Borges to SDSU?

[tarheeltiger 0]

From al.com

Auburn offensive coordinator Al Borges could find his name in the mix for the vacant head coaching job at San Diego State.

Tom Craft was fired Monday after four years as SDSU's head coach. Borges said he would be interested in learning more about the vacant position. He might have plenty of company.

An analysis in the San Diego Union-Tribune listed several high-profile coaches who could be candidates at San Diego State, including former NFL and college head coach Dennis Erickson, former Colorado and Washington coach Rick Neuheisel and University of San Diego coach Jim Harbaugh.

Athletics director Jeff Schemmel said he wanted a candidate who could rally the community around SDSU football.

Borges is a native of Salinas, Calif. He spent five seasons as the offensive coordinator at UCLA in the late 1990s and one season at California in 2001.

Since coming to Auburn in 2004, Borges has created a high-powered offensive attack in back-to-back seasons and earned the adoration of fans, who give him much of the credit for Auburn's 22-2 record during that span.

Borges earns $290,000 a year at Auburn.

Borges isn't the only Auburn coach whose name has been mentioned in offseason coaching searches. Offensive line coach Hugh Nall was briefly connected with the vacant Georgia Southern job, but he withdrew his name from consideration on Sunday.

[saniflush 0]

The way it comes across to me is that SDSU is not the job he is looking for. I feel like he will wait it out for an upper echelon head coaching slot to come open. IMO.

[quietfan 233]

Tarheel's article was in the Mobile paper:

http://www.al.com/auburnfootball/mobilereg...3220.xml&coll=3

The Huntsville Times also has the San Diego rumor, but more comments from CAB himself:

Borges won't bail unless deal fail-safe

Auburn assistant will only leave for 'heck of a good job'

AUBURN - Al Borges, one game from the end of his second season as Auburn's offensive coordinator, said Tuesday he'll listen if there are schools interested in hiring him as head coach. But the sales pitch, he said, would need to be a convincing one.

...

"This has been such a good job that it's going to take a heck of a good job to get me to leave here," Borges said. "We have such a good recruiting class coming in. The potential of this program at this point is unlimited. I never say never, but it's going to take a heck of a good job.

"I have no interest in going anywhere else as a coordinator. Where are you going to go? The head coach I work for and the staff I work with have made this job so good."

Borges' career had hit on hard times when Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville plucked him out of Indiana in early 2004. He'd left UCLA after five highly successful seasons for California in hopes of helping his chances to become a head coach, only to find himself unemployed when the entire staff was fired.

During his two seasons at Indiana, Borges wondered if he would ever recover.

"About the middle of my second year, I felt like I was drowning," Borges said. "You are trying like heck to use all the ingenuity you have to help your team win. The effort you are putting in isn't balanced by the results you are getting back. It can be very frustrating."

That experience, Borges said, has made him cautious.

"I made the mistake one time of jumping at a job, and it set my career back three years," said Borges, 50.

...

"I've had this happen before, when I was at UCLA and we were doing well," said Borges, a California native who spent the first 26 years of his coaching career on the West Coast. "You make a lot of newspapers. I'd like to be a head coach someday, but I don't know much about the San Diego State job and quite frankly haven't thought much about it."

Sounds like saniflush is right about this not being the right job.

Glad to see him say "I have no interest in going anywhere else as a coordinator."

Still, he's worth a lot more than $290,000! He should be the highest paid coordinator in the SEC, if not the country. For a mere $110,000 we can bump him to $400,000 and I think he's worth AT LEAST that much. Come on, CTT & AD Jacobs--let's make this "good job" even better!

----

...and an aside: I like how he talks about our recruiting class. Makes me wonder if we have a few more secret blue chips in the pipeline!

[AUTiger22 0]

If they are willing to pay, the SD St job could be an attractive one. You have beautiful weather year round, you have one of the top three states for recruiting, and the West Coast is his home. There is no reason that SD St. shouldn`t be able to compete with several Pac-10 schools in recruiting and on the field. The downside is that they aren`t a BCS program. I don`t want him to leave but I wouldn`t blame CAB for giving them a look.

[freebody 0]

SDSU is not worth it for him. They key to the success in his offense is not so much his skill players - it's his linemen. As he saw at IU, lower-echelon BCS and mid-major programs cannot provide the quality of linemen that he needs. Just like in 1A versus 1AA, the lines are the biggest differentiator - you can have one or two good skill position guys and get a few gimicks, but it takes 7 good OL's (including back-ups) to have routine success.

[freebody 0]

Too bad I can't earmark some of my TUF money this year for an "Al Borges Love Offering".