CASH, AUTONOMY ENTICE BORGES TO CAL OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR FOR BRUINS WILL HEAD NORTH FOR SAME POSITION.

Byline: Billy Witz Staff Writer

One day after UCLA announced the firing of defensive coordinator Bob Field, offensive coordinator Al Borges resigned to accept the same position at Cal, a move prompted by equal parts money and opportunity - both in large quantities.

Borges, who has supervised the two highest-scoring offenses in UCLA history during his five years at the school, will get the chance to turn around the Pacific-10 Conference's most woeful offense. The Bears have finished last in the Pac-10 in scoring the past two seasons.

He'll do it with full autonomy, said Cal coach Tom Holmoe. It will be a distinct change from UCLA, where head coach Bob Toledo is active in formulating game plans and calling plays.

Borges will be well compensated for his trouble. He was awarded a two- year contract - rare for assistant coaches - and will be paid approximately $175,000 per year, according to sources.

That represents close to a 50 percent raise for Borges, who made $114,500 this season, and makes him one of the highest-paid assistants in the Pac-10.

``It was simply the fact that I think this is a great opportunity,'' said Borges, a native of Salinas who was a graduate assistant at Cal in 1982. ``It's someplace that's dying to win football games and ready to win football games. They were 3-8, but they were in every single football game. It's a place that I think is looking for a little bit of a jump-start.

``When you leave UCLA, you make darn sure it's worth while.''

Borges, a close friend of Cal assistant Ron Gould, was contacted by Holmoe after the Bruins' 21-20 loss to Wisconsin in the Sun Bowl on Friday. According to a published report, Holmoe first offered the job to North Carolina State's Norm Chow, who is also being pursued by USC.

Toledo and Borges, who last month applied for the head-coaching job at San Jose State, denied there was a rift between them.

If Toledo was miffed, it was that Cal, part of the same school system, could afford to pay an assistant so much more than UCLA is willing to offer.

``Money had a big part to do with it,'' Toledo said. ``It was a lot of money, not just a little money.

``I don't want to get into (it), but we're the UC system just like they are. I think financially, we have to compete just like other people.''

Toledo, who moved quickly to replace Field with Phil Snow, said he is in no hurry to fill Borges' post, which also included coaching the quarterbacks.

Toledo said he's fielded many calls from interested coaches and some of his assistants have expressed interest in the job, as well. Toledo declined to name them, but receivers coach Ron Caragher is a former UCLA quarterback and defensive ends coach John Pearce has coached quarterbacks before and worked under Toledo when he was the offensive coordinator at Texas A&M.

Toledo said the best candidate could be himself. After all, it is and will be his offense.

``I don't know if I can handle all the administrative stuff of writing up the game plans,'' Toledo said. ``I can set it up in meetings at night and look at practice film. Writing scripts for practice, I don't have time to do that.

``I've got a lot of scenarios I'm looking at. I'm not leaning any which way - the only thing I'll say is I'm running this offense.''

While the Bruins expect to return 15 starters next season (Toledo said middle linebacker Robert Thomas informed him Thursday he would be returning), Toledo minimized the impact of breaking in two new coordinators.

He cited his own involvement on offense and said Snow will run the same defense the Bruins have run under Field the last two seasons. The one noticeable wrinkle will be fewer five- and six-defensive-back packages, units that had little success for the Bruins the last half of the season.

CAPTION(S):

photo

Photo: AL BORGES

Bruins' offensive coordinator left for Cal, which offered autonomy and a salary approximately $175, 000 per year.