Leadership: Too Little, Too Late?

Many of you have probably read about Mendenhall's laying into the receiving corps yesterday and how it yielded a 100% effort after receiving a 75% effort.



Reading this makes me want to scream.



I have to once again say that i really like Mendenhall...but man, someone help me understand these leadership blunders:



(1) The 2 quarterback system...really, enough said.

(2) The defense is the worst in the nation and Mendenhall waited until the team was 1-4 before taking any remedial action.

(3) Receivers dropping passes and are unable to get open for SEVEN weeks. NOTHING is done about this situation until the team is 2-5 and one of the worst passing teams in the nation?

(4) Waiting until we are SEVEN games into the season before "coming closer" to knowing the offensive identify of this team...which offensive identity is lining up in the I formation and handing off to Brian Kariya? Man, this just reeks of stupidity...I mean, with all of the horses on this team, our best option is Brian Kariya in the I formation? Kariya is the least capable of the three running backs...Anae just really likes him. Bad reason to anchor the offense around him.

(5) Claiming that he knows nothing about offense...apparently to the extent that 12 yards in a half is somehow acceptable because we had ONE drive in the third quarter that resulted in a field goal?



I could go on...but won't.



Listen, I trust that Mendenhall is doing the work behind the scenes that I hope he would. I work as as a professional coach to executives. and more than one have been brought down by having a blind trust in those who report to him/her. A better leadership solution is to continually focus on the tangible fruits of toil as opposed to its methodologies or intentions.



Much has been written about Anae on this board...and I too think it is time to do something about the offense.



However, the blatant leadership errors of 2010 are almost unforgivable...and ultimately Bronco is accountable.



The BYU football program is ultimately about the young men who come to play. Football, on the other hand, is about winning and improving. From this point forward, I hope Mendenhall does not wait until four or five inexcusable performances before the urgent pursuit of winning takes a higher priority.



I don't think winning has to come at the expense of improvement...really the formula is like this:



Personal Best + Team Best = Personal Growth and Best Chance to Win



Apparently, we needed to wait until late October to hold the WRs and TEs accountable for their lack of effort.



12 yards.

pjmuli wrote:



However, the blatant leadership errors of 2010 are almost unforgivable...and ultimately Bronco is accountable.

I am pretty sure that Bronco has admitted to it being his fault after losses. I think yesterday might have been the first time that we heard about receivers/tight ends getting a little talk. I think it probably was more intense and probably a little more fired up, but I don't think we should question his leadership.

I think if anybody's leadership should be questioned it is Anae's. I know there are plenty of threads already out there on that, so Im not going to say anymore about that.



Bronco is trying to do the best thing for the team. Offensively and Defensively. He has great leadership to me.

Bronco is a spectacular leader. He is great at developing leaders as well. Unfortunately he, at times, allows those he's developing a little too much room to fail before he steps in.

In addition, why did it take till wednesday for Bronco to start bucking this offense? Not sure he would give a "confidence" vote after yesterday, not in Anae. If he could fire, he probably would, but that would be close to total disarray.

This is ultimately about Bronco's leadership. He is all about building players, but he has allowed horrible character development in these players by accepting less than 100% for this long.

The Church has a tried and true financial metric in trending the trailing (previous) 12 quarters of financial performance and weighing that in before making big decisions and course corrections. That is not how to measure a season. Bronco should not have waited this long. He should have seen in 12 football quarters that this offense was headed the wrong direction--at least when it comes to effort and unity. Maybe an additional 4 quarters or so given the QB situation. But to confuse poor timing/execution in the passing game for an equal problem of poor effort and unity and then to claim he knows "nothing about offense" was taking delegation way to far. BRONCO KNOWS EFFORT and he was in denial about the lack of it in the offense.

Bronco will get it figured out. Its not too late for the program. It may be too late for this year.

pjmuli wrote:

(2) The defense is the worst in the nation and Mendenhall waited until the team was 1-4 before taking any remedial action.

(4) Waiting until we are SEVEN games into the season before "coming closer" to knowing the offensive identify of this team...which offensive identity is lining up in the I formation and handing off to Brian Kariya? Man, this just reeks of stupidity...I mean, with all of the horses on this team, our best option is Brian Kariya in the I formation? Kariya is the least capable of the three running backs...Anae just really likes him. Bad reason to anchor the offense around him.

Okay, I get your other points, but I take exception to these two.



