As with the end of any relationship, I'm torn as I watch Bronco go

I am a Bronco Mendenhall fan insofar as his leadership of young men is concerned. He came to BYU at the right time and, I think, saved BYU’s football program from ruination.

For the most part I’ve loved having him as the coach, but periodically something happens that tells me that BYU could do better with a different game manager:
We’ll play an injured Riley Nelson no matter what
Taysom Hill’s first injury against Utah State
Two time outs to ice the kicker
The seeming lack of preparation and slow starts against opponents, both good and bad
Five losses in a row against a rival when BYU was the better team but, like today, lacked focus
Howell as a DC

I truly will miss Bronco Mendenhall the young men’s leader. I’m not going to miss Bronco Mendenhall the game manager.

And, by the way, I hope the firesides stay as they are. I’ve talked with several young men in the Boise area who say that their love for BYU has grown as they have interacted with BYU players at the two most recent firesides in the Boise area.

With all he had to do besides coach, he is an amazing man. Yes, game preparation has always been suspect. Most games we were always in including this bowl game.

I look forward to see what a new bunch of coaches enthusiastic to prove themselves can do with the talent BYU has.

Wow… I agree with you again.

The truth is Bronco deserves huge props for everything he did for the program. BYU is so different from every other school out there and the things the head coach is asked to do are so unique and difficult, I don’t think any of us have a clue about the pressure and demands that were placed on him.

Overall, and I know he was not perfect and made plenty of mistakes, I think Bronco performed his job admirably and is deserving of every accolade or thanks that is given to him.

I wish Bronco well and also know that HC at BYU is difficult but I am happy he is on his way. It is time for change, for the Y and probably for Bronco as well.

I have been critical of Bronco but I feel the same about him as all of you have stated above. He saved a sinking ship and is an exceptional DC and Head Coach. Grateful for how it represented the Y, How he built men out of boys and that he left the program in a healthy state.

Two things about the Virginia hire that has me wondering and no one here seems to want to conjecture…

Recruiting. How does he continue the Poly pipeline while at Virginia? I just don’t see it. How does Bronco get his poly coaches to connect with local talent, with black talent?

Alumni. Bronco was poor at cultivating the boosters and Alumni, can he change and engage VU? I am hearing that Sitake’s best traits are recruiting and everyone in the Poly world say BYU got a gem.

So excited

I think Bronco is a great HC and DC…

Having said that, I think his biggest flaw is his hiring of assistant coaches and promoting them before they are ready to handle the OC and DC jobs…

Lavell was never a really good coach himself… At Granite HS where he coached before BYU, he never had a winning season…
What Lavell did have was the ability to hire good assistant coaches and let them have the reins to coach the units… Of course he had weekly meeting to make sure everyone was on the same page and final decisions where made by him. That is what made Lavell a GREAT HC ability to see the big picture and make sure the coaches had the tools to follow the plan…

Bronco hiring coaches was his weak point…

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I’m not torn. Bronco brought the Y back from the abyss and that is a credit to him. At BYU he was a good (not great) HC. He had trouble getting his team prepared for big games, including against the U of U. Good to have Bronco go to Virginia. Hope he has success but we need a different direction. I am really happy that KS is the new HC and believe he will upgrade the program.

As far as the “rivalry” game - it isn’t a rivalry anymore. If you know the history during the past 20 years and the past 5 years especially. Until proven otherwise, when the Utes play the Y, it is a win for Utah. The truth is the truth despite the excuses and rationalizations.

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amen brother Roy,

But I digress, It is very much a rivalry. I predict a BYU over Utah in 2016

You know what Sitake and Superman have in common?

It is still a rivalry. It is a nasty one but a rivalry just the same.

BYU spent a fair amount of time owning Utah… it goes back and forth. We had the opportunity to start a reversal of the trend and blew it.

Did anyone see if Bronco was crying after the game? I remember a certain current Utah head coach that did exactly that a few years ago.

It is a rivalry.

