Doman reminds me, I'm a believer

[Florwood]

Attended the Provo Cougar Club luncheon today, where Brandon Doman spoke. He talked in some detail about how he became the QB coach, going in several quick steps from sceptical to committed. (By the way, maybe we need to cut Stanford some slack. He said he went to the Stanford campus, to get a feel of college, and while contemplating there, decided that he really really wanted to go back to BYU as a coach.)

He said, I came to BYU as a student and as a coach because I am a believer in BYU, the same reason you are Cougar fans. Then he gave an example, reading excerpts from an email by Iona Pritchard, who is serving in the Marshall Islands. Elder Pritchard let his mom know he was being transferred to the "outers", islands on the fringe of the Marshall islands. The only power on these islands is solar, just enough for lights. But no refrigeration,no electric cooking, no internet, essentially no nothing. They will even be cooking their food using wood fires. Elder Pritchard asked his mom to send him a couple of exercise and agility devices and lots of protein drink, and that this will be the last electronic communication for several months. Everything now will be handwritten letters. He and his companion,an Elder Heimuli, will be the first missionaries ever on this particular island.

So Coach Doman concluded that having player willing to do this kind of thing is an example of why he's a believer, even in the midst of ups and downs, decisions good and not so good, etc. REminded me of why I'm a believer too, even when the apparatchiks (that's russian for 'zoobie) drive you crazy.

Couple other interesting comments. He was asked why they didn't give Jensen more opportunity to throw, said they called 3-5 passes for him, but he opted to run on all but one of them. Said as he learns more about the disicplined progressions a QB needs to make in their system, from a to b to c and then maybe pass, he'll slow down and not run after a doesn't pan out...

Doman said he was excited about the differences in the 4 QB's they'll have for next year, giving the coaches a lot to look at as they choose a 2010 QB.

My friend asked him what his mindset was when he let the last minute drive to beat Utah his last year. He said "Praying!", and didn't say much more specifically about himself. But did suggest that when you get down to the end and the game is on the line, don't go outside who you are and what you've been doing, or things will blow up. He did say they did some planning for the hopeful end of the OU game, where they would hopefully have a chance to win. They had told the offense, by that time the defense may be tempted to leave its assignments and cheat up or over, when they think they recognize a play they've seen before in the game, and if they do that, here's how you can exploit it this way...and they were able to get a touchdown drive out of it.

Also talked about his first year and some recruiting errors he made, although he was an important contact as Harvey changed from a Ute commit to BYU. Also, just a few months into being the QB coach, he went to the AFCA mtgs and saw half the coaches with resumes, looking for schools to work at. Went the next year and half were still there with resumes, looking for work again. And thought, man that's not what I want! (So maybe being able to have some stability in work is an important value for him, which is ok by me) Also, when he had his interview with Mendenall, he told him "We're not leaving this room until you offer me the position." And Mendenhall just walked out, no offer. But called him 30 min later with the provisional offer.

Anyway, an enjoyable mtg. He was firm that the players want to "finish", to be perfect and win out their remaining games, and are working hard to that end. And please, don't dissect the specific words here, I'm just recalling as best I can, so just chalk up any specific wording you don't like to my poor recall.

[blue buddha]

Great story, Doman is the man. Thanks for sharing.

[bluesista]

Just to make sure I'm not losing my mind.... When you said "Jensen," were you referring to Riley Nelson?

I like Doman. He keeps it real.

[Florwood]

Yes, I meant Nelson. One other interesting thing Doman said, someone asked about the likliehood of BYU moving to a 4-3 defense, and he said though it of course wasn't his decision, they do adapt their schemes to fit their personnel, and that moving to a 4-3 in the future was a good possibility.