Zach Azzanni is in his second NFL season and first year as wide receivers coach with the Denver Broncos in 2018.
Azzanni, who enters his 20th season coaching wide receivers, spent the 2017 campaign with the Chicago Bears following 18 years at the collegiate level.
Before joining the Bears, Azzanni spent four years at the University of Tennessee. He joined the Vols as wide receivers coach/recruiting coordinator in 2013 before being promoted to passing game coordinator/wide receivers coach in 2015.
Tennessee produced back-to-back nine-win seasons during Azzanni’s last two years with the school. The Vols’ passing attack in 2016 featured six different players who totaled at least 200 yards receiving.
Prior to joining Tennessee’s staff, Azzanni spent one season each at the University of Wisconsin (2012 – wide receivers coach), Western Kentucky University (2011 – offensive coordinator/wide receivers) and the University of Florida (2010 – wide receivers/passing game coordinator).
In his lone season at Western Kentucky, the Hilltoppers featured college football’s second leading rusher in Bobby Rainey (141.3 ypg) while Jack Doyle ranked fifth in the nation among tight ends with 614 receiving yards.
Azzanni was hired by Florida after the conclusion of the 2009 college regular season. In his first game coaching with the Gators—the 2010 Sugar Bowl—quarterback Tim Tebow threw for a career-high 482 yards in the Gators’ 51-24 win against Cincinnati.
Azzanni spent three years as assistant head coach/wide receivers at his alma mater, Central Michigan University, from 2007-09. He was the lead recruiter and position coach for current Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown, who totaled 305 receptions for 3,199 yards (10.5 avg.) with 22 touchdowns during the same span in Mount Pleasant while transitioning from a high school quarterback.
After beginning his coaching career as wide receivers coach for Valparaiso University from 1999-2000, Azzanni worked as a graduate assistant under Head coach Urban Meyer at Bowling Green from 2001-02. He stayed with the school for four more seasons (2003-06) as wide receivers coach, crossing paths with Broncos Head Coach Vance Joseph, who worked with the school’s defensive backs in 2004.
A former wide receiver at Central Michigan from 1994-98, Azzanni graduated from the school with a degree in sports management in 1999.
