UCLA loses defensive, offensive coaches

  Photos from Sports Info Al Borges

By Greg Lewis
Daily Bruin Senior Staff

One left by choice, the other by force. When the next football
season begins, UCLA will have a new defensive and offensive
coordinator.

Head coach Bob Toledo fired defensive coordinator Bob Field on
Dec. 30, the day after UCLA’s 21-20 defeat at the hands of
Wisconsin.

Ironically, the game featured UCLA’s best defensive effort
since the 23-20 defeat of Michigan in the third game of the
season.

Field was hired after Nick Aliotti resigned in 1999. He had also
served as the defensive coordinator under head coach Terry Donahue,
Toledo’s predecessor, for 14 seasons.

Field crafted defenses that consistently ranked in the top 20
nationally while working under Donahue. Under Toledo, however,
Field had less success.

“It was a decision Bob had to make, and I’ve never
sat in that seat he sits in,” said Field, who has been with
the Bruin coaching staff for the past 22 seasons.

In 1999, UCLA set a school record for average yards allowed with
445, and this season the Bruins allowed a record 368 points.

  Bob Field Field will remain with the
athletic department, possibly working on special projects with
Athletic Director Pete Dalis, at least until his contract expires
at the end of July.

Phil Snow, the defensive coordinator at Arizona State for the
past nine seasons, will take over for Field.

“I have known Phil for a long time and I have followed his
career closely,” Toledo said. “I have a great amount of
respect for the way his secondary plays with great aggressiveness
and great technique. His defenses have always been among the best
in the Pac-10.

“He is highly respected within the profession and Bruce
Snyder gave him a very strong recommendation,” Toledo
added.

Snow, along with most of the coaching staff of Arizona State,
was let go at the conclusion of the Sun Devils’ season. He
had previously agreed to to take the same position with Illinois,
but was pulled back by his west coast ties. Snow has spent the past
14 seasons coaching in the Pac-10.

With Snow UCLA gets a much more aggressive style of defense,
something Bruin fans have pined for since the departure of Rocky
Long to New Mexico.

The nickel and dime package, which Toledo admitted made him hold
his breath on more than a few occasions, will be used less and less
under Snow.

With the Sun Devils, Snow’s philosophy was to stop the
run, forcing the other team to become one-dimensional. His defenses
are also effective at forcing turnovers, a staple of the Long
defenses in the late ’90s. Arizona State was first in the
nation this year in recovering fumbles, and third in turnovers
forced.

UCLA offensive coordinator Al Borges decided to resurrect the
3-8 Cal’s sputtering offense, the worst in the Pac-10 this
year. Borges also gets about a one and a half times pay raise,
going from $114,000 a year to $180,000.

Equally as important as the money to Borges was his ties to the
Bay Area and the opportunity to make a name for himself as a coach.
Under Cal head coach Tom Holmoe, Borges will be working with the
polar opposite of Toledo.

“Al is a great friend,” Toledo said.

“This is a good opportunity for him to build something
from the ground up. I know he’s excited about the challenge
and I’m very happy for him.”

Holmoe is not involved with the offensive game-plan at Cal.
Toledo and Borges shared the offensive responsibilities at
UCLA.

“Al and I think a lot alike when it comes to
offense,” Toledo said.

During the Borges years, UCLA averaged more than 31 points a
game, including 39 points per game during Cade McNown’s
junior and senior season.

Borges grew up in the Bay Area and worked with the Bear coaching
staff in 1982, the year Cal defeated Stanford.

Borges takes over the Bear offense from Steve Hagan.

Toledo has said that he will take his time in finding a new
coordinator. If he chooses to promote from within, Ron Caragher,
the receivers coach for the past five years, could get the
call.

“We have run a wide open offense, featuring a balance
between the run and the pass, during my career as offensive
coordinator and head coach, and that will not change,” Toledo
said.

In good news for the Bruins, juniors Robert Thomas, DeShaun
Foster, Marques Anderson and Brian Poli-Dixon all announced they
will come back for their senior season. All four, along with Kenyon
Coleman, who is returning from a knee injury, are thought to have
All-American potential.