Anae called great game vs. ECU

I just want to say that I think Anae called a brilliant game against ECU. While Tanner was in the game, we moved the ball at will, and only had to punt one time, and attempt one field goal. We scored 45 points! We threw a TD pass to a running back!



The long TD run by Brown on a sprint draw was totally set up by the short outside passing game, and was called at exactly the right time. Loved it.



The unbalanced formations are an interesting wrinkle; it leaves us with only 4 eligible receivers, but I guess until defenses realize they can blitz an extra guy in that situation with impunity, it'll keep them off balance enough to get us yards. They certainly worked against ECU. I just hope that as soon as a defense demonstrates they know exactly what to do about them, we drop it for the rest of that game. Seems like we stopped after halftime, probably for that very reason; the halftime adjustments were likely to have a good answer.

I agree. He did great. I'm just sad/bothered that our expectations for him are so low that when he does good it is noteworthy. Hard to imagine ever seeing a forum topic being created back in the day if Norm Chow called a good game. Every time I look at Lavell's coaching tree I have to shake my head at the fact that we seem so low in terms of good candidates today that we had to re-tread Anae.



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My recollection of the 90's was that everyone hated Norm Chow because he was too predictable and too stubborn to make adjustments. Times haven't changed much IMO.

Montana Coug wrote:
I agree. He did great. I'm just sad/bothered that our expectations for him are so low that when he does good it is noteworthy. Hard to imagine ever seeing a forum topic being created back in the day if Norm Chow called a good game. Every time I look at Lavell's coaching tree I have to shake my head at the fact that we seem so low in terms of good candidates today that we had to re-tread Anae.



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That would have sufficed :roll:

frdbtr wrote:
My recollection of the 90's was that everyone hated Norm Chow because he was too predictable and too stubborn to make adjustments. Times haven't changed much IMO.

Yeah, it's a generational thing. Kids today will say the same thing about the OC in 20 years are think back fondly on Anae. The problem was there was no internet in the 80s and 90s for everyone to get together and talk about how bad Chow was, but there were a lot of unhappy people with him every time the Cougars didn't score a TD.

It was the first time since 2013 that we've had back-to-back games of 500 yard of offesnive production.



We haven't had three straight since 1996.



If Mangum plays, we'll get three straight.

Wolverine wrote:

I agree. He did great. I'm just sad/bothered that our expectations for him are so low that when he does good it is noteworthy. Hard to imagine ever seeing a forum topic being created back in the day if Norm Chow called a good game. Every time I look at Lavell's coaching tree I have to shake my head at the fact that we seem so low in terms of good candidates today that we had to re-tread Anae.



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That would have sufficed :roll:

Seriously. Anae's gameplan wasn't just good, it was great. And it was consistently great all game long. If a guy does great, it's noteworthy every time.



And Chow was definitely criticized as much as Anae is in his later years with the team.



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It was great seeing Anea taking what the defense was giving instead of trying to force things. The corners where playing 8-10 yards off the receivers and Anea called plays that took advantage of it. His play calling was like a hot knife cutting thru butter :bug:

a1247 wrote:
It was great seeing Anea taking what the defense was giving instead of trying to force things. The corners where playing 8-10 yards off the receivers and Anea called plays that took advantage of it. His play calling was like a hot knife cutting thru butter :bug:

OK, lets not get carried away.

I woudnt say he called a great game. BUt it did seem to be an improvement bc he was actually showing what he usually doesnt and thats the ability to be flexible and take what the D was giving and not just force stuff in his stubborn way.

Montana also has a reasonable point. its too bad that one game would have to be singled out as a great game when its tatally acceptable to expact that level of execution game in and out. And in wonder further if Anae actually prepared for this game better in comparison to other games when it looked like he had no idea what to do (Michigan) and so he just kept hitting the hammer harder trying to do the same old stuff.

Cougs_Rule wrote:

It was great seeing Anea taking what the defense was giving instead of trying to force things. The corners where playing 8-10 yards off the receivers and Anea called plays that took advantage of it. His play calling was like a hot knife cutting thru butter :bug:

OK, lets not get carried away.

I woudnt say he called a great game. BUt it did seem to be an improvement bc he was actually showing what he usually doesnt and thats the ability to be flexible and take what the D was giving and not just force stuff in his stubborn way.

Montana also has a reasonable point. its too bad that one game would have to be singled out as a great game when its tatally acceptable to expact that level of execution game in and out. And in wonder further if Anae actually prepared for this game better in comparison to other games when it looked like he had no idea what to do (Michigan) and so he just kept hitting the hammer harder trying to do the same old stuff.

Not This.



