Holy War 2011

[Goatnapper'96]

Bronco's the one that fired Anae and hired Doman. It seems he was getting his inner thigh massaged as much as anyone.

I don't think that Bronco did it due to unpredictability of Anae. I think Mendenhall believed Anae was a good OC but the personality conflicts created the neccesity for change. In Bronco's judgement, IMO, the long term health of the BYU football program was benefitted by promoting Doman and there needed to be a place to promote Doman to. I think the staff changes were more the result of Bronco's respect for Doman and long term vision of the BYU program than they were the result of Anae being predictable, but I could be wrong in that assesment. I also bet if you pinned Mendnehall down he knew that Doman would struggle for some time as a new OC, but the time was right to make the changes for a few reasons. I think the good defense BYU was going to have for the next two years gave Mendenhall more confidence that a new OC would have more of a soft landing and the talent on offense is higher than it has been at BYU in many, many years. I still believe that. Unfortunately, the most talented RB is struggling (due to injuries or other issues it matters not) and is not yet ready to make that next step. I think next year BYU will put it together on both sides of the ball. Doman has a lot on his plate this year with being an OC, keeping his own head in the game with the new stress and keeping his young qb confident and improving. Doman is a fighter and a winner, he will come out on top when it is all said and done.

[drkennethnoisewater]

Unpredictability requires balance. Balance does not require balance but it requires the capacity to move the ball through the air or on the ground. One can throw the ball all day, but to be unpredictable your opponent must respect your ability to run the ball.

BYU can't run the ball as well as they would like. As such they are losing their ability to be umpredictable. I think Doman is fine but next time I would recommend him to have the self-discipline to not stroke the fans flames of expectations by massaging their inner thighs telling them that their criticisms of Robert Anae were correct by promising to be more "unpredictable." There are times where one can see that Bronco's disdain of fans and his reminding them of how little they know has merit.

Yeah, I'm actually one that had very tempered expectations with a new coordinator. A lot of comments I've seen on message boards seemed to believe that this was going to be a 12-0 or 11-1 season. To them 10-2 would be disappointing. I just didn't see it.

I say, let's give Doman a chance. Of course, I had no clue why Anae was getting shown the door. His offenses were top-20 in almost every category five out of his first six years. Four of those years were 10-win seasons. And I didn't understand the clamor that Doman was the savior, the head coach in waiting because I didn't have any evidence of what he could do other than two successful QBs (in Beck and Hall) and a QB mess last year.

My comment was completely sarcastic because of all the media love with the new offense and all of the comments we heard about how it wasn't predictable.

[jay santos]

I don't think that Bronco did it due to unpredictability of Anae. I think Mendenhall believed Anae was a good OC but the personality conflicts created the neccesity for change. In Bronco's judgement, IMO, the long term health of the BYU football program was benefitted by promoting Doman and there needed to be a place to promote Doman to. I think the staff changes were more the result of Bronco's respect for Doman and long term vision of the BYU program than they were the result of Anae being predictable, but I could be wrong in that assesment. I also bet if you pinned Mendnehall down he knew that Doman would struggle for some time as a new OC, but the time was right to make the changes for a few reasons. I think the good defense BYU was going to have for the next two years gave Mendenhall more confidence that a new OC would have more of a soft landing and the talent on offense is higher than it has been at BYU in many, many years. I still believe that. Unfortunately, the most talented RB is struggling (due to injuries or other issues it matters not) and is not yet ready to make that next step. I think next year BYU will put it together on both sides of the ball. Doman has a lot on his plate this year with being an OC, keeping his own head in the game with the new stress and keeping his young qb confident and improving. Doman is a fighter and a winner, he will come out on top when it is all said and done.

I agree Doman is very competitive and probably smart. And I think he'll eventually be a good offensive coordinator. I hope the Doman era starts this week.

Doman has a great personality. He's high energy and very likeable. That's a great trait and helps him in his role as recruiter. But those traits have next to no value in the role of a coordinator where it's all brains. I'm not convinced yet Bronco didn't drink the same Kool Aid the fans were drinking.

Sorry for being a little grumpy about it. If Anae haters can be irate all last year and make all manners of outlandish claims, I can make some complaints here in the aftermath.

[NorthwestUteFan]

Are you guys going start your own version of the 'Fire Ludwig!!' chant?

