The North Alabama football team said goodbye to the defensive coordinator, Brett Borden.

“It was such a tough decision for me because coaching is my passion,” Borden said in a Times Daily article. “It is something I have been around all my life with my dad being a coach. Being a coach is all I have ever wanted to be, but at this point in my life this is what I need to do.”

Borden accepted a position working for Stryker, a company which focuses on medical devices and equipment.

The Lions hired Steadman Campbell to fill the defensive coordinator position. Previously an offensive coordinator, his change was announced on March 2. Ryan Aplin will replace Campbell as offensive coordinator.

“That’s the way this football coaching business is like,” said head coach Chris Willis. “Coaches come and go, especially in our level of play. That’s the way it goes, there’s always a better job.”

The exact details of Borden’s new career are vague, but Willis said the coaching staff would have been disappointed if Borden turned the job offer down.

“He’s probably (going to) be set for life,” Willis. “It’s not one of those positions where he’s (going to) get laid off anytime soon. He’s (going to) work there as long as he wants to work there. We’d have all been sick to our stomachs if he turned it down.”

Willis said people should not feel Borden accepted the job for financial success.

“Bret is such a genuine good guy,” Willis said. “He is not chasing the dollar. I know it sounds crazy cause he just left for a place that pays a lot, but he started from the ground up. His dad’s an educator, coach, and Bret’s one of those guys like: if his house is being built he wants to be over there laying the cement even though someone else is contracted to do it,” Willis said.

The effects of having a change in staff are still unclear. Coach Willis’s experience as a defensive coordinator should make the transition less difficult.

To read more about the transition, visit florala.net.

He said there should not be a big change on the field from the defensive point of view, and it should not affect the performance of the players during the games.