CougarCorner

So all the people that want to remove blame from Anae, are you upset now that Bronco has removed him? Do you disagree with Bronco?

Of course Anae doesn't deserve all the blame and of course Bronco has taken responsibility for failures, especially this year, but that doesn't mean that it's Bronco's fault. He has taken the bullet for assistants and players before. It's part of who he is and I love that about him, even if it causes confusion for observers. Make no mistake, when Bronco says that it's his fault our team SUCKED in Sept and part of Oct, he knows that Anae and Hill were the guilty parties.

So, those of you that want to keep Anae, please answer the following:

Why do you want to keep an OC that alienates players, including some of our best ever, that is not respected by his players and many of the coaches?

Why do you want to keep an OC that offends recruits and/or the parents of recruits to the degree that they play elsewhere?

Why do you want to keep an OC that is stubborn and kind of a prick?

Why do you want to keep an OC that pushes for Nelson, then the 2-QB system (thereby wasting more than half of fall camp and the first month of the season) and, when it fails miserably, says that he'd do it the same way again?

This is much more than just a decision about play calling that is good sometimes, average at most, and awful at its worst. When you've got players considering leaving early because they don't like, respect or want to play for Anae and coaches that express that they feel the same way, a change has to be made.

[Of course, these questions are rhetorical, but feel free to answer them if you so desire. )

Has anyone really been defending Anae on this board?

Has Bronco removed Anae? I expect it , but has it happened already? Last I heard Bronco had not announced any coaching changes.

I have been OK with Anae--not oversupportive, and we all love Bronco. The defense has been at fault in some of our losses over the last 6 years, but we give Bronco a pass. Why? Because of the intensity Bronco instills in his defensive players.

I know the offense is predictable--even I who never played a down of football at any level can predict many of the plays--but we have had good offensive scoring teams. Although Anae has coached decent offenses, he doesn't get the best out of his players. I would like to see a clone of Bronco who really understands offense to be our OC.

The bleacherreport on coaching changes says it best for me. http://bleacherreport.com/articles/5495 ... ng_Cougars

"We saw a downright awful defense turn into an unpredictable, well-schemed unit that was formidable and got key stops and turnovers. All after Bronco got involved.

Bronco now wants to see that from his current coaching staff on the offensive side of the ball. The problem is, Robert Anae isn't that kind of coach."

I would be very interested to see what an Anae supporter would say to these questions. I hope one joins and defends him.

I am not an Anae supporter, but I don't like seeing him burned in effige for things that aren't entirely his fault with respect to BYU's losses during his time as OC.

It looks like Bronco will have a new OC next year. Yet, if Bronco chose to bring Anae back for another season, I bet it would be with clear terms and conditions that would lead to his removal sooner rather than later if the team underperforms or lacks unity.

What BYU is doing is no different what what Texas just did, what UCLA did, what BYU did earlier this year, and what many other schools are doing. Coaching changes happen. Part of the business. Fans want results and success, and coaches need it to keep jobs. And even with it, transition and turnover happens. No different than any other business in this country, except it is mroe visible.

When BYUtx and I agree on something, you know that that "something" must be too obviously true to possibly be false.

And the truth is - Anae was awful.

(I can say "was" now! GLORY GLORY HALLELUJAH!!!)

Am I an Anae "supporter"?... I don't know if I support anyone 100%, but I'll play devil's advocate for the fun of it and also because there are always two sides.

1) I disagreed with Bronco about firing Jamie Hill. I'm not on the team and couldn't see the same things Bronco did, but it was just 6 months previous we were calling Hill a defensive genius and one of the best coaches on the staff. It was he who turned our db's around, it was he who beat Oklahoma. But now, is there any doubt that was the right decision? Nope. no doubt. If Bronco fires Anae, I will question his ability to find another OC willing to come to BYU who won't have just as many deficiencies but he sees a lot more than we do.

Just like you said, Anae is not to blame for everything that went wrong. Just like Bronco is not to blame for everything that went right either. If you were to look at Anae's resume right now, I could see plenty of teams who would love to have a coach with that kind of success and experience. YUtah is struggling on offense right now, would you want to play against him every year?

Couple of answers, again, devil's advocate here since I think a job refresh every five years is probably a pretty good thing.

I don't know anything about Anae alienating players, parents, or recruits. I've heard rumors from a few on this board, but nothing substantial, no sources, no news articles, and like a good Mormon, I'd be interested in hearing more. As for our best-ever recruits, we did just pull in one of our top recruiting classes last year. Apparently his stench wasn't strong enough to drive them away.

I've never met the man, so can't say anything about stubborness or "prick-eshness" but those do seem to be a matter of opinion and probably aren't shared by everyone. For that matter, I'm sure there are plenty of people in the world who think the same thing about me...and probably you too...

A lot of us were uncertain about the 2 QB system. Not all, but I wasn't sure. I agree with bronco that winning the Washington game using that system hurt us quite a bit since it seemed to work very well. We also know that the 2 and 3 RB system in the NFl works very well. AND had this system worked, Anae would have been called the genius instead of the unimaginative and predictable. Now he's the 2 QB scapegoat instead of the 2 QB author and genius. It's the 4th down or the jump on the fumble or scoop the fumble argument. Go for it and miss, you're a dupe and a moron. Go for it and score, you're a genius and a scholar (possibly a gentleman as well)

I suppose that the argument for keeping Anae would center around the simple fact that the man has been pretty darn good for us in the past. Multiple top 25 seasons, some truly marquee wins, and shared in the very same success that we give credit to Bronco for. And what about an unknown replacement? Some Anae detractors seem so incredibly certain that any number of OC replacements could do better than beating multiple top-25 opponents, multiple top 25 rankings, and developping multiple NFL stars as well as running top-25 offenses. Forget play calling and personel for a moment, the ODDS of that happening are simply not good. It just seems like the classic Grass is greener mentality and as SOON as we have our first ugly loss with a new OC, there will be people crying for that guy as well. Even Doman, or Detmer.

Anae has his deficiencies but who doesn't? I for one have made some mistakes in my career, but did I deserve to get fired for them? Probably not. well except for that incident with the monkey...

So I think after going through this, Firing Anae is not a simple slam dunk decision like Jamie Hill apparently was but byutx's opinion seems to be formed based on more information than I've read or heard about.

How's that for a few reasons?

I think there are worse coaches, my biggest problem elsewhere is the coaches who are in charge of watching walk-on's I personally trained with a kicker who could hit a 5 foot wide target kicking 55 yards away 10/10 times and still didn't add him two times. Blame it on: Paul Tidwell, who elected to give a schollie to another player who missed his only FG try at 20 yards, then was told to sit he'd already made it on. Guess politics still run as his mom was close to PT. This close friend of mine was recruited by Urban Meyer to Utah-which he went- but got activated, went on a mission, came back and Urban had left, he was talking to Urban about going to Florida but chose BYU education instead...Hmm...I guess they were happy with 10/14 FGs for a couple years under Payne (who has been better this year right?) Glad JS is coming back, but he doesn't have the direction skills.

Italics wrote:When BYUtx and I agree on something, you know that that "something" must be too obviously true to possibly be false.

And the truth is - Anae was awful.

(I can say "was" now! GLORY GLORY HALLELUJAH!!!)

So I guess now I have to support Anae.