Very few Tennessee Football assistants can claim to have had the impact on the Vols that Mike DeBord did. DeBord, who passed away Tuesday at age 69 from complications due to a stroke he suffered in 2021 according to Angelique S. Chengelis of the Detroit Free Press, was UT’s offensive coordinator under Butch Jones in 2015 and 2016.
It’s safe to say that all the credit Jones tried to take for the minimal accomplishments he enjoyed at UT, which honestly should be a baseline for the program, really should go to DeBord. You could go as far as to say that DeBord single-handedly helped the Vols have a couple of bright years in a very dark period.
Between the firing of Phillip Fulmer and the hire of Josh Heupel, Tennessee Football had exactly two years in which it finished ranked in the top 25 and won nine games. Those just happened to be the two years DeBord was OC of the Vols, when they went 9-4 in both campaigns.
Even more notable is the fact that of the only four top 25 finishes the Vols had from 2005 to 2021, DeBord was OC for two of them, and David Cutcliffe was OC for the other two, 2006 and 2007. Simply put, he was a huge part of the few bright spots the Vols enjoyed between Fulmer and Heupel.
And he wasn’t just a part of it.
DeBord’s offenses were a huge reason for that success. Sure, he had Joshua Dobbs as his quarterback, but it’s safe to say that DeBord had as much to do with masking all the flaws within Jones’ program as Dobbs did. The two made a great duo in the process of helping Jones save face.
In 2016, Dobbs had the second most productive year in history for a Tennessee Football quarterback in terms of total yards and touchdowns, only to Peyton Manning in 1997. Not even either of Hendon Hooker’s two years in 2021 and 2022 were able to match Dobbs’ total production in yards and touchdowns of 2016.
Speaking of Manning, DeBord was the Michigan Wolverines’ OC from 1997 to 1999, helping them win a national title with Brian Griese in 1997 and then coaching Tom Brady the next two years. His versatility and understanding of different offenses was a huge part of his success.
Jones hired DeBord to replace Mike Bajakian in 2015. He had served as DeBord’s OC for the Central Michigan Chippewas in the early 2000s, where Jones himself would launch his head coaching career later in the decade. To Jones’ credit, he made a bold move going for DeBord in 2015.
Of course, like so many assistants and former players, DeBord could not stay with Jones long-term, so he bolted after two years for the Indiana Hoosiers. All that happened was the worst season in UT history thanks in large part to a historically bad offense, which resulted in Jones’ firing.
All of Vol Nation will miss DeBord. He helped Tennessee Football put on a show for two years and had a huge hand in a bright spot surrounded by an otherwise dark period of the program. Very few people have been able to enjoy the success calling plays he had, and he was committed to his craft. That’s to be commended.
