Coaches that have been in the game as long as Butch Jones are bound to have crossed paths with their counterparts at one point or another.
The same could be said for Massachusetts Coach Don Brown. The 67-year-old began as a college assistant in 1982 at Dartmouth and tackled his first head coaching gig in 1993 at Division III Plymouth State.
And who did Brown face in his inaugural game? Wilkes, featuring first-year offensive coordinator Butch Jones.
"We kind of go back a long time," Jones quipped during his Tuesday news conference.
The pair collided again nearly three decades later in the 2020 Citrus Bowl -- Brown as Michigan's defensive coordinator and Jones as an offensive analyst at Alabama.