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California head football coach Tom Holmoe announced the signing of former UCLA offensive coordinator to the same job at Cal Thursday, ending a two-month search to fill the position. 

“Having Al Borges join our football staff is a major development, a move that will have a huge impact on our program,” Holmoe said. “There’s a strong consensus in football circles that he is one of the best offensive coordinators in the game and I certainly agree with that assessment. He’s imaginative and creative while also being fundamentally sound.” 

Borges spent the last five years as the offensive coordinator at UCLA, following one season at Oregon. He was a finalist for the Frank Broyles Assistant Coach of the Year Award in 1997 and ’98, and has established a reputation as one of college football’s best offensive minds. 

Borges, 42, is Holmoe’s third offensive coordinator in his five years at Cal, but he comes in with much more experience than either Doug Cosbie, Holmoe’s first hire, or Steve Hagen, who Holmoe fired at the end of last season. Neither man had been a coordinator at a major university before coming to Cal. 

Borges enters a coaching staff that is on shaky ground, as Holmoe’s first four years have resulted in little success. Many consider next year a win-or-else situation for Holmoe. 

“People may be surprised at my moving to Cal, but I really believe it makes a lot of sense,” Borges said Thursday. “Cal is a place with incredible potential and I think I can help. They have a lot of athletes, in particular on offense, who are champing at the bit to be successful.” 

Borges’ most important task will be tutoring quarterback Kyle Boller, a highly-touted recruit who has been inconsistent for the past two seasons. 

“I think Kyle Boller has a chance in the right system, and with the right discipline, to be as good as anybody in the conference,” Borges said. 

Boller will benefit from an offensive line that returns four starters, as well as talented tailbacks Joe Igber and Joe Echema. In all, nine starters return to the offense, which averaged 317 yards per game and 22.4 points per game last year. 

Borges governed an explosive offense at UCLA, peaking in 1997 when the Bruins scored more than 40 points per game and rolled up 433 yards per game, ranking 13th in the nation. 

Borges grew up in Salinas, and was a part-time assistant at Cal in 1982 and ’83 under head coach Joe Kapp before moving on to Diablo Valley College. 

“The last play when I was at Cal was when we ran through the Stanford Band for the winning touchdown in the 1982 Big Game. That has to be some type of omen,” he said. “Ultimately, I think the timing is good for me to come to Cal and I’m excited as heck to get started."  

From Diablo Valley, he moved to Portland State and Boise State before being hired at Oregon in 1995.