AUBURN, Ala. – Long-time Auburn men’s basketball staffer Ian Borders has been promoted to assistant coach as announced by head coach Bruce Pearl on Friday.
Borders recently completed his seventh season with the Tigers previously serving as the program’s director of scouting and recruiting from 2023-25 and video coordinator from 2018-23.
“We are very excited and pleased to announce Ian Borders stepping into a full-time coaching position on our staff,” Pearl said. “He has been my director of scouting and recruiting the last several years. Ian has a great eye for talent, is a tireless worker and a gifted videographer. Now, he is going to have an opportunity to be on the floor with our players and will be even more directly involved in our recruiting.
“I’ve always believed in promoting from within and rewarding good people for a job well done. Ian has been with me for a long time. He passed on opportunities to be able to coach but stayed at Auburn. It will benefit us greatly having him on the floor.”
In his new role, Borders will be involved in recruiting, player development, scouting and running Bruce Pearl Basketball Camps.
“I’m extremely excited and grateful to continue to be a part of the Auburn Family in this new role,” he said. “Coach Pearl is the best coach in the country, and to learn and work for him the past seven years has been such a blessing. We’ve made a lot of history together, and I am thrilled to continue to do so in the years to come as an assistant coach.”
During his time on the Plains, the Tigers have won four Southeastern Conference Championships, reached two NCAA Final Fours, amassed the most wins in a single season in program history, earned two No. 1 rankings in the national polls and produced several NBA Draft picks and all-conference players.
Prior to Auburn, Borders served as video coordinator at Little Rock, under Wes Flanigan, a former Auburn standout and assistant coach, from 2016-18.
Borders started his collegiate coaching career as a graduate assistant at Florida State under Leonard Hamilton from 2015-17. The Seminoles finished second in the Atlantic Coast Conference and ranked as high as No. 7 in the country during his tenure. FSU produced five future NBA players during Borders’ time with the Seminoles.
He began his coaching career as an assistant coach at South Oldham High School under the direction of head coach Steve Simpson from 2010-15 in Crestwood, Kentucky. The Dragons won the regional championship twice, leading to the first two trips to the state tournament in school history.
A 2007 graduate of the University of Louisville, Borders went on to earn two degrees from Western Kentucky in 2010 and 2015. He later completed his master’s degree coursework in sport management at Florida State in 2017.
A former Army brat, Borders attended high school and college in Kentucky. He and his wife, Sarah, have one daughter, Cecilia, and one son, Lennox.
- War Eagle -