Bronco's Email to Players re: Anae's Return

Sent to the players a couple of hours before the official announcement:

First, congratulations on an outstanding win in the Poinsettia Bowl. Your preparation for the game made the difference and it was the right way to end the season for our seniors. I hope you have all have had a good holiday break and are anxious to begin classes Monday and to start working to prepare for the 2013 season. There is a team meeting on Monday at 2:10 p.m. that you should plan on attending.



Some changes in our coaching staff will be officially announced shortly and I felt you deserved to hear them directly from me before they were released publicly. After much consideration, I have made the decision to release Coach Brandon Doman from his responsibilities as offensive coordinator. I am very appreciative of his hard work, loyalty and enthusiasm for BYU. It was clear, however, that a change in leadership was needed for us to truly achieve what we are capable of as a team.



Today were are announcing that Coach Robert Anae is returning to take over the offensive coordinator responsibilities. Many of you already know Coach Anae. For those who don’t, he has spent the last two seasons at the University of Arizona in Tucson where he coaches the offensive line and serves as running game coordinator. Those who have played for Coach Anae in the past know that he is passionate about BYU and he’ll do his very best to help each of our players reach their potential.



We are fortunate to have Coach Anae back in the BYU family and are confident that our offense will regain the national prominence that it deserves. During the six seasons that Coach Anae was here, our offense was ranked in the Top 25 nationally five times. We also ranked in various Top 25 offensive statistical categories 28 times. Our offense was ranked as one of the top 6 passing offenses three of the six years he served as coordinator. At Arizona during the past two years, Coach Anae helped lead offenses that were ranked 16th in 2011 and 7th this season.



I ask you to trust that the decisions that I have made—and will be making—are for the improvement of the program and will be done to provide you with the best opportunity to reach your personal goals while you are at BYU.



Most of our coaching staff, including myself, will be attending the national coaches convention next week and will not be in the office Monday through Wednesday. I’ll be happy to answer any questions you might have once I return on Thursday.



With honor,



Coach Mendenhall

Not sure what to make of it. To a certain extent, it doesn't read like Bronco. But I do think the team needs to trust Bronco.

SpiffCoug wrote:
Not sure what to make of it. To a certain extent, it doesn't read like Bronco. But I do think the team needs to trust Bronco.

I am with you Spiff.. not sure what to make of it.. and for some reason it didn't sound like Bronco to me either (Not saying it isn't him).. My question.. How do you think Jay got this email... and how does that make one feel as the coach to know an "internal" communication was forwarded to the media?

I am hoping he knew it would get out and released it to the media. It would almost seem naive not to. I guess its not currently known how it was obtained.

It reads like a sanitized corporate info. paper. It takes a pile of words to say next to nothing. I think Bronco made the right decision.



I am interested in seeing what decision Doman makes. The shoes keep dropping. This is a tough pill for Doman to swallow. I wonder how much of a pay decrease there would be - if at all. I wonder, would Bronco keep Doman at the same salary if he remains as the QB coach? It would soften the blow, and help with team continuity.

It reads like a PR Office prepared statement. Kerri Jenkins?

SpiffCoug wrote:
Not sure what to make of it. To a certain extent, it doesn't read like Bronco. But I do think the team needs to trust Bronco.

Well put. I do give credit that Bronco deals with problems head on. Something wasn't working offensively for the Cougars and now he believes he can head it off like he did when the defense began to slip.

I like it



Whoever wrote it said the minimum that needed to be said, which is usually the best course to take.



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po_pocoug wrote:

Not sure what to make of it. To a certain extent, it doesn't read like Bronco. But I do think the team needs to trust Bronco.

I am with you Spiff.. not sure what to make of it.. and for some reason it didn't sound like Bronco to me either (Not saying it isn't him).. My question.. How do you think Jay got this email... and how does that make one feel as the coach to know an "internal" communication was forwarded to the media?

Probably forwarded to Jay Drew from a family member who also saw the email.

One thing that struck me as odd was Bronco quoting the number of times an Anae offense was in the Top 25. Just seemed like something Bronco wouldn't really be concerned about.



He doesn't worry about recruit rankings or poll rankings. So to quote the number of Top 25 offenses seemed out of character.

Bronco probably wrote the first draft, but then gave it to the PR guys since he knew it would be leaked. The PR guys did to the letter exactly what PR guys do to everything, inflate it to 4 times longer than it needs to be to say what was originally intended and then take out all of the meaningful stuff. End of story.

Funny, I ck'd the Univ. of Arizona's football website. I ck'd out the coaching staff px's and Robert Anae's px was there. As of 8am this morning (Sat.), Robert Anae's px is gone. :lol: Quick work .....

Per Larry Scott's orders no doubt.

BerliNY wrote:
Bronco probably wrote the first draft, but then gave it to the PR guys since he knew it would be leaked. The PR guys did to the letter exactly what PR guys do to everything, inflate it to 4 times longer than it needs to be to say what was originally intended and then take out all of the meaningful stuff. End of story.

I'm a PR guy and less is always more. Most of the times the PR guy/gal writes something simple and to the point. It then gets augmented through approval cycles.



They knew this letter would be made public, so not only is it letter to the players but a letter to the rest of us. If you are a player and liked Doman or a fan that liked Doman, referencing Anae's success should calm your nerves. Anae has achieved things; things Doman didn't.



Having written many such letters in my career, usually there is a chat to discuss key points, the PR person writes something up and it then gets "edited" by the powers at be. Bronco may not have written it, but he was certainly okay with its content.



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SpiffCoug wrote:
One thing that struck me as odd was Bronco quoting the number of times an Anae offense was in the Top 25. Just seemed like something Bronco wouldn't really be concerned about.



He doesn't worry about recruit rankings or poll rankings. So to quote the number of Top 25 offenses seemed out of character.

I think it was to justify the decision he made. Anae wasn't exactly an exciting choice. He needed to remind everybody why Anae is a good choice. Had he picked someone else that everyone was excited about he wouldn't need to do that.

jonnylingo wrote:

One thing that struck me as odd was Bronco quoting the number of times an Anae offense was in the Top 25. Just seemed like something Bronco wouldn't really be concerned about.



He doesn't worry about recruit rankings or poll rankings. So to quote the number of Top 25 offenses seemed out of character.

I think it was to justify the decision he made. Anae wasn't exactly an exciting choice. He needed to remind everybody why Anae is a good choice. Had he picked someone else that everyone was excited about he wouldn't need to do that.

Also, recruit rankings and poll rankings are made with a healthy (or maybe unhealthy) dose of subjectivity, while statistical rankings are objective. To me, it's not weird at all that Bronco would downplay the former and put more emphasis on the latter.