burtcomma

April 17th, 2012 at 9:16 AM ^

I thought the goal in 2011 was to win games, not to score points or gain yards.  11-2 versus 7-5 seems like a pretty good counter-argument to any statements about making the offense worse.  If we go from 11-2 to 12-1, for instance, he can make the offense worse (score fewer points per game or generate fewer yards per game) for all I care. 

sundaybluedysunday

April 16th, 2012 at 9:12 PM ^

In case you're too lazy to click the link, the contract contains a pretty awesome clause where everytime they run Vincent Smith out of the I-Form, Borges loses $1,000. It's really going to make this offense better.

Maximinus Thrax

April 16th, 2012 at 9:15 PM ^

One thing I don't get are the incentives.  I mean, when you are talking about this kind of money, how in the hell is a 6% bonus payment (the $39,000 for a B1G title appearance) really supposed to incentivize anything?  Realistically, shouldn't they keep the base contract (the $650,000, not the BS $250,000 they cite as the base) lower and heap it with lucrative incentives if the incentives are to mean anything?  Just my $.02

ZooWolverine

April 16th, 2012 at 11:13 PM ^

What? Find anyone making under a million a year who isn't motivated by $39,000. Plus, if he wins that game, he gets an extra $65,000 for well over $100k. That seems like a decent incentive to me.

Let me add that I'm not too worried about Borges not being really motivated to make a B1G title appearance, even if there's no extra cash. And it's not like the university gets the only say on the contract. If they want low base pay, they'd have to pay out like crazy on the incentives--if I'm a coach and the university wants to pay a small base salary, the only way I'd sign is if I expected to average well over what I would make with a higher salary.

Maximinus Thrax

April 17th, 2012 at 7:12 AM ^

I am not really worried about his motivation either.  That was not my point.  It just seems like the bonus payments are relatively modest given the triggers.  I know of at least one sales rep for a major pharma company here in N. MI who gets a $50,000 bonus for meeting whatever sales goal they have set for him.  He seems to get it every year.  His total comp package is less than $200,000.  He is highly motivated to get it.  Al Borges total pay package this year is $750,000 counting the deferred comp, $800,000 next year, etc.  I just don't see the same kind of relation to the base pay as in my poker buddy whom I just mentioned.

 

Now, Al only has control of the offensive playcalling, so it may not really be fair to tie too much of his compensation to those kinds of outcomes.  My point was just that the bonus appears relatively insignificant in relation to the pay package as a whole, and therefore it does not appear to fulfill the role of the incentive payments that most of us encounter in our lives.

NoMoPincherBug

April 16th, 2012 at 9:16 PM ^

"U-M’s offense increased in points per game in 2011 (33.3, up from 32.8 in 2010), despite implementing a new offensive system."

and was more consistent in games vs. good defenses. 

Congrats to Al.  Im glad Michigan has extended his contract.

Here2CWoodson

April 16th, 2012 at 9:16 PM ^

Good,  this should keep him around and Mattison is too old (and too well paid) to go anywhere either.  As long as we keep these two anchors on both sides of the ball, if an assistant here or there goes, we should be okay.  Should also work hard to keep Heck and Funk around, they are good position coaches and VERY valuable on the recruiting trail.

I Miss Bursley

April 17th, 2012 at 9:40 AM ^

Yeah I don't know why everyone is wasting time feeding the troll on this thread when we should be discussing the FAR more interesting take away from this article:

Luke Fickell is getting paid the same amount as Greg Mattison, and Fick isn't even their sole D-coordinator. Yet another hilariously inept decision by their AD.

LSAClassOf2000

April 16th, 2012 at 9:25 PM ^

"U-M athletic director Dave Brandon has said from the day he arrived he felt U-M employees need to be paid what the marketplace dictates."

Talent retention is a huge deal, especially with the new staff only going into its second year, and more to the point, more often than not, you really do get what you pay for when it comes to staffing the team's leadership. Smart move by David Brandon and congratulations to Al Borges. 

Humen

April 16th, 2012 at 11:17 PM ^

I'm sure I'll get negged for this (because I did last time), but I will autoneg any freep link until the end of time. It is unacceptable that certain individuals (or is it just one now?) are employed there. I say this because being negged isn't important. Taking a stand as a consumer is important. You might say that a few page views (probably over 1,000, actually) is nothing to protest about, but I think this can make a difference. Please only post freep links unless there is no alternative. 

Sincerely,

-Man who believed the practicegate story for several months

Section 1

April 17th, 2012 at 2:02 PM ^

There's no good reason that I can imagine, to diminish the job that Al Borges has done.  Or to suggest that he somehow "doesn't deserve" a contract that Dave Brandon is happy to offer him.

And there's no good reason to compare/contrast Rich Rodriguez, who labored under an entirely different set of problems and constraints.  (Didn't anybody read Three and Out ?)

What is relevant is the sea-change attitude and philosophy from the day that David Brandon arrived and realized what had happened in his predecessor's failed efforts to retain Jeff Casteel with an actual contract, such as what Mattison got right away and what Borges now has.  At a comparatively small amount (<$275,000) for Casteel.  That's the story; that Michigan had had a big problem with assistant coach salaries until Greg Mattison agreed to come to town and Brandon agreed to pay the national-market rate.

That was the story.  Mark Snyder of the Free Press whiffed on that story for all of the years that Rodriguez was in Ann Arbor, and he has missed it again -- deliberately, no doubt.

Mark Snyder:  Your Michigan Sportswriter of the Year for 2011.  Nominated and elected over John U. Bacon, who authored the most important Michigan sports book of perhaps the last decade in 2011.

JimBobTressel

April 17th, 2012 at 12:15 AM ^

if I was a big-time cfb head coach, i'd rather take a more modest salary (1.5 - 2.5 mill) and shell out more to keep my assistants happy, then vice versa. Staff continuity = big thing. Keeping your players in the same system for longer amounts of time: BIG thing.

 

Think of the kids on the current team who graduated playing under 3 or 4 different defensive systems (coordinator switching)

Tater

April 17th, 2012 at 8:41 AM ^

The bottom line is that, if you are satisfied with your assistants, and you want to be the "leaders and best," you have to pay those assistants enough that nobody will outbid you for them.  Hopefully, this keeps the "Big Three" on the staff intact long enough to create stability.  And, of course, Rose Bowls and BCS "plus one" berths.