OC/WR Coach under Crowton Dead at 42

[The Wankster]

Mike Borich, the OC/WR coach at BYU under Crowton just passed away at the age of 42.

I wonder what happened?

[cougjunkie]

Mike Borich, the OC/WR coach at BYU under Crowton just passed away at the age of 42.

I wonder what happened?

Alcohol? Drugs? car accident? Suicide? Where did you see this at?

[The Wankster]

I read the obit in the Deseret News, I will see if there is more info on KSL or in one of the morning rags.

[cougjunkie]

I read the obit in the Deseret News, I will see if there is more info on KSL or in one of the morning rags.

Jay Drew wrote about it, they said he died in his sleep. I hate to speculate but I bet it was an OD of some sort. I know he became an alcoholic and his wife divorced him because of it, he was fighting a lot of demons.

[The Wankster]

Jay Drew wrote about it, they said he died in his sleep. I hate to speculate but I bet it was an OD of some sort. I know he became an alcoholic and his wife divorced him because of it, he was fighting a lot of demons.

I understood the same thing about him and also understand that he has some wonderful kids, hopefully they will be OK thru this.

[Shaka]

He'd battled drugs for a good portion of his life. If his death was drug related I wouldn't be surprised.

An old GF, with whom I'm still close, had an ex-husband who was a major prescription drug addict. I'm sure that his addiction led to some illegal drug consumption but mostly it was prescription. When we were dating the ex was in methadone therapy and seemed to have kicked the addictions and cleaned things up to a large degree. One day, not long after I'd broken up with the girl, he was found dead in his bedroom. He didn't O.D. and there were no drugs other than Tylenol found in his system. It turns out that the years of abuse had ruined his kidneys and liver and one day his body just gave out. His death was completely unexpected. (ok, I wasn't at all surprised.)

Folks that have been abusing drugs for years yet have been clean for a while can just keel over because of the damage. I feel bad for Mike's family and hope he is finally at peace.

[SeattleUte]

He'd battled drugs for a good portion of his life. If his death was drug related I wouldn't be surprised.

An old GF, with whom I'm still close, had an ex-husband who was a major prescription drug addict. I'm sure that his addiction led to some illegal drug consumption but mostly it was prescription. When we were dating the ex was in methadone therapy and seemed to have kicked the addictions and cleaned things up to a large degree. One day, not long after I'd broken up with the girl, he was found dead in his bedroom. He didn't O.D. and there were no drugs other than Tylenol found in his system. It turns out that the years of abuse had ruined his kidneys and liver and one day his body just gave out. His death was completely unexpected. (ok, I wasn't at all surprised.)

Folks that have been abusing drugs for years yet have been clean for a while can just keel over because of the damage. I feel bad for Mike's family and hope he is finally at peace.

This happened to my cousin and another kid I grew up with. Both from good LDS families.

[HuskyFreeNorthwest]

I heard this story first hand a couple of years ago in EQ. When I have more time, next flight leaves in about 45 minutes, I will write it up. Really a wasted life.

[Hazzard]

An old GF, with whom I'm still close

Pardon the thread detour, but can I just tell you how much I love sentences that start off like that!

[Shaka]

Pardon the thread detour, but can I just tell you how much I love sentences that start off like that!

Did I blow my grammar somehow? I find the further I get away from my education the more mistakes I make. If I got it right then I'll celebrate.

[Hazzard]

Did I blow my grammar somehow? I find the further I get away from my education the more mistakes I make. If I got it right then I'll celebrate.

As far as I can tell, the grammar was impeccable. It's the idea of "being close" with an "old girlfriend" that made me smile, especially if you are married.

[Shaka]

As far as I can tell, the grammar was impeccable. It's the idea of "being close" with an "old girlfriend" that made me smile, especially if you are married.

Thank heavens I got it right. A while back, on CB, I wrote the biggest run-on sentence in the history of the world.

