michigan football
Coordinators Can Make
An Impact In First Season
When Mike DeBord (shown with head coach Lloyd Carr in 2007) was promoted from offensive line coach to coordinator in 1997, U-M increased its scoring by 3.7 points per game.
W
hen he was hired Jan. 9, Doug
Nussmeier became the ninth
coach to hold the position of offensive coordinator at Michigan in the
last 30 years. While the previous
eight coordinators made some impact, not all of them had a dramatic,
instantaneous effect on the Wolverines — only five improved U-M's
points per game and only three improved the offense's yards per game
in their first season.
In 1997, in his first season as coordinator, Mike DeBord helped usher
photo by Per Kjeldsen
in a more productive offense, upping
the scoring from 23.1 to 26.8 points
per game and increasing the yardage from 381.9 to 387.7. In 2000, Stan
Parrish coordinated an offense that
raised its scoring from 30.1 to 33.7
points per game and its yardage from
386.6 to 446.1. Finally, in 2002, Terry
Malone helped produce a slight increase in points (26.7 to 27.8) and a
greater increase in yards (359.2 to
381.2).
Michigan also saw an uptick in
scoring (28.8 to 29.2) in 2006 and
