Mike DeBord, former Michigan football offensive coordinator, dead at 69

Former Michigan football offensive coordinator Mike DeBord died on Tuesday at age 69, a Michigan football spokesperson confirmed with the Free Press.

Born Feb. 7, 1956 in Muncie, Indiana, DeBord’s football career began at Manchester College where he started all four years on the offensive line, was an NAIA All-American honorable mention and served as captain in 1977. After going on to get his masters degree at Ball State in 1981, he began his coaching career in 1982.

He climbed his way up the ranks, going from places like Franklin College and Fort Hays State University and Eastern Illinois, to the slightly higher levels of college at Ball State and Colorado State. After getting his break in the Big Ten at Northwestern (1992) as offensive line coach, he joined Gary Moeller’s staff in 1993 and remained at the position when Lloyd Carr took the helm in 1995 for another two seasons.

He was then promoted to offensive coordinator in Ann Arbor in 1997 and helped guide the Wolverines to their first national championship in nearly 50 years and remained on staff until 1999.

He parlayed that successful stint into the lone head coaching of his illustrious career, leading Central Michigan from 2000-03, before he was succeeded by Brian Kelly. He returned to Ann Arbor in 2004, for the second U-M stint of his career coaching special teams, before serving as tight ends coach and offensive coordinator once more in 2006 and 2007.

He then ventured to the NFL, with stops in Seattle and Chicago, then returned to Ann Arbor for two years in 2013 and 2014 as a sports admin. He then coached at Tennessee and Indiana before serving as San Diego Fleet (Alliance of American Football) offensive coordinator in 2019.

He made his fourth and final return to Ann Arbor for one year in 2020 as an offensive analyst.

His final stop came at Kansas, in 2021, before he suffered a stroke that year.

“I was Blessed (sic) to be mentored by and coach with Mike DeBord,” said Tom Allen, former Indiana head coach, now Clemson defensive coordinator, on X. “He was one of the best men that I know in the coaching profession! #LEO.”

Tony Garcia is the Michigan Wolverines beat writer for the Detroit Free Press. Email him at apgarcia@freepress.com and follow him on X at @RealTonyGarcia.