She is now married but I am not. Maybe close isn't a good description for our current relationship although it would describe our relationship at the time her ex died. I never contact her but she will get in touch with me every month or two. I know I know, it's weird for a married woman to contact an ex BF. This case is a little different because I played a bit of a father figure role to her son up until she was remarried. The ex was a crappy father. I characterize him as someone who lived in mom's basement, never made child support, yet bought the kid every video game imaginable with the little money he had. Think Disneyland dad who has all the fun with money that's not his.

The current husband hasn't been able to bond with the kid as well as they would like so every once in a while I will talk to the kid and help him along lifes journey. I'm sort of like a beloved old coach that you can visit and seek council.

[TripletDaddy]

Think Disneyland dad who has all the fun with money that's not his.

As Disneyland dad, did you ever get to visit the old Small World every once in awhile? even as an occasional perk?

[creekster]

As Disneyland dad, did you ever get to visit the old Small World every once in awhile? even as an occasional perk?

No, Shakas not D-land dad, it si the ex GF's deceased Ex' hubbie who is the d-land dad. Try to follow.

[HuskyFreeNorthwest]

For those that are curious about the history of Mike Borich, the story was told during an EQ lesson minus names. Being the only BYU fan in my ward it was pretty easy to figure out who the anonymous person being talked about was.

When Crowton left La Tech for the Bears the incoming HC fired all of the assistants, something that Crowton took very personally and decided HE was not going to do when he took over BYU, Borich called begging for a job with the Bears. Dick Jauron balked at first, but after some other coach left the Bears staff he told GC to hire Borich. Per GC after the first 8 games of the Bears season Jauron was so impressed with Borich that they began to talk about how they were going to keep him with the Bears rather than letting him becoming an OC for another NFL team or at least keep him out of their division.

Borich and GC had often car pooled to the Bears facility during the first year, however at the start of the second year Borich said he wanted to start going in early and working out before the other coaches arrived at 5. GC wasn't into that so he didn't join Borich. Then at the 5-6 game of the season at Minnesota, Borich didn't show up for the church service that GC, and he said 2 other LDS guys but I never knew who they were, would hold. Then he didn't take the early bus to the stadium that the offensive coaches always took. Then he didn't take the later bus to the stadium. Then the game started and he wasn't there. Then he showed up at halftime, drunk and a little out of control. Because of how much Jauron had liked him from the year before he was given a second chance and told to move forward.

Then at towards the end of the year when Gary went to tell Jauron that he was taking the BYU job, Jauron said you have to take Borich with you. Gary wondered why as he had thought that Borich might replace him as OC. Jauron said that Borich had been coming into work drunk most mornings, that he had started a couple fights with Bears staffers, and was generally out of control. Borich was still thought of as a great coaching mind but needed to get things in control. (The fact that Gary didn't know one of his main offensive coaches was an out of control alcoholic, speaks volumes about how things got out of control at BYU)

Gary didn't know if Borich could get a job at BYU, but Borich knew he was going to be fired from the Bears and asked Gary to help him at BYU. Borich went through an interview with the board of trustees, committed to go to a support group for alcoholism and be clean in order to get the job. During the first year there was a slip up at a road game, but Gary didn't want to push Borich out and thought he could turn it around. Near the end of the 2002 year Borich got into a fight at a bar while on a recruiting trip in Idaho, and got detained maybe arrested. Called Gary who got him out of jail but told him he would have to move on from BYU. Upon returning from Idaho Borich's wife had kicked him out of the house and told him she wanted a divorce. Borich got a job with the U of A and lasted a couple of months before he was pushed out. His wife would not let him back into the house and claimed he had moved on from alcohol to drugs.

This was told in early 2006 and GC said the last he had talked to Borich was about 2 years ago, that he thought he was currently homeless but he wasn't sure. Gary spoke highly of Borich and got emotional while telling the story, of course this is conjecture, but in GC's mind Borich would have clearly been an OC or HC at the D1 or NFL level had he been able to stay in control, and called him an amazing coaching mind.

Really a tragic tale of addiction.