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Bronco = STUBBORN?

by Mars · 10/26/2009

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M
Mars


Coach Mendenhall is a great head coach. But in the areas where he seems to be coaching counter-intuitively, and everyone thinks he's wrong (some examples: allowing/creating emotion, gameplanning each opponent inside and out), he seems to dig himself in and do that thing even more in the future. It worries me.



He has changed aspects of his program in the past. He will do so again. It's just HOW LONG it takes him to change some things that becomes troublesome to me. And perhaps only me.



What do you think?
I
Italics
I think BYU fans are way too nice to coaches.

Other teams' fans call for the heads of their coaches when nothing is changing, or when things are getting worse.

I'm not calling for Bronco to be fired... it's just that it seems that any time someone makes the suggestion of tossing him/anae/etc., it is met with bitter criticism.
K
Kbear
I am sooooo frustrated that there is still no emotion in the coach, staff, players, .... maybe even Cosmo.....why can't we get fired up? Play some "Immigrant Song" from Led.... go hog wild. Get a little mad... every one is sooooo :roll: nice. pooo. Broncho, I like, just wake up and smell the Diet Coke or something. College football is about emotion. Anyone see CGD? Hype anyone? HYPE...I'd rather see them go down with emotion and throwing their bodies at people than this business like crap lately.... poo :cry:
D
Ddawg
I don't know - I'm quietly reflecting on the possibilities surrounding a rush to judgement.

Perhaps tomorrow a committee can be created to review this discussion & report back on the collateral issues being generated here.
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Sammich
Italics wrote:
I think BYU fans are way too nice to coaches.

Other teams' fans call for the heads of their coaches when nothing is changing, or when things are getting worse.

I'm not calling for Bronco to be fired... it's just that it seems that any time someone makes the suggestion of tossing him/anae/etc., it is met with bitter criticism.


It's probably because for some of us, the Crowton years STILL sting and comparatively Bronco's pretty good. I think anyone who sat through the entire 0-3 Utah game in the freezing cold is patient enough to wait a couple more years to see what Bronco can do with a team filled with his own recruits.



However, even taking an outsider's perspective I think it sounds really lame to get on a coach's case for losing only 2-3 games a year. Especially when the chief complaints have to do with assistant coaches and the team's emotions in big games (what the crap kind of complaint is this anyway? And does nobody remember how hyped up the team was in the Oklahoma game? That was something "No Emotion" Bronco specifically encouraged, by the way. If anything BYU was TOO hyped up emotionally last year and played uptight because of it. Bronco tried to counter that this year by loosening up the players before the game, although it didn't work).
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cachevalleycougar
In a lot of ways, you HAVE to be stubborn to be successful at something like coaching football. If you believe in your system and your processes, you have to stick to your guns.

But it also takes a big man to realize when you keep running into the same problems, so something needs to be addressed. As frustrating as the 2 losses this year are, the fact is we can still end up 11-2. Hopefully the coaching staff can learn to make the appropriate adjustments. They haven't inspired a lot of confidence thus far. The fact that BYU's offense averages less than 20 points per game against top competition (TCU, Utah, FSU, OK, AZ) over the last couple years shows that something needs to change.
M
Mars
cachevalleycougar wrote:
In a lot of ways, you HAVE to be stubborn to be successful at something like coaching football. If you believe in your system and your processes, you have to stick to your guns.

This is true as well. The Ron Zook-like coaches who seem to pay too much attention to the media are destined to fail. Again, like almost everything is life, it comes back to finding the right balance.
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Italics
Bleh, there has been way too much talk of "11-2" on various cougar forums lately for my liking. This is the same "undefeated" and "12-1" talk we've been hearing.

Sorry, but the Cougs haven't really proven over the last 3 years that this is a legit expectation. Let's face it: We. Dont. Win. Big. Games. ............................ Yet.

I want to see us crush Utah as bad as anyone, but it's just not a realistic expectation anymore. I've become too used to getting hyped up for a game and expecting us to come out both guns blazing, and it just doesn't seem to happen often. I won't be expecting us to beat Utah (or win our bowl game) until it's the 4th quarter and we're up by a couple scores. Flame away, but I'm still sticking with my pre-season prediction of 10-3.
G
Gunk
Stubborn and subdued. There's no spark. It was great seeing Bronco get fired up at the OU game. After that, it was back to lukewarm Bronco. Now I wouldn't care so much about a lack of expressive passion if it was countered by ingeniousness. I'll take a silent, subdued coach any day if the reason he's mute is because he's coming up with brilliant adjustments that win us games, but I don't think we're getting that, which puts us at a double negative: lack of fire and lack of effective game plans.
J
jonnylingo
I agree with the original post. Bronco does not seem to reevaluate until years end. He definitely gets better every year and is critical of himself and his coaches, but once he decides on a way to go, he does not waiver.



