Bronco articulates his verbal commitment policy

[Hot Lunch]

Also add Jim Boylen (who took it a step further) and Urban Meyer to the list. In fact, I wonder what Kyle Whittingham does in these situations...

He obviously didn't with the Joe Kruger situation.

[smokymountainrain]

So let me get this right:


Not only do you not recruit something that is currently committed to a school, but you also don't recruit them after they've already de-committed? How much farther would you like to broaden the scope of this?

Are you saying Apo had de-committed before Bronco started recruiting him? If so, that is news to me.

[Hot Lunch]

Ask Harvey Unga how he reacts when you decommit.

I thought Harvey wasn't a decommt and just that he told Kyle he was going to BYU and received the reaction.

[byu71]

Am I out to lunch here. If you truly believe you are on God's team, not joking, just saying that if you are a believer, wouldn't the higher thing to do would be talk someone out of a committment so they can be in a better place. Footballwise is small potatoes, being where God is, is the big time thing.

Therefor if that was a persons mindset, there is nothing hypocritical in changing your mind to come to the good place vs changing your mind to go to a lesser good to evil place.

Cutting off Laban's head comes to mind. If God is on your side, all rules are out.

[Hot Lunch]

Are you saying Apo had de-committed before Bronco started recruiting him? If so, that is news to me.

No he hadn't. I know that for a fact. See my post in SE form last week.

[TripletDaddy]

So let me get this right:


Not only do you not recruit something that is currently committed to a school, but you also don't recruit them after they've already de-committed? How much farther would you like to broaden the scope of this?

These are Bronco's parameters, not mine. I am of the opinion that all's fair in recruiting (obviously not illegal stuff or rules violations).

Bronco said pretty clearly:

"Sometimes the recruit uses the verbal commitment like it is a game. I focus on the commitment part, not the verbal part. If I tell you I am going to do something, I think my honor and succinct honesty is being addressed to do what I say I'm going to do.

So per his own scope, you would think he would tell Apo, "look, I know you are interested in BYU, but you gave your word to Texas, now you have gone back on that word. I think you should go back there and keep your original commitment. I believe strongly in keeping commitments. these are the life skills that I teach my players (and apparently their parents?). Our Church has actually taught that it is better to die first before we go back on our word. Please reconsider your commitment to Texas because more important than football is my interest in helping you maintain your integrity. Go back to Texas. Good luck in your career, but BYU is looking for kids that can make and keep a commitment. By definition, you cannot do that."

Which brings us back to my original post in this thread...Bronco's catch-all for his high moral standards:

And if, for some reason I don't, I'm going to give a great reason and I'm going to apologize profusely for any inconvenience I've caused.

So keep your word....unless you have a good reason. Sounds good, Bronco.

And presto....we now have Apo!

[Goatnapper'96]

In the end it is a cost benefit analysis.

What matters is what Jay Santos said: Is his recruiting maximizing the talent available to him?

I think most rational people can understand the potential implications of his catering to the mullah wing of BYU's fanbase. It has the potential of causing him to lose athletes and assistant coaches who are not fired up about that type of stuff. The benefit is that it pacifies a wing of the fanbase that can be disruptive to his operations if they are given the chance.

IMO, he is recruiting the top notch LDS kids in about the same percentages as Lavell ever did. However, he is not bringing in the same caliber of non-LDS guys that Lavell did. This is somewhat mitigated by a better LDS base than Lavell had. Additionally, the atmosphere at BYU is different than it was when Lavell was there. I propose that the stress over BYU tightening its atmosphere was a big part of the story why BYU football took a dip from post 1996 until 2007, with respect to consistency.

The question, IMO, is what is the proper balance. I would love for BYU to recruit guys who want to nail chicks and just let them be in order to win games. In fact the cry of hypocrisy of a vanquished foe is indeed nipple hardening. However, reality is what it is. I could be a USC fan. So SC cheats like bastards, taking away their MNC from 2005 cannot take back the joy and memories the fans had for that year. But the mullahs are out there and their kind are in positions of authority. They have to be dealt with.

I am not sure what the perfect balance is, but evaluating things historically Mendenhall's consistent success indicate to me that he is balancing it as good as anyone ever has.

[cougjunkie]

I thought Harvey wasn't a decommt and just that he told Kyle he was going to BYU and received the reaction.

http://byu.scout.com/a.z?s=338&p=9&c...932&fhn=1&pg=3

[Indy Coug]

Are you saying Apo had de-committed before Bronco started recruiting him? If so, that is news to me.

It appears that DDD was saying that would be improper, so I was trying to find out if that's what he really meant.

[kccougar]

He obviously didn't with the Joe Kruger situation.

And Bronco didn't under similar circumstances EARLIER IN THE RECRUITING PROCESS. I still maintain that Bronco issued his ultimatum because Kona pulled his stunt days before the deadline.

[Hot Lunch]

http://byu.scout.com/a.z?s=338&p=9&c...932&fhn=1&pg=3

You are right then. For some reason I thought it was the other way around or at least my brother told me that way.

[TripletDaddy]

Are you saying Apo had de-committed before Bronco started recruiting him? If so, that is news to me.

In fairness to Indy, he is asking if he has it right, which is an express admission that he is unsure about that which he asking.

[Goatnapper'96]

I've seen this before. Frank Arnold and Roger Reid were seemingly successful basketball coaches who were nevertheless self-righteous pricks. They had success for a while because of the LDS pipeline and some very good fortune with once in a generation LDS players at certain positions. But eventually, their arrogant, erascible, self-righteous, holier than thou behavior destroyed their programs. It took awhile but both started to lose becuase they were such jerks no one wanted to play for them anymore, and then they were fired, basically for being jerks.

Frank Arnold only had success when Ainge was a junior and senior. He just wasn't that good of a coach. Reid was a great coach but his recruiting issues became obvious by his 4th year at BYU. It just took a long time for that to shake out. Mendenhall is as good a coach as Reid and a much better recruiter than either. You sound like a dumbass.

[smokymountainrain]

No he hadn't. I know that for a fact. See my post in SE form last week.

That's what I thought. Thanks, HL.

[il Padrino Ute]

Not true if Kruger was fully committed he would have refused to visit BYU and take the free tickets to most of their home games. By visiting BYU, attending practices and showing mutual interest that proves that Kruger was not fully committed to Utah to begin with (in Broncos eyes).

This is a classic example of junkie's high quality trolling ability. Rather clever, isn't it?