Bronco's Comments on Phillips

I love Bronco but comments like this I have a hard time with:

"Drew has a lot to show in terms of consistency," he said. "He's a potential playmaker. But life choices, day in and day out, are something he can work on."

Seems like something that could stay between him and Phillips. People have and will jump all over this and make it into more than it is.



http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700123376/BYU-football-Drew-Phillips-searching-for-role-at-Y.html?pg=2" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;



On a more positive note, I love this kid. He is super competitive and driven yet he seems to deal with hardship and challenge well. I love his attitude and hope him the best this fall. He has already dealt with a lot of disappointment. the way things happened last fall was surely disappointing and then dealing with that along with adjusting to life in provo was surely not easy. now he is still not seeing the reps he expected but seems to have the right attitude. Phillips has become one of my favorite players and he hasn't even played a down yet. Love his commitment to byu. I sure hope things work out for him. I think they will.

With Bronco's record with players and wins, I think he has a pretty good handle on how to deal with his players. If he thinks that what he said to the media is what Drew needs, then I have no problem with it.

What happened with Drew last fall???



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Drew's brother posts over at cougarboard and basically confirmed that it is probably school related.

frdbtr wrote:
With Bronco's record with players and wins, I think he has a pretty good handle on how to deal with his players. If he thinks that what he said to the media is what Drew needs, then I have no problem with it.

You are probably right. It just seems like he is throwing him under the buss a little bit to do it in public. Seems like when you chastise someone its probably best to do it on a more personal basis. Rarely is handling something personal like that in the media going to be a good idea. Maybe you are right and Bronco is aware of things we are not and for some reason thinks this is a good idea. but i am still of the opinion that things like this are best handled in private, not in the media. Bronco deserves the benefit of the doubt here but if it were me i would just be ticked off more then anything. at this point if phillips fixes whatever bronco refers to bronco needs to point that out publicly, because everybody now is aware of the struggles in his personal life. harder to become better when everybody in the public around you is under the impression that you are screwing up.

BigCougsFan wrote:
What happened with Drew last fall???



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he came in pumped and ready to play but nccaa red tape kept him on the sideline. then he got a minor injury. basically all that equaled redshirt. read the article. its a good one.

The redshirt did him good. I heard he put on near 20 lbs, and is now at a better weight and just as fast. Was 167lb when he got to Provo. Now at 185. Plus a year in the system is always a good thing. Especially with the RB committee we used last year, and the deference to upper class guys.

IMO, what Bronco said in the media is so mild compared to the criticisms this kid is going to have to deal with on message boards and in the newspapers if his play isn't what he is hyped up to be. So far, there have only been 2 players in the 25 years I have watched BYU football that were above reproach with the media and the fans, and neither were running backs. If this type of thing is going to drive the kid away from BYU or cause him to play badly, then he is going to have to toughen up a bit.

frdbtr wrote:
IMO, what Bronco said in the media is so mild compared to the criticisms this kid is going to have to deal with on message boards and in the newspapers if his play isn't what he is hyped up to be. So far, there have only been 2 players in the 25 years I have watched BYU football that were above reproach with the media and the fans, and neither were running backs. If this type of thing is going to drive the kid away from BYU or cause him to play badly, then he is going to have to toughen up a bit.

Not really on point. fans and message boards are quite different than his own coach. I see what you are saying though. I don't think anybody would disagree with your point. And Phillips is handling it just fine. You saw his quotes in that article. Nobody said anything about anything driving him away. Its about calling his coach calling him out for personal things in the public media. Anyway, not a huge deal. Phillips can handle it just fine. it just rubbed me the wrong way.



I am a big Phillips fan. I love his attitude. From what I hear from his brother on cougarboard and him through these interviews, he seems to really be growing up and responding well to the challenges thrown his way.

Bronco said at the beginning of Spring that several players had academic issues to deal with. IIRC he mentioned Phillips directly.



I totally read the "day-to-day choices" comment as "Drew knows when his classes are scheduled and needs to be there".



I skipped my fair share of classes for various reasons, and some teachers just didn't make it worth the time to be there. However, when you are an athlete, and have folks from the AD checking up on you, then be at class.



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all it's going to take is for Drew to break a couple big plays and he'll be hard to keep off the field.



"Preparation plus opportunity = success" - Brandon Doman.

jonnylingo wrote:
People have and will jump all over this and make it into more than it is.

I know, it's totally annoying. Like when someone puts it on a fan board and comments on it and draws attention to it. People.

ProV1 wrote:

People have and will jump all over this and make it into more than it is.

I know, it's totally annoying. Like when someone puts it on a fan board and comments on it and draws attention to it. People.

Lame.

