Coaching Tree

For many years college and NCAA coaching ranks were replete with former BYU players and coaches from the tutelage of LaVell Edwards. LaVell is retired and long gone as are many of his proteges. But Andy Reid, Steve Sarkisian, K Whittingham, Leach, and others are still engaged. Legacy.



Crowton brought in his own people, generally. That spawned Mendenhall, Jeff Grimes, and possibly others. Anyone know of any notable ones?



Bronco brought in some, retained some either by choice or stipulation, has since fired and reloaded twice on offense and bounced a DC out. Some landed. None noteable come to mind on offense. Was DeWayne Walker here before Bronco or brought here by Bronco?



Bronco is still young, but the tree seems barren.



LaVell rarely fired coaches. Some stayed forever. Others move out and generally up.



Is the tree better than I remember, or is this - assistant coach selection and development - something Bronco needs to show significant improvement on?



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No question Bronco can improve on picking assistant coaches.

Bronco needs to improve in picking assistants. I think Bronco is part of the issue, Bronco does things his way.....which I like but he needs a bit more of a CEO attitude.



To be fair, it is tough to judge Bronco's tree as it has only been a short period. On the other hand even KW has had a few guys grow into roles.



BYU has disadvantages (mentioned prior: they don't pay well, HC etc).

Would you credit Gary Anderson to Bronco? Gary does. :)



As for DeWayne Walker he was a db coach for Edwards. Not a good HC but one of the best DC's around in my opinion.

imuakahuku wrote:
Would you credit Gary Anderson to Bronco? Gary does. :)



As for DeWayne Walker he was a db coach for Edwards. Not a good HC but one of the best DC's around in my opinion.

I would say no to GA. He credits Bronco for helping him get a job, Bronco was not his head coach and did not spend years together mentoring him, he simply encouraged GA to apply for a job and they were friends.....at least from what I recollect.



Regarding Walker, he was at BYU one year....correct? I am not sure what qualifies as coaching tree but I personally don't see a coach of one year with one qualifying for a coaching tree, otherwise the coach would be part of so many coaching trees. I would think of a multi year tenure and deep relationship not a one and done. I am no expert on the definition, but just IMO.

To add to your definition, I think to come from a coaching tree you have to have picked something up that you implement from the coach you were serving under. Reid, Holmgren, etc. all took the West Coast offense. Bronco took the 3-3-5 from Rocky Long, though it doesn't really match our current personnel for a defensive scheme. The acorn needs to fall from the tree.

One year of coaching, then call it a sapling instead of a tree.