Another Candidate

[mgsteve]

Birmingham News

Borges `absolutley' interested in Stanford head coaching job

Thursday, December 07, 2006

CHARLES GOLDBERG

News staff writer

AUBURN - Auburn assistant football coaches Al Borges and Eddie Gran could find themselves in the mix for vacant head coaching positions in the next few days.

Borges, Auburn's offensive coordinator, said he would ``absolutely" be interested in Stanford, though he says he has no contact with the school.

Gran, the running back and special teams coach, has had discussions with North Texas Athletics Director Rick Villarreal about the Mean Green opening.

Stanford fired Walt Harris on Monday after a 1-11 season. He was there two years. North Texas fired Darrell Dickey after a 2-7 start this season. Dickey was there nine years.

Borges' agent, Barry Terranova, said Tuesday that his client would be an ideal candidate because of his West Coast roots. But Borges said Wednesday ``there's nothing that's really developed. I think they're just putting together a search. It's so embryonic in nature. I'm sure my name might have come up. Because it did, I'm getting a lot of people asking questions, but I haven't talked to anybody at Stanford."

Borges' West Coast background includes his boyhood home of Salinas, Calif., and coaching stops at UCLA and California, as well as in the Pacific Northwest.

Borges is in his third season at Auburn. Borges said he hopes to hear from Stanford ``in a week for so."

``When he gets all of the candidates shaven down, and either I'm on or I'm off the list," Borges said.

Another coach with West Coast ties, Norm Chow, has also been linked to the Stanford job. Chow, the offensive coordinator for the NFL's Tennessee Titans, made a name for himself as the offensive coordinator at Southern California, among other places.

Two more West Coast guys - University of San Diego coach Jim Harbaugh and San Diego Charges wide receivers coach James Lofton are also interested. Lofton said he will apply for the job at his alma mater. Harbaugh, ironically, plans to interview at North Texas this week.

Borges said Auburn head coach Tommy Tuberville has given him blanket permission to interview for ``any job, any job that may be of interest to me. But, by the same token, I've got such a good situation. It's win-win. If they come back and say, `Well, we're not interested in you,' I've got a good thing to come back to."

Gran's special teams leads the SEC in kickoffs, kickoff returns and punting. Gran's running backs - which have included Rudi Johnson, Carnell Williams, Ronnie Brown and Kenny Irons - have routinely led the SEC in rushing.

Gran has been with Tuberville since he joined his head coach at Ole Miss in 1994.

North Texas has talked with South Carolina defensive coordinator Tyrone Nix, but Nix removed himself from consideration.