Michigan Football: Al Borges' Raise Is More About Keeping Him Than Production

After 2011, Michigan football was on cloud nine. The program had just gone through a brutal stretch that saw them miss bowl games in 2008 and 2009 and fire Rich Rodriguez after 2010. 2011 was a blessing as the team overachieved in year one of Brady Hoke, culminating in a Sugar Bowl victory.

In the wake of the positive vibes, the Wolverines have been recruiting like mad men and yesterday, they announced a pay increase for offensive coordinator, Al Borges.

To be specific, Borges was raised up to $650,000 this January, a $300,000 pay increase from 2011, plus $50,000 increases over the following two seasons. Borges also receives $100,000 in deferred payment over each of these seasons. This pulls him right up to the levels of defensive counterpart, Greg Mattison, who signed at $750,000 a year ago.

At first blush, the scale of the raise (86 percent) made me scratch my head. In terms of raw production and numbers, Borges was not that impressive. Sure, the offense was 13th in rushing and 26th in scoring, but they were 93rd in passing and just 42nd in total offensive production.

Getting away from stats, as I tend to do, the offense was inconsistent, disjointed and largely ineffective. The scheme started out with a plan to get Denard Robinson playing more of the "true quarterback" spot and ultimately evolved into a lot of what we had already seen: the "Denard Robinson go out there and do stuff" show.

It wasn't the national title effort that got Gus Malzahn his big raise down on The Plains. It wasn't the massive uptick in production coupled with the job rumors that got Chad Morris his boost in Tiger Town. It wasn't the consistently suffocating unit that put Kirby Smart at the $950,000 mark.

Borges had one season that really was just "okay" in the grand scheme of offenses.

However, take a step back and look at the college football landscape and the move makes sense. Brady Hoke has got something good brewing with this staff and as programs around the nation have proven, the key to winning consistently at a high level is a happy staff. Paying your head coach is a given, but when you start paying your assistants and growing continuity on a year-to-year basis, good things happen.

This raise is about making sure they have a happy boat to sail in Ann Arbor.

Al Borges' work with Denard Robinson is a plus, but his true worth can be assessed once the human highlight reel leaves, and the Wolverines are in a position to run the offense Borges and Hoke want. That means recruiting guys who fit the pro-style mold better.

It is easier to recruit when potential players see that the staff is committed to staying at the school. This raise speaks to that commitment.

This raise is not about his production increase; the Wolverines did not even score a full point more in 2011 than in 2010. Look at this payout as a sign that Michigan is committed to Brady Hoke and his staff. They don't want another school pulling Borges or Mattison away with a sweeter paycheck.

The Wolverines believe in what Hoke and his staff are doing and going forward, they are tying themselves to this regime with the hopes of the big payout coming in the form of a BCS title shot.