Tennessee football: Ranking all 10 Vols coordinator changes this decade
1. Mike DeBord
Role: Offensive Coordinator
Hired by: Butch Jones
Year hired: 2015
Coach replaced: Mike Bajakian
It’s pretty easy to look at the results of Tennessee football during the two years Mike DeBord was there and realize he was the best coordinator hire anybody made. Results and numbers can’t lie on that level.
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All you need to know is that two years DeBord was the Vols’ offensive coordinator just happen to be the only two years they finished in the Top 25 this decade. Only the 2012 Vols averaged more yards or points this decade than either of DeBord’s teams.
Now, it’s fair to see DeBord walked into a good situation. Tennessee had seen a resurgence down the stretch of 2014 under Mike Bajakian with Joshua Dobbs becoming the full-time quarterback. Bajakian then left for the NFL, and Butch Jones brought in DeBord, who may have just been carrying the torch.
However, by sticking with Dobbs, which Bajakian didn’t do, he still deserves credit. DeBord has experience running the spread and also coached in the NFL while running pro-style offenses in the 1990s. So he knew exactly how to utilize what he had.
The result was a historically great offense in 2016 that set records down the stretch of the season. If not for injuries on defense, the Vols would have gone 11-1 that year. The offense was amazing in 2016, and it did its part to win the SEC East.
Debord’s departure also saw Tennessee football suffer its worst offensive performance of the decade as well. Again, timing could have been everything. But it’s clear that he was maximizing the talent he had, and for that, he’s the best coordinator on either side of the ball for the Vols this decade. Production has to count at some point. DeBord has shown that.