As far as I am concerned, after qb2, and the Anae and Hill hiring/promotion, not even Bronco is untouchable anymore. I have the guys' back as much as anybody, and I love his approach to recruiting, but he is not above reproach anymore.



I'm not headhunting, let me be clear. I don't want his job to be in jeopardy, and I am perfectly fine with him continuing to coach at the Y for a long, long time.



There are people that are above reproach to me, and Bronco - for me - is not one of them. He has earned my respect, and he has also earned my distrust.

Many coaches use the comments to the media to get to a player. A basketball coach will throw out something like "he's a great shooter, but must learn to play defense." The coach is saying, ok, you were a hot shot high school player, but if you want to play here, you better get better on defense, and because it was done in public (the media), the kid gets a little angry and says, "ok, I'll show the coach I can play D." And this is all the coach wanted to do anyway. Public comments are usually mild, and meant as a wake up call to some player--and it works.

bball wrote:
Many coaches use the comments to the media to get to a player. A basketball coach will throw out something like "he's a great shooter, but must learn to play defense." The coach is saying, ok, you were a hot shot high school player, but if you want to play here, you better get better on defense, and because it was done in public (the media), the kid gets a little angry and says, "ok, I'll show the coach I can play D." And this is all the coach wanted to do anyway. Public comments are usually mild, and meant as a wake up call to some player--and it works.

Good point, just like frdbtr's though its not really on point. Calling someone out for the game is different than calling someone out for making bad life choices, thats more personal in nature. i don't disagree with anything you said.

This is who Bronco is. He probably got asked a specific question about a specific player, so he answered it. That's how he has been since before he was at BYU, while he was an assistant at BYU, and he's been that way as the head coach. If you ask him a specific question, you will get the most honest answer he can give you. It's quite refreshing to be honest with you.

BlueIsBetter wrote:
As far as I am concerned, after qb2, and the Anae and Hill hiring/promotion, not even Bronco is untouchable anymore. I have the guys' back as much as anybody, and I love his approach to recruiting, but he is not above reproach anymore.



I'm not headhunting, let me be clear. I don't want his job to be in jeopardy, and I am perfectly fine with him continuing to coach at the Y for a long, long time.



There are people that are above reproach to me, and Bronco - for me - is not one of them. He has earned my respect, and he has also earned my distrust.

Don't really know what this has to do with the topic, sounds like you are just popping in to say that you have Bronco's back when it suits you, but not when he is making decisions that in hindsight may be hard to understand. In fact your first two sentences completely contradict each other. Guys like Bronco know that they aren't going to make decisions that sit well with everyone. At this point, I hope he doesn't care and just keeps doing his thing. It's been amazing what he has done with BYU football.



No one said Bronco was perfect but his comments concerning Drew were mild as Tilapia unless you are looking for a reason to bag on Phillips or Coach M. I think Mendenhall was simply taking a different approach at lighting a fire under Phillips. We'll see if it works.

declocoug wrote:

As far as I am concerned, after qb2, and the Anae and Hill hiring/promotion, not even Bronco is untouchable anymore. I have the guys' back as much as anybody, and I love his approach to recruiting, but he is not above reproach anymore.



I'm not headhunting, let me be clear. I don't want his job to be in jeopardy, and I am perfectly fine with him continuing to coach at the Y for a long, long time.



There are people that are above reproach to me, and Bronco - for me - is not one of them. He has earned my respect, and he has also earned my distrust.

Don't really know what this has to do with the topic, sounds like you are just popping in to say that you have Bronco's back when it suits you, but not when he is making decisions that in hindsight may be hard to understand. In fact your first two sentences completely contradict each other. Guys like Bronco know that they aren't going to make decisions that sit well with everyone. At this point, I hope he doesn't care and just keeps doing his thing. It's been amazing what he has done with BYU football.



No one said Bronco was perfect but his comments concerning Drew were mild as Tilapia unless you are looking for a reason to bag on Phillips or Coach M. I think Mendenhall was simply taking a different approach at lighting a fire under Phillips. We'll see if it works.

No, I was reacting to frdbtr's post, where he basically said (I'm paraphrasing) "Well, he's Bronco, so he has a good reason, and a good track record, so he gets a pass."



That is a fine view to take. I have no quarrel with it. For me, Bronco gets the benefit of the doubt, but no longer gets a "pass" just because he's Bronco. (Not that that should even matter to anybody. It's not like I have real influence, anyways.) I love Bronco, and his straight forwardness.

Whatever BlueisBetter you're just mad because Bronco is the coach and you're not and he's handled some things a little differently than you. My guess is that you are KWhitt and cougarcorner is the outlet for your secret desire to have taken the BYU position and been true to your inner feelings instead of sticking with the utes.



(Whole paragraph above is TIC BTW.)



Ya know Blue, you're alright.