What happened?

[Top Ute]

When those programs have down cycles, coaches get fired and changes get made. Is there a head that needs to roll?

Be careful. Syracuse has sucked for nearly a decade because it decided a head needed to roll. It ended up firing the wrong guy. Pasqualoni being fired ranks as one of the ten worst firings this decade.

[Clark Addison]

When those programs have down cycles, coaches get fired and changes get made. Is there a head that needs to roll?

I don't want to be a namby-pamby apologist, but I think talk of heads rolling is probably silly until, say, we have a losing season. Or maybe even consecutive seasons where we lose more than 3 games. I agree that mistakes have been made, and that things feel bad right now, but talk of heads rolling is just stupid.

[DapperDan]

nobody said it had to be Bronco.

after 4th and Kariya I'm done with Anae. Surely there's some smaller school out there with a head coach position to fill that doesn't do their due diligence or hires based on religious affiliation that will take him off our hands. We can even throw in a tour of the HD truck to sweeten the deal.

[pellegrino]

after 4th and Kariya I'm done with Anae. Surely there's some smaller school out there with a head coach position to fill that doesn't do their due diligence or hires based on religious affiliation that will take him off our hands. We can even throw in a tour of the HD truck to sweeten the deal.

I've always felt that Anae is overly stubborn, slow to learn, and extremely dogmatic. You can't move the ball any old way, you have to do it his way with the dink and dunk. It gets old to see mickey mouse mistakes like that 4th and Kariya and the poor play calling we've had in the blue zone this year. I think he's smart, but has brain farts all together too often and he's just too damned stubborn for his own good.

[HuskyFreeNorthwest]

Sure, and Crowton's head rolled after 3-4 years of.500 ball. That's what it should take and I think Bronco has earned the right to have a couple of down years.

Anyone calling for Bronco's head right now is a silly goose or SU.

[Surfah]

I've never cared for Anae. I think BYU's offense has been awesome in spite of him.

[woot]

I'll add my agreement with the general sentiment. Anae has benefited from some great talent that has fit his system perfectly. It seems that he is unable to adjust his gameplan at all to fit the players he now has.

Even when he had his players, I hated how predictable his playcalling was, but he got results anyway. Now that we don't have good players, his predictable playcalling is a big problem. Almost as big as his inability to arrange any easy throws for Jake.

I watched a ton of young QBs today make a living off really easy throws to their athletic WRs, and yet Anae is forcing Jake to make standard downfield reads on almost every play. Why? It's just not smart.

[Gaddeus]

I think losing Unga is a big part of it. A running game with a workhorse in Unga and a change of pace back of Di Luigi running behind a solid O-Line would have taken a lot of pressure of the QB no matter who was taking the snaps..

I would personally like to see more of Quezada alongside Di Luigi.. I think we need more of a workhorse back as the primary guy so JJ can be a change of pace guy and see some time in the slot..

[SeattleUte]

BYU lives and dies by the LDS recruits. They're like grape harvests for wine producers. You have great years, good years and not so good years (who really knows why it's one way or another one year to the next), and they have to get time to ferment. I've always felt that the main difference between Crowton and Bronco was luck and timing. After all, Crowton proved he was capable of an 11-2 yerar.

Don't blame the O coordinator. That's so lame. It's Bronco's team.

[Sizzle]

I will have to go back and watch some tape to confirm some of these things, but here are my initial gut feelings.

1) Bronco did an absolutely horrible job at managing the game. It didn't matter because we didn't score, but his decision early in the 4th on about the 15 to go for it on 4th and 4 (with a horrible play call) really hurt. 3 points there, and another 3 points the second to last drive puts the score at 8 instead of 14. A TD on the last drive with a 2 point conversion at least ties the game. Where we were at, we had no shot. Also, we left a timeout on the board. In a tight game you just can't do it. Call timeout before their punt and it gives you another 4 or so plays instead of letting the clock run down.

