Mike DeBord is back as a Power-5 offensive coordinator, and the veteran coach is continuing his tour across the various major conferences of college football.
Sources confirmed to FootballScoop Tuesday afternoon that DeBord, most recently an offensive analyst for Jim Harbaugh at Michigan, had accepted the role of offensive coordinator on Les Miles' Kansas staff.
DeBord now is primed to hold an offensive coordinator role in the Big 12, following previous stints in the Big Ten and the Southeastern Conference.
DeBord served as Tom Allen's offensive coordinator at Indiana for the 2017-18 seasons, helping groom the well-regarded and current Hoosiers offensive coordinator Nick Sheridan, with whom DeBord had worked closely to help deliver the University of Tennessee's most notable successes in the past decade.
It was DeBord's offense, with do-everything quarterback Josh Dobbs at the trigger, that helped Tennessee to back-to-back nine-win seasons in 2015-16. The Vols defeated Georgia twice, Florida, Virginia Tech, Nebraska and Northwestern during those two seasons. They also closed both their campaigns with DeBord as the offensive play-caller with bowl wins in the Outback and Music City bowls.
DeBord briefly contemplated retirement before he linked up with Allen, an old friend, at Indiana. After two years in Bloomington, Indiana, DeBord transitioned to an eventual offensive coordinator role with the San Diego Fleet of the ill-fated American Alliance of Football.
DeBord then landed back at Michigan, where he had helped kickstart his career as an assistant coach and eventually became the Wolverines' play-caller in the 2006-07 seasons before trying his hand as an NFL assistant.
DeBord also served as head coach at Central Michigan for four seasons at the turn of the new century. Per sources, DeBord earlier during this coaching cycle had other Group of Five offensive coordinator opportunities, but he waited on the right opportunity and reunited with a fellow “Michigan Man” in Miles.