But you do know why. To assert it might not be is naivete.
it’s a softer way to say “You’re fired”. I can’t recall any coaches being let go where the words “he was fired” were used. Do you?
Like I mentioned to Floyd, someone who knows Clark said he was stepping away from football. Didn’t say how long or forever. Funk most likely was let go.
I hear Grimes is available after a disastrous year. Maybe he could be the line coach and possibly help Arod a bit. The challenge is why didn’t the Barrington brothers help Baylor win more with Grimes?
Would you believe Steve Clark’s on son that Clark was fired? Here is what he posted on Cougarboard:
I’m Coach Clark’s oldest son (not the Utah Tech coach). You might know me better as “Fake Gary Sheide” and from such posts as “100 Days Until Kickoff” and “The Top 25 plays of the Kalani Sitake era.”
This post is to set the record straight about my dad. He is not directing me to write any of this (in fact, he’ll probably be upset if he finds out I wrote this).
First, my dad did not quit, nor is he leaving for a different coaching position somewhere. Quitting isn’t in his nature. He would die before he quit. And BYU has been in his and his extended family’s blood his whole life.
On Sunday, Kalani tasked A-Rod with firing my dad. A-Rod asked my dad to come to the office, where he told him he was being fired. The news was shocking and devastating. It doesn’t make any sense to him or our family. I’m not going to focus on how poorly the firing was handled because this post is not about Kalani or A-Rod or anyone else aside from dad.
BYU has meant everything to my dad and our family. Coaching at BYU has been his dream job, but he got his start volunteering at Utah. We thought he would be hired to a position when Kyle, his friend, became head coach. Instead, Kyle told him he would never be a college football coach because he was too short.
My dad turned to BYU and, at 38, became (likely) the oldest GA in college football. He helped coach the offensive line with Jeff Grimes and Mark Weber during Bronco’s first three seasons. I absolutely fell in love with BYU football at this time.
My dad landed his first big break when he was hired as the offensive coordinator for SUU in 2008. He coached the T-Birds for 6 years and helped QB Brad Sorensen become drafted into the NFL. Twice, we thought he was a lock to return to BYU — first as the wide receivers coach when Brandon Doman became OC in 2011. But he was passed over for someone with zero coaching experience (but a whole lot of Canadian receiving yards). Two years later, Doman realized his mistake and reached out to my dad about becoming the new running backs coach. Our hopes were dashed again when BYU fired Doman only a few weeks later.
My dad rejoined his old friend, Jay Hill, as offensive coordinator for Weber State when Hill got the head job in 2014. Two years later, Kalani and Ty Detmer brought him aboard as the only offensive coach with any substantial college coaching experience. When Ty was fired, it was my dad who reached out to his old pal, Jeff Grimes, and who convinced him to come to BYU as the new OC.
My dad’s biggest strength was building up young men and teaching them to “fight” — which is saying a lot, because he is an absolute savant when it comes to Xs and Os and teaching technique, and he is an excellent recruiter. My dad loves all of his players — and they know it. His players — every one — loved him. Ask any of them. They would run through a brick wall for him.
While yesterday was devastating, we have hope this could become a blessing in disguise.
As far as I’m concerned, he has achieved everything he set out to do, and more. I couldn’t be more proud of him and the man he is. I’m excited for a new, less stressful chapter in his life (would anyone be interested in a “Manning-cast” type show where he breaks down the games and invites former players on?) My dad doesn’t hold grudges and he doesn’t wish any ill on the current coaching staff.
BYU is losing a great coach and an even better man. You can make all the jokes you like about how small his shoe size is, but make no mistake — he’s leaving behind some massive shoes to fill.
This entire crazy show of getting rid of coaches who aren’t in the decision making authority chain is part of the reason BYU was/is so horrible on offense and defense. The OC and DC have to be held accountable for their stats and underling coaches. You can’t just shove off the responsibility for properly coaching a team onto the most minor coaches on the staff. Unless your HC allows you to get away with it. BYU’s offense will be bad next year under ARod because he just isn’t a good or even average OC for a D1 school. That is the bottomline and it won’t change.
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I accept your opinion. Nothing wrong with how you stated it. Write a letter, go see Sitakiand Holmoe and let them make the decisions. Threatening to withhold money because the 1st year in the Big12 with 10 P5 games is 5 and 7 is ridiculous. How did the other new members do?
Makes sense. Sounds like Steve Clark was a very good man and coach. I share your concerns on the possible effect on our TWO 4 star tight ends. Hopefully no effect.
Sitaki has every right to send a subordinate to fire a subordinate. I don’t personally like it given how close and tight-knit a coaching staff is, but he has his reasons and is entitled to his process.
I have seen a few times in business where the president has a vice president fire anyone beneath him and after it’s all done, the president fires the the VP. So you never know!
He has a right to do that, but in my opinion is that a “True Leader” handles it himself. Especially if what Clark’s son said is right in how it all went down.
My question is how can ARod get a pass because Zach Wilson and Jared Hall went to the NFL?
