UTSA hires veteran offensive coordinator Al Borges

After a 53 day wait, the UTSA Roadrunners finally have an offensive coordinator again. Head Coach Frank Wilson decided to go with a veteran hand as he hired former Auburn offensive analyst Al Borges to run UTSA’s offense moving forward.

A 36-year coaching veteran, UTSA will make for Borges’ 10th stop as an offensive coordinator. Borges also has experience coaching quarterbacks and tight ends. While Borges was an assistant coach at UCLA has was twice named a finalist for the Broyles Award for the top assistant coach in college football.

Borges is best known for his time as offensive coordinator at Michigan and Auburn. While Borges didn’t see much success at Michigan during the Hoke era, his offense paved the way to an undefeated national championship at Auburn in 2004 under Head Coach Tommy Tuberville. Borges was a true stand out at Auburn, posting a 41-9 record in the SEC.

After the Hoke regime crashed and burned at Michigan, Borges went on to join Ron Caragher’s staff at San Jose State as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.

The video embedded below shows Borges breaking down film and gives good insight into this coaching style and personality. Borges certainly comes across as an intelligent and warm coach.

Borges’ offenses show much multiplicity and flexibility. When reviewing film of his past offenses I was surprised to see how much change he implemented in each season to accommodate the skill set of his personnel. The most notable example would be Borges implementing four-wide spread schemes at Michigan to give Denard Robinson and Devin Gardner more space to take off and run as well as giving them easier throws to make given their limited arm strength.

That’s not to say that Borges doesn’t have experience in teaching pro-style sets. He’s a published author in literature about coaching West Coast passing schemes as well as implementing the I-formation.

In Borges’ last two seasons directing an offense the San Jose State Spartans sported a very pro-style look with spread elements mixed in when Borges had a strong-armed and accurate quarterback to work with. The following season Borges spread the offense out more and mixed in a heavy dose of zone read plays and run pass options as his best quarterback that season lacked the down-field passing ability of the previous starter.

While Borges’ varied experience makes it hard to nail down a specific offense that he’ll look to implement at UTSA, Roadrunner fans should take solace in the fact that Borges will be able to build an offense around whichever quarterback he finds to be the most likely to lead the team to wins in 2018.