2) Watching the offense with Heaps reminds me of watching John Beck circa 2004. A lot of big plays or big play potential, but just off a little bit. I think Heaps has more upside than Beck and I think he will realize his potential quicker. But something just isn't clicking offensively, and I don't know if it Heaps making the wrong reads or trying to force the ball and get it all once, or if it is the play calling. But the offense has been most effective over the last few years when they focus on the 8-15 yard plays. It seems like we have focused on either shorter or loner stuff. Like I sad though, not sure whose shoulders that falls on, Heaps or Anae, or the fact that we don't have a tight end or safety blanket that he can check down to for those plays.

3) My biggest concern right now is momentum and confidence. 1-3 is
a downer at 2 games below .500 but 1-4 feels like a long ways from .500. 2-3 you're still only one game down heading into a winnable conference schedule. You get further down and guys start trying too hard and don't buy into the team concept, discontent and questioning the coaches and staff happens. It's not a good thing.

4) Anae and Bronco have built schemes that focus on execution. If you are disciplined and do your job, you are going to win most games. But there is a fine line between perfect execution that wins games and average execution that gets you beat. We are young. If we can Get back to what has made BYU BYU recently, we can turn it around and get ready moving forward for the next few years. Having said that, I wouldn't be terribly sad to see RA let go.

[Uncle Ted]

Good point, is it too late to bring back Norm Chow?

I was just thinking today how nice it would have been if Norm Chow was still part of BYU's coaching staff as UCLA's pistol offense was handing Texas their worst home lose in the Mack Brown era.

[Parrot Head]

When those programs have down cycles, coaches get fired and changes get made. Is there a head that needs to roll?

As mentioned by another (am I agreeing with Top Ute? Wow, I need sleep.), how effective of a management strategy is this? How much good has it done for Our Lady? They get an awesome season out of each new guy and then return to "meh" status while that coach transforms the program to his style, only be fired when this transformation doesn't happen in some impossibly short period of time. Rocky Top? Lane, Lane, wherefore art thou? UW? Even with a shoulda-been-#1-pick Locker, it's not yet solved.

I'm sure there's an HBS case study in there somewhere.

[All-American]

As mentioned by another (am I agreeing with Top Ute? Wow, I need sleep.), how effective of a management strategy is this? How much good has it done for Our Lady? They get an awesome season out of each new guy and then return to "meh" status while that coach transforms the program to his style, only be fired when this transformation doesn't happen in some impossibly short period of time. Rocky Top? Lane, Lane, wherefore art thou? UW? Even with a shoulda-been-#1-pick Locker, it's not yet solved.

I'm sure there's an HBS case study in there somewhere.

I don't think I was able to appropriately convey the sarcasm with which I intended my post. I don't think rolling out the guillotine at the drop of the hat is the way to do things, either. But neither do I think that this precipitous drop is one to which we ought to be accustomed. Great programs endure valleys as well as enjoying peaks, fine. But I would hope that they can also identify what could have or should have been done to avoid the decline. If it all comes down to rolling dice, that's one thing, but I suspect that is not the case here.

[BlueHair]

I think Anae needs to call a few more fades. Seriously, why don't we work the middle of the field more? It seems the few slants we ran today were wide open. The fade is a silly low percentage play unless you have a really accurate QB and a great receiver.

[Coastal Ute]

BYU needs coordinators that mix play calling up and aren't afraid to be assholes.

Lol. There probably is some truth to that.

I think BYU will be good again- probably sooner than a lot of fans think. What I've been wondering about is the transition that will occur next year and how positively/negatively that affects the program. I think going indy will probably stunt the programs growth a little. But they'll probably be back on an even keel in 2 to 3 years. At least, you'd hope so.

I agree with whoever said that Bronco deserves a couple of down years. When you crank out as many wins as he has over the past 4 years, how could you not give him a little lee way? The guys a solid coach IMO.