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Nothing specific to Anae, but why does BYU struggle so much under Bronco to bring in really high caliber coaches....is it just money? I don't have a lot of memories from the Lavelle years, but I'm pretty sure Lavell's staff included 2 or 3 future NFL Head Coaches and 2 or 3 future D-1 Head Coaches. Has Bronco ever had any of his staff leave and become a Head Coach in D-1? Maybe those a bit older than me will have better memories of the Lavell years and can flesh out my memories.



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Montana Coug wrote:
Nothing specific to Anae, but why does BYU struggle so much under Bronco to bring in really high caliber coaches....is it just money? I don't have a lot of memories from the Lavelle years, but I'm pretty sure Lavell's staff included 2 or 3 future NFL Head Coaches and 2 or 3 future D-1 Head Coaches. Has Bronco ever had any of his staff leave and become a Head Coach in D-1? Maybe those a bit older than me will have better memories of the Lavell years and can flesh out my memories.



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Try Google for Trolls to find your answers. If that doesn't work, try calling Lavell himself.



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Montana Coug wrote:
Nothing specific to Anae, but why does BYU struggle so much under Bronco to bring in really high caliber coaches....is it just money? I don't have a lot of memories from the Lavelle years, but I'm pretty sure Lavell's staff included 2 or 3 future NFL Head Coaches and 2 or 3 future D-1 Head Coaches. Has Bronco ever had any of his staff leave and become a Head Coach in D-1? Maybe those a bit older than me will have better memories of the Lavell years and can flesh out my memories.



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I am older, so here are my thoughts. There are more teams making noise now because of all the national and local television access. Who ever heard of ECU or Cincinnati as FB teams 35 years ago? The coaching pool is a much deeper pool now. Additionally, LaVell was trying something new that hadn't been used in college, so coaches (non lds coaches included) flocked to Provo to be a part of it all.

Wolverine wrote:

Nothing specific to Anae, but why does BYU struggle so much under Bronco to bring in really high caliber coaches....is it just money? I don't have a lot of memories from the Lavelle years, but I'm pretty sure Lavell's staff included 2 or 3 future NFL Head Coaches and 2 or 3 future D-1 Head Coaches. Has Bronco ever had any of his staff leave and become a Head Coach in D-1? Maybe those a bit older than me will have better memories of the Lavell years and can flesh out my memories.



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Try Google for Trolls to find your answers. If that doesn't work, try calling Lavell himself.



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His question was perfectly reasonable, and your answer points out pretty much why only about 20 people post to this board semi-regularly.



To answer his question, great assistant coaches generally aren't hired as already established unless you are in the top 25 programs of the nation. They normally need to be grown into better positions. Bronco is good at many things. One of the things that he is unequivocally bad at is evaluating coaching talent and promoting said talent. If you go down the list his best hire was Anae, and Anae 1.0 was a pretty bad coach. Anae 2.0 shows signs of life at times, but is more like Anae 1.2 than Anae 2.0. I'm happy that he has shown improvement, but there is still far too much there for me to be happy with where the program sits currently, or it's trajectory under him. Bronco is elite as a defensive coach, but only average in overall head coaching duties, and well below average when it comes to promoting and hiring coaches.

I think that Dr. Anae will re-install the Taysom style offense to better suit Beau Hoge's strengths. I think Cincinnati has a surprise coming for them and Beau steps up nicely. I think if Tanner plays, we'll do just fine too. I think our D will be ready and will make some INTs against the pass. These are just some thinks that I think.

Brayden Green wrote:

Montana Coug wrote:
Nothing specific to Anae, but why does BYU struggle so much under Bronco to bring in really high caliber coaches....is it just money? I don't have a lot of memories from the Lavelle years, but I'm pretty sure Lavell's staff included 2 or 3 future NFL Head Coaches and 2 or 3 future D-1 Head Coaches. Has Bronco ever had any of his staff leave and become a Head Coach in D-1? Maybe those a bit older than me will have better memories of the Lavell years and can flesh out my memories.



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Try Google for Trolls to find your answers. If that doesn't work, try calling Lavell himself.



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His question was perfectly reasonable, and your answer points out pretty much why only about 20 people post to this board semi-regularly.



To answer his question, great assistant coaches generally aren't hired as already established unless you are in the top 25 programs of the nation. They normally need to be grown into better positions. Bronco is good at many things. One of the things that he is unequivocally bad at is evaluating coaching talent and promoting said talent. If you go down the list his best hire was Anae, and Anae 1.0 was a pretty bad coach. Anae 2.0 shows signs of life at times, but is more like Anae 1.2 than Anae 2.0. I'm happy that he has shown improvement, but there is still far too much there for me to be happy with where the program sits currently, or it's trajectory under him. Bronco is elite as a defensive coach, but only average in overall head coaching duties, and well below average when it comes to promoting and hiring coaches.

