Why Kansas Jayhawks’ new offensive coordinator isn’t committing to a style yet
Kansas football coach Les Miles left little doubt Wednesday that Mike DeBord was a top choice for his offensive coordinator vacancy.
“I really have been chasing Mike DeBord for about four years, OK? And it just hadn’t timed up that we were fortunate enough to have him,” Miles said. “But what he did joining us is going to make our football team much, much stronger.”
Miles, who officially hired DeBord as KU’s offensive coordinator Tuesday, previously served as an assistant coach with DeBord at Michigan in the early 1990s.
DeBord replaces Brent Dearmon, who left for the OC job at Middle Tennessee last week.
He’ll make quite a bit more than his predecessor. According to his two-year contract signed Jan. 31, DeBord will make $600,000 annually, which isn’t including potential incentives for accomplishments like making a bowl game or winning the national championship.
Dearmon, meanwhile, was one of the lowest-paid coordinators among Power Five schools with a base salary that paid him $250,000 each year.
DeBord had previous stints as the offensive coordinator for Michigan (1997-99, 2006-07), Tennessee (2015-16) and Indiana (2017-18). Last year, he was an analyst on Michigan’s staff.
“I’ll tell you what, it meant a lot for him to want me. I mean, it means a lot to you — any person, right?” DeBord said of Miles. “So it felt great that way. It was just the right timing for me.”
DeBord — he’ll turn 65 next week — will be charged with jump-starting an offense that averaged just 15.8 points per game a year ago. The Jayhawks especially struggled with quarterback play and on the offensive line.
After watching some film, DeBord said he saw some reasons to be encouraged.
“You know when you go through a season, and you’re not happy with it, you think sometimes you’re a long way off, and you’re not. With the naked eye, you’re not,” DeBord said. “And that’s what I saw. I saw a group that, with some things to change up technique-wise or to change up some scheme things, we’re gonna get this done. I have no doubt in my mind.”
DeBord emphasized he would cater his offense to KU’s personnel. He said in all the years he’s coordinated, he’s never had a set offense, instead choosing to build a system around his team strengths.
“I’ve never, ever had the same offense from one year to the other. Never,” DeBord said. “It changes. Players change. Schemes change on defense that you go against. All that changes, and if you don’t change, you’re going to be left behind.”
DeBord said he’d already met with each of KU’s coaches and had talked to returning freshman quarterback Jalon Daniels, who already had him “jumping for joy” because of his energy. DeBord, who confirmed he would be the team’s quarterbacks coach and also would call plays, said one change he would make in the offense would be to make the QBs’ reads more progression-based as opposed to having those guys make a large number of pre-snap reads.
“I think it’s going to enable them to play fast and play confident,” DeBord said.
In addition, DeBord said part of what drew him to KU was knowing that Miles was attempting to build the program the correct way. For a second straight year, the Jayhawks did not sign a junior-college player in their recruiting class.
“What I love about Les is, he hasn’t panicked here. He hasn’t panicked,” DeBord said. “Some people would panic and go all of a sudden go, ‘Oh my gosh, we’ve got to go get a full class of junior college kids or whatever.’ He hasn’t done that. Staying the course.”
Jayhawks add highest-rated football recruit since 1999
KU received official good news on the recruiting front Wednesday, as Quaydarius Davis — a four-star Rivals receiver out of Dallas ranked 59th nationally — signed with the Jayhawks, making him the top-rated player the program has landed since Rivals started tracking players in 1999.
Davis, who previously was committed to SMU, Texas and USC, previously cited his relationship with KU receivers coach Emmett Jones as a main factor for his decision; Jones was an assistant coach at Davis’ high school, Skyline, from 2006-11.
KU’s recruiting haul, following an 0-9 season in 2020, appears impressive. As of Wednesday, the Jayhawks ranked third in the Big 12 in Rivals’ team recruiting rankings, while currently ahead of schools like Oklahoma State, Iowa State, Kansas State and TCU.
Overall, KU’s recruiting class sits at 40th nationally.
This story was originally published February 3, 2021 at 3:07 PM with the headline "Why Kansas Jayhawks’ new offensive coordinator isn’t committing to a style yet."
