I haven’t posted to this site for a year or two, but have occasionally read posts.
Personally, while I have had some issues as far as in-game management during certain games, I think that Bronco has done a terrific job at BYU. I hope that this is not the case, but there is the very real chance that we will all miss him tremendously within the next year or two. We might even miss Anae too (who has both performed well and been infuriating during his tenure)!
My take on Bronco leaving is that money might have been a nice bonus, but not the reason he left. I truly think that he wants to see how well he can do in his profession without the limitations that BYU has as far as honor code/church affiliation and being a non-P5 team. I wouldn’t be surprised to hear at some point that having to deal with BYU fans’ unrealistic expectations and criticism played a part too. He is not taking his assistant coaches to stick it to BYU, but to give him the continuity that he wants to succeed at his new job. Let’s face it, the first time he makes it to a bowl game at UVA, he is going to get glowing reviews, and if he can average 8 win seasons over time they will think that he is great. That is not the expectation here at BYU.
Speaking of expectations, I have to wonder if all of our expectations are unrealistic. While BYU has been competitive with mid-tier P5 teams, their record against top P5 teams (end of season that is) has not been stellar, to put it mildly. If BYU does get invited to the Big12, win totals of 5-8 would probably be the norm, with the hope that an exceptional team would one day make it to the playoffs.
One has to wonder whether BYU wouldn’t be better off as king of the hill (as was the case in the glory days) as opposed to taking a seat mid-way to the top of the mountain. BYU could still play a handful of good teams with recognizable names, and probably make it to a New Years bowl regularly with 10 plus wins per season. Tough medicine to take with Utah getting elevated status, but this might not be merely a point of debate in the near future as even the BYU brass are publicly admitting that Indy status is not viable long term. If BYU does have to back track, it will be fun in those years in which BYU is in a New Years day/eve bowl game and the Utes are playing in Vegas or El Paso.
I agree with you mostly. I don’t think Bronco looks at the Church/Honor Code negatively. Nor does he with the missions. I just think like you he wants a new challenge and a new location. I don’t even think it has anything to do with the fans or boosters.
I happen to have it on good authority that he has a problem with one fan in particular–a Scott Gavenman, or something like that–but he is unwilling to make it public because he is too much of a gentleman. At least that’s what I heard–take it for what it’s worth. I’m not sure if I buy it. He used to post regularly on here, but haven’t seen him around since the format of this site changed…
I’m a Bronco supporter. So, it must be that John Brady dude
Back in '83, I had a John Brady in my Geometry class I was teaching. You aren’t that obtuse individual by any chance?
great post. Bronco did not help things when he stated that he wanted a national championship.While it is nice to have lofty goals, some things should be keep in house. BYU fans are no different than any other D1 fans. They are going to feed on any news they hear and hold you to it.
Two things that I am interested in would be…How does Bronco continue to feed the poly pipeline while at Virginia. Seems obvious to me that his talent pool is with black athletes in the East. How is a lilly white coaching staff going to draw from that talent. Very odd to me that he left Holliday here while taking several polys.
2- how is Bronco going to speak to these athletes? Does he come across as a general authority or the strange verbiage that he uses?
I think Bronco will do fine. The Church now has another active head coach at another major university. That’s pretty cool! He will recruit blacks and Anae is with him for the Poly connection. We will see how good of coach he can be. Good luck to him.
I for one am hoping very much that our new guy keeps Holliday on. Holliday has immersed himself in the BYU culture and I’m told he loves it there. His recruiting success since arriving speaks for itself.
SG: I generally agree with you about the reasons Bronco left for UVa. I also believe that the $3.2 mil was a great incentive for him from UVa. He has worked hard and did his best with the Honor Code, the Church, recruiting under the circumstances at BYU, etc. But I also believe that UVa. is low handing fruit. If he can get the money he is getting from UVa., keep six of his assistants, and not have to put up with the BYU HC and low salaries for his assistants and UVa. just wants 6 to 8 wins a season and any bowl invite, Bronco has got it made. Meanwhile back at the ranch BYU is suspect in its coach hiring strategies. We don’t really know why Coach N didn’t accept whatever BYU may have offered or if BYU ever did offer him. Was it money, was it Navy’s counter offer, did he just decide to stay at Navy because the spirit told him so, or whatever?
I for one DO NOT want Whit coming back to BYU. He turned down BYU, took the money and ran to Utah. If Sitake or Anderson gets offered the HC job at BYU and either one takes it, just fine. But I do not want Whit. I really would find it really suspect if Whit was ever offered by BYU again and really surprised if he would really come back to BYU. If neither Sitake or Anderson doesn’t come to BYU, then BYU has to decide if they want another coach besides Whit or do we want to stay at G-5? I don’t know, but I do know that we have a very tough schedule next year and we better get somebody to cover that or go G-5.
Always good to have you on the board, Scott.