Well said. The Everything is Awesome Blue-Gogglers here have a habit of jumping on anyone who brings up concerns about the team, coaches or program.



And you described Bronco and Anae perfectly.

Brayden Green wrote:

Montana Coug wrote:
Nothing specific to Anae, but why does BYU struggle so much under Bronco to bring in really high caliber coaches....is it just money? I don't have a lot of memories from the Lavelle years, but I'm pretty sure Lavell's staff included 2 or 3 future NFL Head Coaches and 2 or 3 future D-1 Head Coaches. Has Bronco ever had any of his staff leave and become a Head Coach in D-1? Maybe those a bit older than me will have better memories of the Lavell years and can flesh out my memories.



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Try Google for Trolls to find your answers. If that doesn't work, try calling Lavell himself.



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His question was perfectly reasonable, and your answer points out pretty much why only about 20 people post to this board semi-regularly.



To answer his question, great assistant coaches generally aren't hired as already established unless you are in the top 25 programs of the nation. They normally need to be grown into better positions. Bronco is good at many things. One of the things that he is unequivocally bad at is evaluating coaching talent and promoting said talent. If you go down the list his best hire was Anae, and Anae 1.0 was a pretty bad coach. Anae 2.0 shows signs of life at times, but is more like Anae 1.2 than Anae 2.0. I'm happy that he has shown improvement, but there is still far too much there for me to be happy with where the program sits currently, or it's trajectory under him. Bronco is elite as a defensive coach, but only average in overall head coaching duties, and well below average when it comes to promoting and hiring coaches.

Of course his question was perfectly reasonable since it came from one of your many sock puppets. Anyone who has been around here for more than 7 posts (though the sock has admitted to lurking for many, many years), knows that the answer to his reasonable question has been answered ad nauseum on this forum. You and your socks don't care for the title of this thread and it disgusts you to the point of high jacking the thread. I would counter that that is what drives people away as opposed to me calling you on your b.s. Dude, pick your ball up and go home. Your schtick has grown old.



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Calling me someone's sock puppet ticks me off. Personally I'm a 2004 BYU alum from BYU's Communications Department and I've donated a lot to BYU over the years. I've had friends and cousins play for BYU's football team. Incedently I'm also the CEO of a multi-million dollar company and I'm very used to trying to take a hard look at processes and practices in order to figure out areas for improvement. Clearly you are a person who would prefer never to try an do any examining. Finally, I've been a member of this site since 2011. It's jerks like you that make me never want to post.



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Montana Coug wrote:
Calling me someone's sock puppet ticks me off. Personally I'm a 2004 BYU alum from BYU's Communications Department and I've donated a lot to BYU over the years. I've had friends and cousins play for BYU's football team. Incedently I'm also the CEO of a multi-million dollar company and I'm very used to trying to take a hard look at processes and practices in order to figure out areas for improvement. Clearly you are a person who would prefer never to try an do any examining. Finally, I've been a member of this site since 2011. It's jerks like you that make me never want to post.



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I think Brad Paisley knows you quite well.



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Montana Coug wrote:
Nothing specific to Anae, but why does BYU struggle so much under Bronco to bring in really high caliber coaches....is it just money? I don't have a lot of memories from the Lavelle years, but I'm pretty sure Lavell's staff included 2 or 3 future NFL Head Coaches and 2 or 3 future D-1 Head Coaches. Has Bronco ever had any of his staff leave and become a Head Coach in D-1? Maybe those a bit older than me will have better memories of the Lavell years and can flesh out my memories.



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I guess the question here is this: how long was Lavell (please note that there's no "e" at the end of his name) a head coach at BYU before some of his assistants moved up to being HC's themselves? It's easy to look back now, after fifty years, and see the Lavell Edwards coaching tree, but how many branches did it have in its first ten years? I honestly don't know, but I doubt it's many.



I also think that most of the criticism leveled at Anae is just pure crap. He's a good offensive coach and those who don't like him can't find numbers, stats, or facts to use against him -- instead, he's simply "too predictable" according to them.



2005: 11th in the nation in total offense

2006: 4th

2007: 24th

2008: 16th

2009: 20th

2010: Nelson/Heaps debacle 66th

2013: 16th

2014: 27th

Average: 23rd



We have a top-25 O-coordinator. Hopefully people can appreciate that for what it's worth. He may be too rough around the edges to ever be the HC at BYU, but I think Robert Anae would do just fine as HC at some WAC, MAC, Sun Belt, etc. schools.