First of all, BYU played some amazing offenses in those first four games. Bronco didn't have enough data yet to justify taking the drastic step of firing Hill, and I think he might have always questioned his decision (we might have, also). Losing to Utah state, on the other hand, is enough data to fire anyone.

Second, have you seen Kariya play the last couple games? He looks powerful, runs downfield with a full head of steam and hits holes without hesitation. I thought I was seeing shades of Unga in the SDSU game. Sure he hasn't been great in the past, but if he plays like he has been, I wouldn't mind seeing a lot more of him.

Sammich wrote:
Okay, I get your other points, but I take exception to these two.



First of all, BYU played some amazing offenses in those first four games. Bronco didn't have enough data yet to justify taking the drastic step of firing Hill, and I think he might have always questioned his decision (we might have, also). Losing to Utah state, on the other hand, is enough data to fire anyone.

Second, have you seen Kariya play the last couple games? He looks powerful, runs downfield with a full head of steam and hits holes without hesitation. I thought I was seeing shades of Unga in the SDSU game. Sure he hasn't been great in the past, but if he plays like he has been, I wouldn't mind seeing a lot more of him.

Ok...I think these are fair responses. In response to response(s):



(1) BYU did play some pretty tough teams...but was it not obvious to anyone watching these games that this BYU defense was underperforming by a long shot? Teams were rushing for nearly 300 yards on us per game. Before Utah State, many observed how the defense looked lethargic, out of place, and uninspired. So having said that, my counter to your point is that the Utah State game was no different than any of the previous games...other teams just had better looking athletes doing the same thing to a defense that was obviously going under.



(2) While I appreciate what Kariya has done in a few games in his career, I would ask you this...which is more telling of what Kariya is, his performance against Oklahoma, TCU, and San Diego State...or the entire body of his work? When one takes into account the entire body of his work, there is no sensible reason to anchor an offense around Kariya. Andrei Kirilenko has put together a few consecutive games where he shot the three pointer well...but does that now make him Jeff Hornacek? Give the ball to JJ, often, and in positions that play to his strengths.



12 yards.

I agree completely here. Allowing the wheels to come completely off the offensive side before demanding a change is really poor coaching by Bronco. (Don't even get me started on Anae).

Bronco is an amazing coach. He is a hands on guy, better in the trenches than behind the desk.

Maybe he would always be more effective as DC.

OhYePoorFools wrote:

Maybe he would always be more effective as DC.

Why not be both the head coach and the DC like he is right now? Since he did that our record is 1-1 with that one loss being on the road against a top 5 team.



Bronco probably did wait too long before he stepped in but his style has always been to delegate responsibility and then take the hands off approach. It has always worked fine until now. He put his foot down in a big way with the defense this year and now he is starting to do the same with the offense. I for one and happy and excited about it.

Wait too long for what? A BCS birth? Was not happening anyway. Or an MWC title? Again, not our year. A bowl game? We still have a great shot with how the schedule sets up. So if you think he waited until too late because we lost to USU, well I might tend to agree. Or, might think this is 100% on the money: from Bronco last night on his Coaches Show:



"There will come either a tipping point, or a boiling point, or a threshold that is reached. There are a number of players that came into my office this week--some frustrated, some angry, some in tears, as they're reaching that point you're talking about."



"Normally, for any significant change to happen in any of our lives, you have to reach that point of felt need that becomes so overwhelming that now you're willing to commit or do something different than you've currently been doing. And we're reaching that point more so right now, than any other time during the season."



"I can't say it's for everyone, but I can say it's for most, and that is when a true teacher realizes teachable moments and inserts himself and captures that and leverages that for motivation and execution that hopefully translates into simple successes, which then motivate players to do more for the next week and so on, so that 'tipping point' is then seen to be a breakthrough; usually not when it happens, but after the fact."



I think he nailed it.

He may have nailed it, but I think in the wrong plank.



He's talking about players hitting "a tipping point, a boiling point, a threshold", and then becoming teachable.



There is a bigger problem: unteachable coaches. Maybe coaches who aren't smart or humble enough to BECOME teachable.



I don't know how many times I have yelled at the TV set during the past five years at offensive play calls. Many per game, though only one from a previous season comes readily to mind: that is the fumble at the end of the first half against UCLA in the bowl. I was yelling "Take a knee!!!!" as I saw the play developing, even before the fumble. There was no sensible need to risk a handoff or a run at that point in the game.



For five years now, I have been longing for the inovative wide open offense that made BYU famous, and is now seen in a few other schools. I have now lost hope that it will or even can ever come with our current coaching staff as is.