Michigan fires offensive coordinator Al Borges

After initially suggesting that all his coaches would be back for the 2014 football season, Michigan's Brady Hoke announced Wednesday evening that much maligned offensive coordinator Al Borges will not be back for the Wolverines next season. Borges drew the ire of UM partisans for his overly conservative nature and inconsistency (this past November's game against Ohio State's paltry secondary aside).

"Decisions like these are never easy," said Hoke in a statement released by the school. "I have a great amount of respect for Al as a football coach and, more importantly, as a person. I appreciate everything he has done for Michigan Football for the past three seasons."

For Hoke to make such a dramatic move, it's possible that this edict came down from on high. After a 7-6 season and little signs of improvement on the field (consecutive off seasons of strong recruiting aside), it was clear that Hoke himself had started to move towards (if not find himself outright on) the hot seat.

It's not immediately what direction Hoke will go in, as Borges was his offensive coordinator prior to arriving at Michigan while at San Diego State. The Wolverines' personnel is built around a pro style philosophy, but isn't too far removed from being able to move towards a more hybrid system not unlike what we've seen at the likes of Duke (who's OC Kurt Roper was recently hired by Will Muschamp at Florida for just such a paradigm shift).

According to CoachingSearch.com, the Wolverines' brain trust has already reached out to UCLA OC Noel Mazzone to gauge his interest. That would fall in line with a more multiple offense as previously alluded to. Coincidentally, LSU released offensive line coach (and one time Ohio State OC target) Greg Studrawa from his contract earlier Wednesday.