Anae's personality

[SoCalCoug]

Chow may have been predictable but the cause was a general lack of good to great talent. BYU's offense those few seasons had decent players but not great.
As soon as he had USC's talent his offense was unpredictable and unstoppable.

An OC's job is significantly easier when they have talent to work with. It's like Ute fans complaining about A-Rod this year. Aside from Taylor and Schladerauf (sp?), Utah didn't have anyone who was all that good. Once Utah ran into decent defenses at the end of the season, the offense came back to earth.

And when you have great talent, you don't have to be a great playcaller. Maybe Anae could find success with a team that has better talent.

When you have great talent, you can be predictable, because the other team just can't keep up with you. Talent can overcome non-excellent gameplanning and playcalling.

I'm starting to think there's no such thing as a great or excellent offensive coordinator, because apparently a lot of people think you can't blame the coaches for that predictability.

Are we just so far removed from a truly innovative gameplanner that we think it's more of a legend than a reality?

Look at what Bronco did with the same talent Hill had. Is that impossible on the offensive side?

[Coach McGuirk]

And when you have great talent, you don't have to be a great playcaller. Maybe Anae could find success with a team that has better talent.

When you have great talent, you can be predictable, because the other team just can't keep up with you. Talent can overcome non-excellent gameplanning and playcalling.

I'm starting to think there's no such thing as a great or excellent offensive coordinator, because apparently a lot of people think you can't blame the coaches for that predictability.

Are we just so far removed from a truly innovative gameplanner that we think it's more of a legend than a reality?

Look at what Bronco did with the same talent Hill had. Is that impossible on the offensive side?

I'm with you SoCal. Anae certainly wasn't horrible, but I questioned the timing and predictability of his play calling.

[Bjorn Turoque]

He may not be the best OC to ever coach college football (I believe we ran that guy out of town) but he is not marginal.

You know, nothing against Norm, but it's kind of crazy the reputation he gained by coordinating plays for Carson Palmer, Matt Leinart, Reggie Bush, Lendale White, Dwayne Jarrett, Steve Smith, and Mike Williams. I mean, the guy's offenses have sucked for the last six years, but lots of people still consider him "the" OC guru of college football.

[Surfah]

You know, nothing against Norm, but it's kind of crazy the reputation he gained by coordinating plays for Carson Palmer, Matt Leinart, Reggie Bush, Lendale White, Dwayne Jarrett, Steve Smith, and Mike Williams. I mean, the guy's offenses have sucked for the last six years, but lots of people still consider him "the" OC guru of college football.

He was the OC guru before he coached those guys.

[Flystripper]

You know, nothing against Norm, but it's kind of crazy the reputation he gained by coordinating plays for Carson Palmer, Matt Leinart, Reggie Bush, Lendale White, Dwayne Jarrett, Steve Smith, and Mike Williams. I mean, the guy's offenses have sucked for the last six years, but lots of people still consider him "the" OC guru of college football.

forgot to mention Phillip Rivers at NC State.

[Pheidippides]

I'm with you SoCal. Anae certainly wasn't horrible, but I questioned the timing and predictability of his play calling.

In most games, there were three or four calls that would leave me scratching my head.

[Sizzle]

BTW, Lavell always knew his players names. I saw Lavell once and I was walking with a late 90s scout team member. Lavell stopped us and talked to him. Asked him about his wife (by name) and about his studies (by major). This kid probably was on the scout team in 97 and we saw Lavell in 2008.

Yup one thing about Lavell is he loved his players. I saw him at the football offices one morning and chatted him up about my old man. He remembered a few details which impressed me, since he only played two seasons and was nothing more than a scout team/special team guy. And that was in the 70s. We were talking about 25+ years later.

[KillerDog]

You know, nothing against Norm, but it's kind of crazy the reputation he gained by coordinating plays for Carson Palmer, Matt Leinart, Reggie Bush, Lendale White, Dwayne Jarrett, Steve Smith, and Mike Williams. I mean, the guy's offenses have sucked for the last six years, but lots of people still consider him "the" OC guru of college football.

If an OC coaches one or two great talents and creates great offenses you might say the talent was the thing. If, on the other hand, he coaches at three different schools and produces amazing QB play at all 3; and tutors other coaches to become great OCs; and runs successful offenses for a minimum of 20 years; then you have to think it might be Chow that made Leinart, Palmer, Bush, White, Jarrett, Smith and Williams, not the other way around. I mean seriously, Leinart has been shit in the pros and a few of those other guys haven't been that amazing either.