I think and hope he realizes after that game that some changes need to be made if he wants to become an elite team again.



the refusal to gameplan is what really kills me. him saying before the tcu game that whoever changes the leaset will win made my heart sink. I knew then that we would lose but i was holding out faith that he was just blowing smoke. he wasn't. he was serious.



don't want bronco fired. love him, but why does it take him so long to change things that are yelling in his face that they need to be changed? he better be putting together a gameplan for utah right now during they bye week. we gameplan for air force, why don't we gameplan for others.
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BroncoBot
I'll take the Bronco Mendenhall that gets 10-11 wins every year and keeps the BYU football program respectable as long as he's willing to stick around. Sammich is exactly right about the Crowton years. Dark. Cold. Embarrassing.



I think a lot of us fans might be able to learn from Bronco's lack of emotion, if that's what you want to call it. I know I could.
M
Mars
jonnylingo wrote:
he better be putting together a gameplan for utah right now during they bye week.

That's one of those "we wish it were true, but it isn't" kind of things.
J
jonnylingo
declocoug wrote:
I'll take the Bronco Mendenhall that gets 10-11 wins every year and keeps the BYU football program respectable as long as he's willing to stick around. Sammich is exactly right about the Crowton years. Dark. Cold. Embarrassing.



I think a lot of us fans might be able to learn from Bronco's lack of emotion, if that's what you want to call it. I know I could.


Lack of emotion means bronco's record against ranked teams is ..... what? I am thinking like 2 and 8 or something. Where is our statistician? Bronco is beating who he should be, but so it Utah but they are also beating those teams that shouldn't more than they lose. Bronco should ask why this is?
L
Lawboy
I think the OU win is partially to blame because we got that win playing a certain way, I think the staff figured it would be good enough to beat every other team on schedule this year. And they have been proven wrong twice now. In fact, comments after the OU game by OU proved otherwise. They said they expected BYU to come out in their basic vanilla packages, and they were unprepared for the wrinkles BYU threw in there with the blitzes. Imagine that, catching an opponent off guard actually working. yet vs FSU we played base formations most of the game, and against TCU when we rushed the least we got toasted the most.



I think the philosophy of sitting back and making your opponent make plays only works against poor team with bad QB play. Against good teams, and especially teams with good QB's, BYU needs to game plan them and mix it up more. Different formations, different looks, and keep them guessing. You may get burned occasionally, but I like aggressive play.
W
wazzucoug97
Wasn't it TCU in '07, that they had the ball at the end and Bronco finally blitzed on consecutive plays to stop the drive? This after basically playing the bend don't break D all game. (IIRC)



You would think historically Bronco would remember that sometimes it works to 'bring the house" from time to time, and not just the end of the game when the opposing QB has picked you apart all game. How about hitting him hard on the 1st couple of drives?
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jonnylingo
Lawboy wrote:
I think the OU win is partially to blame because we got that win playing a certain way, I think the staff figured it would be good enough to beat every other team on schedule this year. And they have been proven wrong twice now. In fact, comments after the OU game by OU proved otherwise. They said they expected BYU to come out in their basic vanilla packages, and they were unprepared for the wrinkles BYU threw in there with the blitzes. Imagine that, catching an opponent off guard actually working. yet vs FSU we played base formations most of the game, and against TCU when we rushed the least we got toasted the most.



I think the philosophy of sitting back and making your opponent make plays only works against poor team with bad QB play. Against good teams, and especially teams with good QB's, BYU needs to game plan them and mix it up more. Different formations, different looks, and keep them guessing. You may get burned occasionally, but I like aggressive play.


I would like to say this post is perfect. I endorse it 100 percent. Not sure how Bronco doesn't see that to beat teams with good coaches and good players you have to change things up to keep them guessing. he did it against ou, then stopped. not a coincidence that it was one of the only games he has won against a ranked team.
J
jonnylingo
wazzucoug97 wrote:
Wasn't it TCU in '07, that they had the ball at the end and Bronco finally blitzed on consecutive plays to stop the drive? This after basically playing the bend don't break D all game. (IIRC)



You would think historically Bronco would remember that sometimes it works to 'bring the house" from time to time, and not just the end of the game when the opposing QB has picked you apart all game. How about hitting him hard on the 1st couple of drives?


On that note, Patterson still had dalton in with a few minutes to go. If I were Bronco, I would have brought a 12 man blitz with instructions not to stop until you hit the quarterback. Take the penalty but show Patterson he is being stupid leaving his qb in at that point.
S
Schmoe
When talking about Utah "beating who they are supposed to" please, please, please keep in mind that they got skunked by UNLV just two years ago, and that they had one good year in the last four.
B
BroncoBot
jonnylingo wrote:
I'll take the Bronco Mendenhall that gets 10-11 wins every year and keeps the BYU football program respectable as long as he's willing to stick around. Sammich is exactly right about the Crowton years. Dark. Cold. Embarrassing.



I think a lot of us fans might be able to learn from Bronco's lack of emotion, if that's what you want to call it. I know I could.


Lack of emotion means bronco's record against ranked teams is ..... what? I am thinking like 2 and 8 or something. Where is our statistician? Bronco is beating who he should be, but so it Utah but they are also beating those teams that shouldn't more than they lose. Bronco should ask why this is?


I disagree for a few reasons.



1. We'll never know the outcome of those games had the players been juiced emotionally. They could have still fallen short.

2. I'm a cougar fan first and don't really care what utah does.
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