I took a football coaching class for my major at BYU. The professor for the class was Lavell Edwards. He showed up the first day and waived and the last day and waived.

I agree with most comments in regards to Bronco. Outside of several years in which the defensive backfield just played horrible, he did a very nice job with the defense. I think he missed a couple of traits to be a good HC:

  1. Never got around to hiring a decent OC. Maybe he was hindered by powers above him, but he has to get that done and he never did. I wish him well with Anae in Virginia, but I just don’t see it.
  2. Poor skills with press. To many excuses, etc. for shortcomings.
  3. Poor game manager. Just didn’t seem like he was always prepared for what was actually happening on the field.
  4. Not the worlds greatest game start motivator. He’s teams rarely came out firing on all cylinders and needed game action to get going. Edwards’ teams where quite different and often came out firing - not always, but often.
  5. A bit too much towards playing the guy he felt worked hardest rather than his best players. I don’t care how long you’ve been in the program, etc. - the best players at each position should be on the field when the games begin. Some guys just don’t get juiced for practice - but in a real game, they are your go to players. Get over it and play the best game players,
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This is a good time for Bronco to go. Losing the LV Bowl is emblematic of the up and down Bronco era. I hope that the Kalani Setake era is more disciplined on and off the field than some of the wacky (see WAC-ky) things that happened under Bronco. I am very happy to see Kalani Setake era begin on such a happy note. Good luck to Bronco and company, may he pick of the low hanging fruit at UVa.

I sure hope that the Thursdays Hero program started under Bronco continues under the Kalani Setake era, it seems like a perfect fit under the popular poly.

Went to a neighbors Christmas party last night (all the treats you can eat)…

In walks McCoy Hill former QB at BYU… Not sure how my neighbor knows him, but he was there…

Interesting tidbits I found out…

  1. He is transferring to SUU because after his foot injury was fixed (misdiagnosed by BYU medical Staff, his parents took him to the U Med and found out he had the same injury as Taysom this year), he wanted to play, but Anae told him that he was the “signal” caller on the sideline, He told the coach that he was recruited to play Tight end, so let me do that… Anae answer? “I need you to be the signal caller”…

  2. There is a hugh political process down at BYU for players… as Rudi mentioned, the kids playing was not always the best players available. Not sure about the defensive side of the ball, but Anae played people he “liked”.

  3. former QB Ammon Olson has been invited to the NFL combine this year… and yet, he could not beat out “Mr. Grit”… hmm… what does that say about the coaching decision making process?

Again this is all hear say, so take it for what it is worth…

My personal opinion is that Bronco could not deal with the star athletes, because when he was in college he had to earn his playing time, I think he held an inner grudge against star players because of it… Can not prove it, but it seems to be that way… because we had better QB’s available than “Mr. Grit” and he went with the one guy that was really not that great (injuries aside).

I have heard through another source that Steve Kaufusi is being retained to work with the Dline and Haladay will be retained as well. But that is strictly RUMOR right now.

When we saw Carlino the first time, he looked like he had all kinds of talent for basketball. Dribbling, quickness, fancy passing, even shooting. Yet, everyone wanted his head on a platter. Sometimes it’s hard to understand why an apparent talented kid doesn’t make it. But, we aren’t there day in and day out. And, I’m not defending Anae. Nor Bronco. It comes down to what a coaches philosophy about coaching is.
Bronco and Anae wanted tough and gritty players first. Yet, they played Taysom and Jamaal. Because they had grit when they played. Just so happened they had talent too. Just injury prone.
I hope Sitaki wants tough and talented players. But, like Rose, you have to play those you believe you can win with. Who were those two 5 star QBs that turned out to be busts? It’s not just about talent. It’s attitude, preparation, hard work minus distractions too. We don’t know everything about Mr. Hill. Just that he didn’t want to work really hard like Steve Young or Ty Detmer did to get where they got. SUU, enjoy!

Good news if Kaufusi and Haladay are retained! Not sorry to see Anae at Virginia and am waiting for the announcement of OC-everyone else will fall in line