M
Mars"What happened to Cougar defensive coordinator Jaime Hill over the weekend of Oct. 24 is unconditionally wrong. Hill found himself filing a police report and scrubbing eggshells and crusted yolk off his car. Yes, it happened in polite Provo. And Hill is angry. "It's actually good there was no one in the house around," Hill said. "It could have been ugly."
Hill's car was pelted, he's convinced, because the Cougars lost 38-7 to the Horned Frogs of TCU. He'd be the first to say the team played poorly, but this? This was personal. His was the only car on the block that was pelted, which makes it obvious to him that a "fan" was sending a message.
...Some of this doesn't surprise former Cougar signal caller Robbie Bosco, the leader of the 1984 national championship team and now a prominent fundraiser for the program... It did, however, surprise him to hear of recent transgressions that went beyond mere jeers. He said he was not aware, during his playing days, of teammates or coaches being personally harassed...
"It's unbelievable," said assistant coach Hill. "It's not like we're 0-6. We're 6-2 and still have a lot of goals in front of us. Twenty-one years of coaching and I've never seen anything like it." ...Some Cowboy hecklers have been known to become Neanderthals when the Cougars come to town, several current and former players will attest. But that's still better than getting harsh treatment from people who are supposed to be on your side, Hill said. "It's definitely getting to them," Hill said. "When you don't want to play in your own stadium? Come on. These guys aren't getting booed anywhere else."
Mendenhall, 44-13 as BYU's head coach, said he receives a UPS truck full of hateful e-mails as well as phone calls during a season, and he says the venom has not been any more concentrated since the TCU game than at other times... Mendenhall sounded hurt that one of his assistants was a target of harassment. Hill came aboard in 2006 to install a new defensive scheme (3-4) built around BYU's steady corps of linebackers, rather than the secondary-heavy philosophy that Mendenhall brought to Provo but struggled to stock with quality recruits. Hill was a hero his first season, greatly improving BYU's pass defense. He worked his way up to defensive coordinator last year, and Mendenhall handed over play-calling duties this season."He's a guy who's here doing a good job, and has helped us win a lot of football games," Mendenhall said.
Hill was a hero after the Labor Day weekend victory over Oklahoma. Steadily, the scrutiny has grown as BYU's defense has consistently revealed chinks in its armor. And now Hill is scrubbing egg off his car.
...While the number of negative incidents in Cougartown may be small, it's still too big for Hill and Mendenhall. Mendenhall summed it up: "I would hold friends, or even enemies, to a higher standard.""