• Before joining head coach Mark Montgomery at Northern
Illinois, Borovich served as an assistant coach at Dayton, where
the Flyers reached the postseason in all four of his years on the
bench.
• Borovich cut his teeth as the Director of Operations at
UD before being promoted to assistant coach in 2007, helping his
team advance to the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament in 2009,
and win the NIT title in 2010.
• Captain of the Central Michigan Basketball team as a junior
and senior, led the Chippewas to the 2001 Mid America Conference
Championship.
Diary Series: Jon Borovich, Asst. Coach - Northern Illinois
The NFL football season has already hit the midway point and the NBA lockout still has the NBA season is question. No worries hoops fans because college basketball is on its way!
The preseason provides every staff and program across the country an opportunity to build an identity. With Coach Montgomery entering his first season at the helm here at Northern Illinois, we have placed an emphasis on a few key areas: 1) Effort 2) Energy 3) Toughness and 4) Togetherness. So far, the progress has been terrific. The players have done a tremendous job of buying in thus far and the fan base has really been supportive with the new found excitement surrounding our program.
Our returning players have really done a great job setting the tone for our freshmen. With only five returning players from last year’s team, we knew that their leadership and belief was paramount in the building of our foundation. The tone was set this summer during our conditioning and strength programs. Our seniors really took hold of the group and did an excellent job of pushing the younger players through the “dog days” of summer training.
We had our first closed scrimmage this past Saturday and saw a lot of positives on both sides of the ball. The team we played does such a phenomenal job with their spacing and execution that it really tested our early season principles defensively. Just like all teams this time of year, we have a lot of work to do, but all things considering, we were pleased with some of the progress our guys have made. They showed a toughness and togetherness that we hope define our program.
We open up on the road at Purdue on November 11. With the regular season all but here for us, the excitement of our players and fans alike continues to build. Our players and staff are greatly looking forward to the challenges that lie ahead.
It’s going to be a fun year of college basketball. For us hoops junkies, it feels like Christmas in November!
Go HUSKIES!
JB
