Vols To Hire Offensive Coordinator By Friday

The Vols will make a decision on their next offensive coordinator by Friday, according to Butch Jones.

The general expectation is that former Michigan offensive coordinator Mike DeBord will get the job, though that hasn’t been confirmed by any media outlets.

The only other serious candidates that have been mentioned in the past week are UT wide receivers coach Zach Azzanni and Boise State offensive coordinator Mike Sanford.

Sanford has already turned down Ohio State and it seems unlikely he would take the job at Tennessee. And even if Sanford did take the job, it wouldn’t be a long term answer. It’s fairly well known that Sanford will be a head coach very soon.

The most likely scenario is that Tennessee hires DeBord and gives Azzanni some sort of promotion.

However, that would still leave the Vols in a bit of a pickle. DeBord hasn’t coach quarterbacks since the 1985-86 seasons at Fort Hays State (he also coached wide receivers if that tells you a bit about how the duties were delegated at Fort Hays State).

Nick Sheridan, an offensive assistant with the Vols, is a young up-and-comer that coached quarterbacks at South Florida before coming to Tennessee. He could certainly see an uptick in responsibility, but there just isn’t room to promote him to quarterbacks coach if DeBord is indeed hired as offensive coordinator.

Update: (1:10 pm et): Former Tennessee Vols beat writer Evan Woodbery is reporting that Mike DeBord has informed Michigan he is leaving to join the Vols.