Al Borges hired as OC at San Jose State
Al Borges landed a job as the OC at San Jose State:
and Dan Ferrigno will be the special teams and TE coach.
___
Edit: Didn't realize this was on the board already, so go ahead and delete. Or maybe I should add, "It's official..." And with Greg Robinson as the DC, well...
February 6th, 2015 at 12:41 PM ^
I wish Borges, GERG and Ferrigno well. No telling why a coach does or does not do well in a particular environment. I think they were each devoted coaches who did their best for UM. That will not keep me from making fun of them in the future, but if forced to be sincere, I hope they and SJSU kick ass.
February 6th, 2015 at 5:20 PM ^
because in our maize and blue guts, we know Michigan always seems to be the problem. We all suspect right now that they will make SJSU into a respectable mid-major and it will be another piece of evidence in the "Michigan creates all of their own problems" pile
February 6th, 2015 at 5:31 PM ^
Couple thoughts, fwtw:
1) Sometimes a situation just doesn't work out. Could be the coach. Could be the environment. Maybe the coaches will thrive in the lower-intensity situation of SJSU. In other words, it wasn't us, it was them. Nothing wrong with your ex finding happiness elsewhere. Doesn't mean you're a bad person, just the relationship didn't work.
2) If it is us, then let's figure it out, look at what it is about us that makes things go pear-shaped, and fix it. Maybe the recent firings and hiring of JH have already fixed it (if it was us).
February 6th, 2015 at 12:57 PM ^
A) I wish SJSU and Tennessee were playing each other next year.
B) After this season brought to light (at least to some extent) how DB meddled in the football program, I think it's hard to tell how terrible or just-not-good Borges was. I mean, maybe, and I shudder to think about this because of the lost opportunity, but maybe if DB hadn't been iron fisting things, and perhaps Hoke too, maybe Al would have actually, you know, thought to run an offense suited for Denard and Devin post-Sugar Bowl. Maybe. Just saying that maybe Al wasn't totally to blame. PPG dropped precipitously after he left, after all.
C) I still wouldn't hire Al.
D) I also would never hire GERG.
February 6th, 2015 at 1:07 PM ^
Two things stuck out, though. One, despite being the "QB" coach, he couldn't develop quarterbacks. Perhaps most telling is that the best QB output of his tenure, the second half of 2012, came after Devin spent the first half of the season playing WR. Let that sink in for a minute.
Second, his play calling was often atrocious. He arrogantly suck to his chess game mentality, and too often tried to force what he wanted to do, even when the other team knew exactly what was coming, instead of taking what he was given and running with it.
February 6th, 2015 at 3:00 PM ^
Yeah, you're right. Even the most generous realistic assessment of his tenure is pretty heinous, no matter how you look at it. I do think DB made it even worse, though. But you're right. Thinking about it, I have to say it's vanishingly unlikely that Al was anywhere close to mediocre, let alone passable.
February 6th, 2015 at 1:16 PM ^
We can run with it - it wasn't official when it was first reported, and then because of what was reportedly going down with Daugherty, the situation was temporarily a bit cloudy as I recall.
In any case, it's sort of a homecoming for Borges, being a Salinas native (San Jose is about 100 miles from there, I believe) and who knows, perhaps this works out miles better for him than Michigan did - only time will answer that. I wish him success in San Jose.
February 6th, 2015 at 1:17 PM ^
February 6th, 2015 at 1:43 PM ^
Remember Al's double reverse plays which they executed flawlessly, to pick up maybe four yards?
How in the heck much time did they spend practicing that one play, while the basic fundamentals of football were being badly neglected?
That was one person's ego showing they can draw up cute little trick plays, even though they're not part of a strategic game plan, they really provide no constraint, and the results are minimal.
I'm going to enjoy watching Michigan football where the coaches are not serving their own half-baked, ego fantasy notion of football. I'm going to enjoy watching Michigan football where the coaches are competent, well informed, and doing things in the best interest of the team.
February 6th, 2015 at 5:10 PM ^
By all counts, Al is a great guy and one of the first you would pick to draw up a play on a napkin. Hope he's successful back on his home turf.
As for Robinson, I still have no clue how he seemed to completely forget how to coach one he got to Syracuse. Never followed him closely, but he seemed to do a decent job with the Jets, and I would assume that he didn't get to that position putting together the mess we had to see.
February 7th, 2015 at 12:36 AM ^
Gorgeous Borges. Do not miss.