ARod had NOTHING to do with developing Wilson or Hall talents to get into the NFL, that is ALL ON John Beck, who has tutored many NFL and College QB’s.
BYU won the last two years because of Wilson and Hall abilities, in spite of ARod play calling. I have it on good authority that one of the reasons that Zach’s little brother did not consider BYU was because of Zach warning him about ARod. That is all rumor from a friend, so take it for what it is worth.
Yep
Not the way I would have handled I’m pretty sure.
But his risk for actions
Cougar Club members can withhold money and other donations at their choosing. Poor performance and not using prior contributions in a cost efficient manner is one reason to not donate.
kind of goes along the lines of, did I watch the last 5 games? Am I a bad fan if I have other things to do while BYU is busy losing? Sitake will indeed be held accountable for what Arod does this next season.
1st we have to find a QB
Yea sir! I said that as well. To aggressively demand firing is not something we obtained by donating. We can write and suggest things with a solid reason to those in charge like Sitaki and Holmoe.
So, if Arod isn’t fired, there are things that will have to happen with the new assistant coaches to the OC. If they don’t, then the authorities that be should make decisions. First year in the Big 12 and ten power 5 teams in a row, should get some latitude.
Really caught me by surprise with the dismissal of Clark. I could see it, if a new OC wanted to bring in “his guys”, but I just don’t see this as being anything positive to the BYU football team. I hate to see another season wasted with ARod. Bringing in better talent, not only applies to players, it is applicable to coaches also. I look at Sitake as a good face for BYU football, but not a coach with any unusual skills either offensively or defensively. Maybe it’s time to make a hire that exudes confidence at not only being a good face, but someone with inordinate skills in either offensive or defensive schemes.
I would like to see Mendenhall and Robert Anae back. Virginia had great offenses with Anae his last few years there. Mendenhall got more out of his talent than Sitake has and people thought recruiting would improve with Sitake but I haven’t seen it. I think with BYU in a P5 conference Mendenhall could recruit at least as well as Sitake and he would get more out of his players and assistant coaches and yes Mendenhall did fire a DC during the season and can make the tough decisions.
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Both are kind of old. Time to bring in some younger great talent that can bring some players with them. Maybe Arod has people in mind that can do this.
Yeh I agree with you, Mendenhall did a great job at Virginia. I wonder if he didn’t have coaching burnout.
PREACH! Clark=Scapegoat. It’s like “well we gotta fire a couple guys to make the fans think we are trying, so let’s play spin the bottle and fire whoever it lands on.” How can a team have objectively one of the 2 or 3 worst P5 offenses in the country, KEEP the OC who is RESPONSIBLE for the failure, and FIRE the TE coach??? OF COURSE you fire the OL coach–he is NOT a BYU guy, has had something like 18 jobs in 32 years and been fired by most of them, and his position group sucks. But the TE coach? Really? He just coached one of the better TEs in BYU history and signed 2 4 star guys in one year!!! He coaches a position that plays ONE GUY, and signed TWO 4 stars! We can’t barely sign a 4 star ANYWHERE else, and Clark signed TWO. And KALANI FIRES HIM???AAAAAAARRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!THawk were you just shaking your head and laughing like I was when you saw that???
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Floyd thanks for posting this. I reads some stuff on cougarboard, although I’ve never posted a single time, but it’s SOMETIMES a good resource if you can sift through hundreds of messages from people who apparently don’t know anything about sports to find the nuggets from guys who are really dialed in and can provide even half the analysis we get here. 
But I digress…
Thanks for posting the message from Coach Clark’s son: that is truly pathetic, for Kalani to fire the longest tenured assistant on the staff and not have the huevos to do it himself. Pathetic.
Yes I was!
Clark was probably fired because he told the OC that he needed to get the ball to Rex more often and Arod told him that while it does work when they do it, it is too obvious to the other team and they need to keep them guessing with trickery and unexpected calls even though those calls failed on muptiple occasions.
You all know what I am talking about.
Fire the guy that had nothing to do with the complete failure of the offense the last 5 games of the season… that makes sense.
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I have noticed a trend, when the pressure to win goes up, ARod Offense goes south.
It happened last year in October, now the last part of the season. So, what is Kalani remedy for a bad offense?
He fires Funk (this was expected) for having one of the worst offensive lines in BYU history.
He fires Clark (unexpected) for how his Tight ends performed this year.
Question: How can the Tight Ends perform better if the OC does not use them? The Tight Ends never whiffed on blocking, when the ball was thrown to them, they actually caught it. Add to the fact that Clark is BYU best recruiter, this makes no sense to me.
We fire two coaches, one of whom had nothing to do with the lousy season we had, and we keep the one coach that is responsible for one of the worse offenses in the country.
• 97th in points per game (23.1).
• 121st in total offense (309.8 yards per game).
• 120th in rushing offense (104.3 yards per game). and Jackson Bowers
• 90th in passing offense (205.4 yards per game).
If BYU does not improve next year, the fans will not only be looking for the head of ARod but will be looking to get rid of the HC who puts friendship above improving the team and winning games.