Monday, November 15, 2010

Should BYU Cougars Head Coach Bronco Mendenhall Be the Mountain West Conference Coach of the Year?

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4 comments:

  1. I, too, had been thinking about Bronco's chance at MWC Coach of the Year, and I think he deserves it, even if BYU goes 1-1 in the last two games. The way Bronco has turned this season around, and what he has done with the team speaks volumes about the kind of coach, and the kind of person, that he is. The only other possibility, in my opinion, is Brady Hoke from SDSU.

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  2. Personally, I think Hoke is going to win it. Just like Bronco was denied the repeat in 2007, Patterson will be denied because we have all seen this trick before. Hoke will probably double his win total from a year ago.

    Let's not forget that this is the MWC, where everyone is upset with BYU for going independent. If a viable option exists, many voters will choose the non-BYU option. Also, the whole replay controversy about the BYU-SDSU game, Hoke could get some sympathy votes for that.

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  3. So you edit my post because you don't like what I said?

    That's so BYU isn't it?

    If you don't like what they have to say, just silence them. I like it.

    Thanks for proving the stereotype correct!

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  4. If you are going to post a comment, please keep the language clean, or I will delete it.

    You are more than welcome to disagree with me, but vulgar and profane language is not tolerated.

    To respond to a comment I had to delete that disagreed:

    I agree that Bronco should shoulder the blame for what happened to start the year. But, I can't buy any argument that these decisions were so cut and dry that any other coach would have done the exact opposite.

    Firing Jaime Hill--Despite the blowout losses to FSU and TCU, the defense improved in 2009 from 2008. No one thought Hill should have been replaced at the end of last season. I think firing him was the right decision, at the time it happened.

    Remember, it was hard to see that coaching was the problem with the defense during the first few losses. Turnovers and offensive struggles were blamed for the AFA loss. Poor tackling and more offensive problems were blamed for FSU.

    Nevada was bad, but the normal thing to do is give someone one last chance, which was Utah State.

    Don't forget that Barry Lamb suddenly retired weeks before the season started. That didn't help matters on the defensive side. I am not sure how much that makes a difference, but it should not be completely ignored.

    2 QB System--Choosing to start a true freshman is not an easy decision to make. When you do it, you essentially sentance yourself to a sub 3,000 yard and sub 20 TD passing season. It is considered a good year if the QB throws more TDs than Ints. Just until 2 weeks ago a significant contingent was crying for Jake to take a seat so we can see what Lark and Munns can do.

    While I don't want Riley to start the next two years, from what I saw, he showed he could have been serviceable this year if Heaps had redshirted.

    I also find it hard to fault Bronco for trying/wanting to delegate more to his assistants. Being a hands on head coach is very, very demanding. I think every coach in America would love to be able to use the LaVell approach. When he saw it wasn't working Bronco asserted himself. You can't say that about LaVell, a former defensive coach himself.

    The bottom line though, many people thought an 8-4 year could be considrered a successful year. If BYU wins the next two games, they finish 7-5, one game off the mark. While none of us expected or wanted things to start so ugly, it didn't have a huge effect on the end product.

    As the article reads, I am posing the question and using historical voting patterns and the resumes of other candidates to help everyone think about the question.

    Just as I said in my previous comment, I don't expect it to happen, but he has a better chance this year than the last two.

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