Thank you Coach Borges
January 9th, 2014 at 11:58 AM ^
eeeeeehhhhhhhh, OK. Thanks, Al.
January 9th, 2014 at 12:00 PM ^
Thanks and Good Luck Al
January 9th, 2014 at 12:01 PM ^
Sure. But wasn't he getting paid a lot of money for his time and effort?
January 9th, 2014 at 12:05 PM ^
January 9th, 2014 at 12:25 PM ^
Ok the guy made over 2MM in the last 3 years before taxes. His family is going to be just fine unless Al was MGM, Motor City and Greektown every week.
January 9th, 2014 at 12:51 PM ^
He was fired for doing a poor job and was paid extremely well. That does not deserve a thanks.
This fake thank you is part of the arrogance of Michigan fans show that we are classy (as you can tell, I'm not).
January 9th, 2014 at 1:52 PM ^
January 9th, 2014 at 3:10 PM ^
but thinking him for the last 3 years seems insane to me.
I wish him well in life and hopes he is happy elsewhere in the future, but to thank him for the last 3 years? I understand your reason, with access but the casual fan should not be thakful Borges was the OC at Michigan for the past 3 years.
January 10th, 2014 at 3:31 PM ^
January 9th, 2014 at 1:53 PM ^
January 9th, 2014 at 3:20 PM ^
Speak for yourself. Mine is quite genuine, and I doubt I'm the only one.
January 9th, 2014 at 4:00 PM ^
It means we evaluate a man in full? That treating a guy decently, who, regardless of his salary, seemed like a decent guy, isn't fake but, um, normal?
That latter point is so fucking played out. Where is the line drawn? Be a dick to a coach if he fails because he didn't just fail but got PAID A LOT. Be a dick if a pro player fails because he failed and he gets PAID A LOT. Be a dick to a college player if he fails because he failed and HE GETS PAID A SCHOLARSHIP, and on and on.
January 9th, 2014 at 12:09 PM ^
January 9th, 2014 at 12:11 PM ^
even guys who get paid well deserve a pat on the back once in a while.
January 9th, 2014 at 12:15 PM ^
Sure. But what if they don't do a good job?
January 9th, 2014 at 12:41 PM ^
He just PAID the price for that. Wishing the man good will in the future is a right and decent thing to do. The only reason to piss on his grave is if you don't think he even TRIED to do a good job here, or sabotaged us, brought trouble, etc. None of those are true.
Good luck Mr. Borges.
January 9th, 2014 at 1:18 PM ^
When did I piss on his grave? I just don't see the need to say anything.
January 9th, 2014 at 1:46 PM ^
But yet you keep arguing.
January 9th, 2014 at 1:52 PM ^
I love you.
January 9th, 2014 at 12:45 PM ^
It amazes me how many people in this thread want to continue the debate about Al Borges' performance. It was more bad than good, this is why he is no longer the OC. Its not as though there is some scadal or something improper that happened or he did that led to this.
But despite being paid hansomely (gorgously?) we can still thank the man for working very hard and committing 3 years of his life to try to improve the program. Thanks for your work Al, & good luck in the future.
January 9th, 2014 at 2:47 PM ^
It was more bad than good, this is why he is no longer the OC.Nussmeier seemed to have more good than bad at Alabama, but he is no longer their OC. There wasn't enough good from Borges for him to be retained, but the above quote is too simple.
January 9th, 2014 at 3:18 PM ^
Difference being he left on his own terms for a pay raise and another high profile job. If he 'saves' Brady Hoke and the Michigan offense that could open up the door to some pretty nice HC gigs.
January 10th, 2014 at 3:35 PM ^
January 9th, 2014 at 12:11 PM ^
He did a masterful job with Denard. He let Denard be Denard. That could have been a round peg - square hole situation. Denard took a big risk in staying.
I think Al would be a good offensive coach in the Pros where his complex cerebral schemes can be implemented with experienced talented players. He was maybe "too smart" for the college level.
January 9th, 2014 at 12:29 PM ^
"Too Smart" for the college level? Were you watching the same borges play calls that I was watching...?
January 9th, 2014 at 12:39 PM ^
You might be taking this a little too far.
January 9th, 2014 at 12:46 PM ^
Give me a break. Individual athletic ability is responsible for Denards success. He was able to succeed because he could overcome stupid play calling. Imagine the last 3 years without Coach Rodriguez QB's. If "execution" was to blame for failure, then why is "execution" not credited for success?
January 9th, 2014 at 1:52 PM ^
He was maybe "too smart" for the college level.
I think there's a lot of merit to this. In a sense, Borges reminds me a bit of Charlie Weis (please, no fat jokes) ... someone who is enamored with sophisticated plays, and thinks they can out-scheme from the playbook and the booth. That works if the talent on the field can play up to fancy schemes. It's probably easier to make that happen on an NFL team than a college team.
It strikes me the best college coaches and coordinators are those that can take an honest assessment of talent and potential and design to that. Despite a lot of jargon out there, setting the bar too high can be detrimental.
January 9th, 2014 at 3:08 PM ^
TING!!
