Arena Football League before embarking on a career in coaching.

Beard graduated from Miami in 2003 with a degree in liberal arts and a minor in sociology.