DeBord is DeMan for Chippewas
The early-signing period for recruits hasn't started, but already CMU has signed its most important recruit in years.
On Friday morning, 43-year-old Mike DeBord was officially introduced as the next head coach of the Chippewa football team.
"I can't tell you how honored and excited I am to be right here today," DeBord said. "I am excited to be here. It's going to be fun."
DeBord was most recently the offensive coordinator at the University of Michigan, but also served on the coaching staffs at Colorado State and Ball State. He was with the Cardinals when they won the Mid-American Conference title in the early 90s.
"I think the MAC is an outstanding conference," DeBord said. "I was born and raised MAC, outside Muncie. The coaching and players here are outstanding and I have great respect for this conference.
"Being at Ball State when they won I feel, I have a great idea of the type of player we need to win a championship," DeBord said.
For CMU Athletics Director Herb Deromedi, DeBord was an easy choice.
"Mike DeBord is knowledgeable. He understands the game of football. He is recognized as a teacher and a strategist of sound fundamentals," Deromedi said. "He's had to perform under pressure being the offensive coordinator for U-M and the type of high-profile program that is.
His integrity is unquestionable and he brings to us a high level of energy and a vision for CMU football that recognizes its past but is also ready to move into the future," Deromedi said.
In a moment of extreme joy and personal satisfaction for DeBord, he was quick to express his gratitude for those who had helped him reach his goal.
"For me to be standing up here today there's a lot of people who had a hand in this," he said. "My wife Deb, the backbone of my coaching endeavors, along with my two sons Tyler and Kyle."
DeBord said his son Kyle gave up the most, but also got a little bit out of it.
"He told me he wanted to hold my (headset) chord and I said why?"
"He (Kyle) said because we're going to be on SportsCenter after we beat one of those first two teams."
CMU opens next season with nationally-ranked Purdue and Virginia.
Tyler will graduate from Saline High School in the spring and DeBord joked that he will have his own press conference to announce that he too would attend Central.
As reported in Friday's CM LIFE, DeBord's financial package calls for a four-year deal with an annual base salary that starts at $120,000 next fall. The contract makes DeBord the highest paid coach at CMU and only the second coach at the school to sign a multi-year deal, men's basketball Head Coach Jay Smith is currently under a three-year deal.
"I wanted the position. There was no talk of length. I was flattered when he said it would be four years," DeBord said.
Both Deromedi and DeBord talked of DeBord's attraction to CMU.
"Mike DeBord wanted to be a head coach, there's no doubt about that. But more importantly he wanted to be CMU's head football coach," Deromedi said.
"I didn't need to just take any head coaching job, so when this came about I became very interested in Central because of what it has stood for in the past," DeBord said.
DeBord also talked of the other aspects of CMU that made it his school of choice.
"When I look at this the number one thing I wanted to look at was I wanted to go to a school that had a great academic reputation and so when I looked at Central I found that," he said.
"The next thing I wanted to look at was tradition. I want to build on tradition and Central has great tradition in football and in its athletics program. I didn't want to go in and start talking about how we were going to build tradition, I wanted tradition.
"The other thing I wanted to look at was facilities. I've looked at other head coaching jobs and they've said 'we'll build you this and we'll build you that,' and all I saw was a bunch of paperwork. Here I didn't need to see any paperwork it's right here before me, the facilities here are just tremendous," DeBord said.
"The other thing I really believed I needed was an Athletics Director who has walked the walk, that has walked the sidelines, I felt that was critical. I found that at Central."
DeBord will be in Mount Pleasant until Dec. 15, when he returns to U-M to finish Orange Bowl preparations. DeBord said that he would have his staff in place by then.
"I want to interview this staff, I have great respect for these coaches I know the amount of effort they put in, the hard work they put in and I have great respect for them," DeBord said.
"What I want to do is combine guys on this staff with guys I know and create a staff that has great chemistry.
"The other thing is I want great people," DeBord said. "It's very important to me that they coach our young men here like I would want my son coached."
DeBord did say though that he has already filled one spot.
"I want to be the offensive coordinator that's my strength," Debord said. "I want to get in the game and control it offensively."
DeBord described his teams have being known for their great defense, very good special teams and ball-control offense.
When talking about what a DeBord-coached team will look like though, the characteristics don't necessarily start on the field.
"It's very important to me that our players and our staff act in a first-class manner, that's critical to me," DeBord said. "I want this community, this athletic department, this university to be proud of the type of gentlemen we bring in to this program and the guys that stay and win a championship."
"The team is critical to me and the thing I want to talk about is today, winning today," DeBord said. "We want to win today. We're going to fight in the classroom, in the weight room and we're going fight on the field so that we have great pride in what we accomplish.
"I want guys who have great discipline when they hit the field," DeBord said. "I don't want to be a team of penalties, I don't want to be a team of turnovers. I want to be a disciplined team that knows how to win the game."
The timing of the hiring was based in part on the NCAA recruiting deadlines and DeBord knows that recruiting will continue to play a big role for the Chips.
"We've got to get recruiting, it's the backbone of our program," Debord said. "Our motto has to be to own this state. I don't want kids going out of state or going east or west, I want the kids to go right here and play for Central, I want to win this state," he said.
"We're going build our program right out within the state."
DeBord ended by saying that the goal for next year's team will be a conference title.
"We're going to do it the right way. No shortcuts, and we're not going to cut any rules"
