BYU Spring Camp Early

What is the reason BYU does their spring camp so much earlier in the year compared to the rest of the country. Can someone shed some light on it for me. There has to be a good explanation for it...I just don't know what it is.



Thanks,

My guess is that

1. BYU's Winter term gets out earlier than almost all other schools. This means that they have to have camp earlier so as not to interfere with finals and finals prep.

2. Spring is all about next year. So the earlier you start on next year, the more time you give to players to work on exactly what they need to be working on for the year to come.

BYU doesn't have a spring break. The semester ends this week. So BYU does spring ball well before finals week.

3 good responses...thanks. Just wondering why the spring game last month wasn't on BYUtv or ESPNU tic

I think that's a legit question of why it wasn't on byutv. My guess is that it has something to do with Bronco's concern (not quite paranoia, but...) about giving too much tape for other teams. But if the 12 teams he's playing really wanted tape, wouldn't they send someone to the spring game to get it for themselves?



I mean, Spring tape is really only valuable for the first 1-2 games. Yeah, UConn needs all the help they can get, but a bit of spring ball tape isn't going to tell them much more that they wouldn't know from attending the game or following some blogs: THill needs to improve accuracy and has made progress, BYU has some legit deep threats (though most weren't available for Spring), Terren Houk is stepping up as a receiver, the OLine is making baby steps, and place kicking is dicey. Beyond that, the schemes are the same.



So, if there's almost no real intel value for opposing teams, why not just acknowledge (using one of Mendenhall's favorite words) the entertainment value of the event and put it on BYUtv to feed, solidify and expand the fanbase?

CrimsonCoug wrote:
I think that's a legit question of why it wasn't on byutv. My guess is that it has something to do with Bronco's concern (not quite paranoia, but...) about giving too much tape for other teams. But if the 12 teams he's playing really wanted tape, wouldn't they send someone to the spring game to get it for themselves?



I mean, Spring tape is really only valuable for the first 1-2 games. Yeah, UConn needs all the help they can get, but a bit of spring ball tape isn't going to tell them much more that they wouldn't know from attending the game or following some blogs: THill needs to improve accuracy and has made progress, BYU has some legit deep threats (though most weren't available for Spring), Terren Houk is stepping up as a receiver, the OLine is making baby steps, and place kicking is dicey. Beyond that, the schemes are the same.



So, if there's almost no real intel value for opposing teams, why not just acknowledge (using one of Mendenhall's favorite words) the entertainment value of the event and put it on BYUtv to feed, solidify and expand the fanbase?

EXACTLY!!

CrimsonCoug wrote:
So, if there's almost no real intel value for opposing teams, why not just acknowledge (using one of Mendenhall's favorite words) the entertainment value of the event and put it on BYUtv to feed, solidify and expand the fanbase?

If it's on TV more people would see it but fewer people would go to it. If I were them I'd probably force people to show up and show players/recruits how much fans care. Maybe put it on BYUtv later in the spring/summer so people can see it that can't make it to the stadium but put it late enough that those thinking of going wont decide to just wait.



I couldn't go the day they had it and I'd watch it if it was on BYUtv in a few weeks. They could use it as practice for the rookies at BYUtv to get practice as well.

Stirfry wrote:

So, if there's almost no real intel value for opposing teams, why not just acknowledge (using one of Mendenhall's favorite words) the entertainment value of the event and put it on BYUtv to feed, solidify and expand the fanbase?

If it's on TV more people would see it but fewer people would go to it. If I were them I'd probably force people to show up and show players/recruits how much fans care. Maybe put it on BYUtv later in the spring/summer so people can see it that can't make it to the stadium but put it late enough that those thinking of going wont decide to just wait.



I couldn't go the day they had it and I'd watch it if it was on BYUtv in a few weeks. They could use it as practice for the rookies at BYUtv to get practice as well.

Maybe fewer would go in the short term, but that number's probably pretty small. And if they were really all that concerned about "butts in seats" (as my LDS Harvard econ prof would to say), then they'd do a better job of advertising when it's going to be--build it up a bit. It's pretty clear that Bronco does it because he feels an obligation to do it (contract?), but he's not in to playing it up. So attendance isn't a big deal to them. But by the same token, neither is viewership.



Frankly, this would seem to be an easy win for Bronco--he could reach a lot more fans with a lot less effort by putting the whole shebang on BYUtv. He already does a post-scrimmage interview, so just make it more complete.

I really do think it has more to do with a fear of giving out too much information.



Good point on giving the BYUtv techs more practice. BYUtv doesn't actually involve a whole lot of actual BYU students. This might give some of those aspiring undergrads a chance for some real experience.

I like your thinking. Show it later in the summer on KBYU. Bronco can even edit it for anything he does not want to show our opponents.

scott715 wrote:
I like your thinking. Show it later in the summer on KBYU. Bronco can even edit it for anything he does not want to show our opponents.

Good thought. It's not like Bronco's not taping it and watching that tape anyway. He can just note the pieces that he'd like to hide. But unless it's in his contract, I'm not thinking that he'd go for it. Just not in his introvert nature to share unless necessary.

The argument is that it can help recruiting, building the fan base and might help to increase the chance of a Big12 invite or better bowl access down the road.