This is exactly what I meant by "too smart", as in out-thinking yourself. In that sense, he was like Charlie Weiss without the arrogance.
My observation about Weiss when he was head coach at ND was that you could always count on Charlie Weiss to do something stupid to show you how smart he was.
Like throwing the ball against us and our 5-star CB in 2009 on third and 6+ when he would have been able to run the clock down to under 1:00 with a run. It gave Tate just enough time to engineer a winning drive. Clever if it would have worked, but stupid because of course it failed.
Al had some of this in him where he had something that worked but he would not stay with it because, I don't know, it was too pedestrian . . . didn't fit with the Grand Plan . . . whatever.
January 9th, 2014 at 12:02 PM ^
January 9th, 2014 at 1:02 PM ^
Preferably in the B1G...and in our division.
January 9th, 2014 at 12:02 PM ^
I don't get the "nice guy in interviews" aspect that some say. He constantly threw players under the bus and said it was just an execution issue. Didn't seem like a likeable guy at all this whole season. Rough for his family to move, sure...but the $600,000 he will be getting next year for doing nothing helps soften the blow.
January 9th, 2014 at 12:11 PM ^
I don't agree that his execution spiel amounted to throwing players under the bus. You have to do some kind of evaluation of your players in the press conference. And if you always talk roses and sunshine then people will read between the lines when you don't, and it amounts to the same thing. (Or else they'll know you're full of shit when you talk about scoring six points like the players played really well.) "We didn't execute" is extremely generic and harmless and it's something everyone can see anyway.
January 9th, 2014 at 12:11 PM ^
January 9th, 2014 at 12:50 PM ^
They needed to "EVER" say that scheme and adjustment were even a small part of the problem.
January 9th, 2014 at 1:01 PM ^
when you have 5 or 6 guys to block 8 or 9. Generally the play calling sucked and put players in position to fail no matter if they executed or not. It also didn't help matters that the team would get out of the huddle so late that there was little to no chance to audible out of a bad play if that was even an option under Borges. If a corner is playing 10 yards off and the box is loaded a quick toss to the WR should be an automatic, but never seemed a possibility the last 3 years.
While I hate to see anyone lose their job, Al was greatly overpaid for the results (Mattison this year too) and deserved to be let go. Good luck to him on his job search, but good riddance.
January 9th, 2014 at 12:03 PM ^
I always liked Borges, he seems like a good person. I was reserving judgement until next season, but when you can make a move like this you do it.
Thanks Big Al, I'll always wonder what you may have done with a complete roster. That's life though. Best-a-luck.
January 9th, 2014 at 12:03 PM ^
able to land another job soon. The poor performance of the MIchigan offense was not solely on his shoulders. Many factors were involved particularly the slow transition of the offensive scheme while DR was still here.
January 9th, 2014 at 12:04 PM ^
...and the Al Borges is gone posbang thread. I gues 1 for 2 ain't bad.
For every good farewell comment, there's going to be 2 good riddance comments.
Well, since it is here...let's please be civil.
January 9th, 2014 at 1:35 PM ^
having a hey thanks GERG thread ?
Go Blue!
January 9th, 2014 at 12:04 PM ^
But it just ended up his style doesn't quite fit this team at this point. Kinda like RR not really fitting the culture (or vice versa) but it works for him in Arizona.
Good man, good family man. Best of luck.
January 9th, 2014 at 12:05 PM ^
I don't quarrel with the program's decision to ditch Borges, but I feel bad for anyone who gets fired (even in jobs where it comes with the territory).
Major credit to Borges for his flexibility with Denard Robinson. He may not have done everything we would have liked to maximize Robinson's potential, but he absolutely sculpted an offense around Robinson's abilities, rather than trying to square-peg him into Borges's preferred round-hole offense.
Best of luck to Al Borges. You were my favorite Jackie Coogan look-a-like in college football. Nobody will take that away from you any time soon.
January 9th, 2014 at 12:57 PM ^
He "sculpted an offense around Robinsons abilities". I think that was RR. Denard sculpted an offense around Borges inabilities.
Execution gets the blame but borgy gets the credit? He is gone. Get over it.
January 9th, 2014 at 12:06 PM ^
Good bye!!
January 9th, 2014 at 12:13 PM ^
It's really a shame when people have so little perspective that they're mentally incapable of separating the job and the man.
January 9th, 2014 at 12:16 PM ^
agree. it's like breaking up. you might be happy that she's gone, but there's a human element to it - you spent time together and got to know each other, etc. i'm a firm believer in what comes around goes around, so lets be good to people on the way out as we are to them on the way in.
January 9th, 2014 at 12:30 PM ^
January 9th, 2014 at 12:48 PM ^
I'm confused. How did you get herpes from the O Coordinator?
January 9th, 2014 at 1:03 PM ^
one thing led to the next and boom. We're marathoning "Orange Is the New Black" and reading Visit From the Good Squad aloud to one another in the mornings while we're both getting ready for work at our Manhattan advertising jobs.
Life is totes cray.
January 9th, 2014 at 1:20 PM ^
Does the OC ride a tractor? That could expain things.