College Football

Tennessee Football: Did Mike DeBord Leave Because He Needed Josh Dobbs?

Updated Mar. 5, 2020 2:21 a.m. ET

Fansided, Caleb Calhoun/FanSided via All for Tennessee

Tennessee football offensive coordinator Mike DeBord is leaving the Volunteers for Indiana. Is it because Vols quarterback Joshua Dobbs is graduating?

Let’s be clear on something. Joshua Dobbs made Mike DeBord during the two years they shared with the Tennessee football program.

Dobbs had already proven he was great by how he finished the second half of the 2014 season with Mike Bajakian as the Vols’ offensive coordinator.

When DeBord arrived that next offseason, he hardly changed anything. He just let Dobbs be Dobbs.

So Dobbs’s departure could be the reason for DeBord’s departure.

After all, DeBord’s experience is mostly running a pro-style offense. He coached guys like Brian Griese, Tom Brady, and Chad Henne. Then he coached running backs like Mike Hart.

He coordinated standard offenses.

To come in and run a spread offense had to be difficult for him. And he likely realized that he was only able to do it because of what Dobbs was able to do.

In fact, he probably realized hindered Dobbs in many ways.

DeBord kept the harness on Dobbs in 2015. He limited his chances to make plays by throwing deep balls to his big receivers like Josh Malone. Instead, DeBord used more designed runs with Dobbs and misdirection passing plays.

If he had turned Dobbs and Malone loose more, the Vols likely would have beaten the Oklahoma Sooners, Florida Gators, and Arkansas Razorbacks in 2014.

In 2016, DeBord relied more on Dobbs to go deep to big receivers. As a result, Dobbs became the best quarterback in the SEC, finishing third in the conference in passing yards with 2,946 while adding over 800 rushing yards.

Dobbs led the conference in passing touchdowns as well with 27 while finishing fifth in rushing touchdowns with 12.

It also led them to a 5-0 start. DeBord turned Dobbs loose deep once against the Appalachian State Mountaineers. It resulted in a huge touchdown pass to Josh Malone.

The defense won the Battle at Bristol.

Two weeks later, he turned Dobbs loose again in the game against the Florida Gators. Dobbs responded with a huge day and carried the Vols to victory.

The next week, DeBord actually limited Dobbs early, but then Dobbs single-handedly made the huge plays to win the game. That included a major third-down conversion in the first half and, of course, the Hail Mary.

By that point, DeBord clearly realized he needed to rely on Dobbs to get his offense anywhere. And quite honestly, if things weren’t working in that regard, he didn’t know where else to go.

Dobbs did his part to keep the Vols in the game with the Texas A&M Aggies despite a slew of turnovers from everybody else.

Numerous injuries made it impossible for him, DeBord, or anybody else to lead Tennessee football to a victory over the Alabama Crimson Tide. So they get a mulligan for that.

But when Dobbs finally struggled for a game against the South Carolina Gamecocks, DeBord could not adjust. The one time Dobbs needed help and needed to be protected from himself, which happens often among even the best college quarterbacks, he got no help from his offensive coordinator.

And that cost Tennessee football a shot at the SEC Championship.

DeBord had to see that and likely realized that he would struggle in calling Jones’s offense without a quarterback playing at Dobbs’s elite level.

After all, Dobbs went on a tear down the stretch following that South Carolina game. He led the Vols to three straight blowout wins.

And he then had a near perfect game against the Vanderbilt Commodores while everybody else struggled.

Then came the dominant Music City Bowl victory over the Nebraska Cornhuskers.

If you can see a pattern here, you’ll realize that Dobbs made DeBord. So with a more traditional pocket passer likely to lead the Vols in the future, DeBord probably realizes he can’t call this offense.

And that could be a reason he left.