[jay santos]

you have no idea what you're talking about

? What part of that didn't you agree? I think that opinion that Chow ran the show in the 90's is shared by many. No?

[old_gregg]

? What part of that didn't you agree? I think that opinion that Chow ran the show in the 90's is shared by many. No?

these points are all factually incorrect:

Lavell didn't even know his player's names by that point. Chow did everything. I wouldn't be surprised if Chow was calling the shots on what coaches to hire and which players to play on the defense, too. French was never co-anything (except for maybe in name only). He was OL coach.

[jay santos]

these points are all factually incorrect:

Lavell didn't even know his player's names by that point.

Lavell made himself look silly in radio interviews all through the 90's. He frequently forgot player's names. Referred to guys as #23 or #88 in post game shows. He's the saint of BYU football and we'd be nowhere without him, but he was barely even involved with the program towards the end.


Chow did everything. I wouldn't be surprised if Chow was calling the shots on what coaches to hire and which players to play on the defense, too.

If Lavell wasn't running the show, someone was, and it was Chow. The defense thing I added was hyperbole, but Chow was definitely in charge. How could people be accusing Chow of all this political stuff if he didn't have the power to decide who was playing and being recruited and all that?


French was never co-anything (except for maybe in name only). He was OL coach.

French was a fiery guy and could lace a string of profanities like no other, but he was a position coach, nothing more. He taught technique and motivated the OL. He was not the brains behind anything from a strategic standpoint by any stretch of the imagination, and if he ever held the title of co-OC it was in name only.

What exactly do you dispute?

[falafel]

From Drew:

drewjay Jay Drew
Robert Anae, who resigned, would not return fellow coach Lance Reynolds' phone calls after the Dec. 20 mtg. Shows staff was dysfunctional.

[KillerDog]

That's interesting. I knew there was animosity in the staff and it sounds like the Dec. 20 meeting was more than just a statement to the coaches by Bronco.

[statman]

I don't see anything wrong with the playcalling.

Rewatch the Utah game.

The decision to go for it instead of a FG that would have put BYU up 16-0 was just bizarre. And the choice of the actual play called was strange as well. 4th and inches, and you call a play that has at best a 65-75% chance of success? Why not a QB sneak? Everything about that particular decision was dumbness on steroids...

The decision at the end of the game to burn clock and attempt a game winning FG - very strange. And dumb on so many levels. They had PLENTY of time, and TOs remaining. Why bet everything on a 40+ yard FG in cold weather in front of a hostile crowd, etc. Making that kick was a 50-50 proposition. Why not let Heaps throw it a time or two? Heaps got them in the position they were - he'd completed a bunch of passes to move them down the field to where they could kick the FG. And THEN Anae decides that letting a freshman QB pass the ball would be too much pressure on him? That decision HAD to have been viewed as an insult to Heaps - and worse - to his family. Had they been 10 yards closer, I could understand the decision. But the totality of the decision - betting the outcome of the game on a 50-50 FG and not even trying to improve the odds by passing to get closer - It was just dumb on so many levels.

Anyone with insider viewpoint close enough to know how the Heaps family reacted to the Utah game? I imagine that they could be pretty upset by how everything went down. I also imagine that they've got clout - especially when Doman is a hot coaching prospect. They could easily say - get rid of Anae and make Doman the OC, or Jake is transferring to whatever school Doman goes to. Things were already lining up badly for Anae. Pissing off Heaps and co would just be the last straw...

[Katy Lied]

It would seem to make sense that coaches want to win, so they play the best players, but I've observed too many instances of coaching incentives conflicting with player incentives, even when both want to win.

Example 1:
Coach's strategy is to start freshman QB and freshman team. Year 1 they're horrible (cause they're all freshman) but by the time they get to be seniors, they're experienced and invincible. This buys the coach a championship every 4 years, often enough for the coach to retain his job. If you're a player with good talent in years 2, 3, and 4, you sit the bench or you provide support to the "freshman" team. No matter how good you are, the coach will play his freshman team because their experience is more important than winning in the off years.

Example 2:
It is more important for the coach's son/favored player to get good press/experience than it is for the coach to maximize his players' strengths. So if you are more talented than the coach's son, but play the same position, you will be shuffled off to another position. And the coach calls plays which pander to his son's strengths, rather than plays which pander to the team's strengths.