BOROVICH TAKES ANOTHER STEP UP COACHING LATTER, FOLLOWS MONTGOMERY TO NIU

 

Former Oakland County prep hoops star Jon Borovich just keeps climbing up the ranks of the college basketball coaching latter. Late last week, Borovich, an all-state point guard at Birmingham Seaholm back in the 1990s, left the No. 2 assistant job at Dayton to take the No. 1 job at Northern Illinois under new head coach Mark Montgomery, who had been at Michigan State learning the tricks of the trade from Tom Izzo and has known Borovich, considered one of the region's hottest young sideline generals, for over a decade.

When Borovich was a starting floor general at the college level with the Central Michigan Chippewas, Montgomery – the starting point guard for the Spartans when they won a Big 10 title and advanced into the Sweet 16 in 1990 – was his assistant coach. Before getting to Dayton, Borovich was a video coordinator at Michigan State under Izzo and then a No. 3 assistant at Oakland University under Greg Kampe, helping recruit the most recent class of Golden Grizzlies which went 34-2, winning two conference titles and making back-to-back appearances in the NCAA Tournament.

As a prepster, Borovich averaged 20 points, six assists and four rebounds as a four-year starter for Seaholm, leading the Maples to both league and district crowns and a spot in the Class Sweet 16 as a senior in 1997. During his senior year at CMU in 2001, he captained the Chips to a MAC regular season championship.

Back in high school, Borovich shared a backcourt with Mat Ishbia, a member of three Final Four teams as a player at Michigan State between 1998 and 2001. While at CMU, he played along side David Webber, a high-scoring 2-guard out of Birmingham DCD who helped lead the Yellowjackets to a trio of state championships between 1995 and 1997 and won MAC MVP honors in 2002.

Borovich is one of a slew of former prep cage standouts hailing from Oakland County currently making waves in the college coaching profession, including Dane Fife (Clarkston, head coach at IUPU-FW) and Brett Reed (AH Oakland Christian, head coach at Lehigh).

 

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