Mike DeBord has been the leader from Day 1, but he's hardly running unopposed. Now, Tennessee didn't love its interview whatsoever with Matt Canada --- which is why Canada signed his new deal at N.C. State long before the Vols make an announcement. It's why we reported Wednesday night that no one involved in the process had indicated to us that Canada in any way blew away the Vols' interview contingent.
One person who did? That's Boise State's Mike Sanford. And Sanford's vastly underpaid below $400,000 with the Broncos. Sources close to Boise State and Tennessee both said Sanford easily had one of the top interviews for the Vols, coming closest to DeBord --- who's continually had no shortage of high-profile names reaching out to Tennessee to endorse DeBord's candidacy.
Butch Jones spoke with multiple other candidates, on the collegiate and NFL levels, as he conducted West Coast interviews and then nabbed Canada in conjunction with East Coast recruiting. Clay Helton of USC spoke with the Vols' group, we are told, and Mike Norvell, of Arizona State, was extremely impressive. With Norvell, asking price and other subsequent factors --- staff composition --- are stumbling blocks. Norvell made $900,000 this past season with the Sun Devils and reportedly seeks a multi-year deal average more than $1 million moving forward.
DeBord's list of references features NFL and college names, including Urban Meyer. DeBord, it has been indicated to us, would have been on an NFL staff during the 2014 season had Adam Gase not remained with the Denver Broncos following the 2013 season. Gase and DeBord have some common threads and a mutual respect, it has been indicated to us.
Jones remained in a deep evaluation of options well into late Thursday night, and the latest indication was that Tennessee would not name a new offensive coordinator until midweek next week.