[jay santos]

Are you guys going start your own version of the 'Fire Ludwig!!' chant?

No. Far from it. We're two games into a new coordinator, 1-1 with a sophomore QB on the road against two BCS schools.

[Flattop]

You all are about to be Chowhitted!

More Chow bell!

[Goatnapper'96]

I agree Doman is very competitive and probably smart. And I think he'll eventually be a good offensive coordinator. I hope the Doman era starts this week.

Doman has a great personality. He's high energy and very likeable. That's a great trait and helps him in his role as recruiter. But those traits have next to no value in the role of a coordinator where it's all brains. I'm not convinced yet Bronco didn't drink the same Kool Aid the fans were drinking.

Sorry for being a little grumpy about it. If Anae haters can be irate all last year and make all manners of outlandish claims, I can make some complaints here in the aftermath.

I am with you. We chose this course of action and it is what it is. I was ambivalent about the Anae issue as I think Doman will be very good in the long term, but I felt BYU would have some challenges this year and likely for a few years as Doman really becomes the artisan I think he can be.

[Flattop]

You're making a little too much sense here. And even worse, you're undercutting the prevailing Ute argument that doing the Haka is all about calling out the enemy and has nothing to do with building unity and brotherhood among teammates.

Maybe you should edit your post to say that they only do it in front of a Taliban stronghold right before attacking as a means to call them out and challenge them to war.

I'm probably going to blow it with this post.

If it is about building team unity (and I am not saying it isn't) then it is not necessary to do it in front of your opponent, even with your back turned. Of course the troops in Afghanistan did not do the Haka in front of the Taliban, or anywhere near them. Rather they did it on their own FOB or in the rear. It was actually an intelligence staff that did the Haka in the Stan.

I first read about this in the August 2007 issue of Proceedings, the periodical of the U.S. Naval Institute. I posted a summary of the article at UF.N in September 2007 (link):

http://www.utefans.net/message.php?id=496336

I have no problem with BYU doing the Haka, but doing it on your rival's field might not be a particularly good idea. If it is about building team unity, it can be done anywhere, and therefore need not be done on an opponent's field.

I have to say that I am a little bit uncomfortable with the likening of football to combat and war. I think calling football uniforms combat uniforms is stupid. I am not comfortable with "War Utah!" cries.

I have read enough about war to know that it is ugly. It always has been ugly, and it always will be. There is no such thing as a good or clean war. Sometimes, however, there are just causes to fight for. In spite of the use of football terminology in combat, the two bear little resemblance.

War is hell, football is not. It is well that war is so terrible or we would grow to fond of it. It is well that football is not terrible so we can be fond of it.

[Flattop]

I don't think that Bronco did it due to unpredictability of Anae. I think Mendenhall believed Anae was a good OC but the personality conflicts created the neccesity for change. In Bronco's judgement, IMO, the long term health of the BYU football program was benefitted by promoting Doman and there needed to be a place to promote Doman to. I think the staff changes were more the result of Bronco's respect for Doman and long term vision of the BYU program than they were the result of Anae being predictable, but I could be wrong in that assesment. I also bet if you pinned Mendnehall down he knew that Doman would struggle for some time as a new OC, but the time was right to make the changes for a few reasons. I think the good defense BYU was going to have for the next two years gave Mendenhall more confidence that a new OC would have more of a soft landing and the talent on offense is higher than it has been at BYU in many, many years. I still believe that. Unfortunately, the most talented RB is struggling (due to injuries or other issues it matters not) and is not yet ready to make that next step. I think next year BYU will put it together on both sides of the ball. Doman has a lot on his plate this year with being an OC, keeping his own head in the game with the new stress and keeping his young qb confident and improving. Doman is a fighter and a winner, he will come out on top when it is all said and done.

Perhaps Bronco should have paid more attention to the Utah's SchramRod experiment. Being co-OCs was not the only problem.

[LA Ute]

I'm probably going to blow it with this post.

If it is about building team unity (and I am not saying it isn't) then it is not necessary to do it in front of your opponent, even with your back turned. Of course the troops in Afghanistan did not do the Haka in front of the Taliban, or anywhere near them. Rather they did it on their own FOB or in the rear. It was actually an intelligence staff that did the Haka in the Stan.

I first read about this in the August 2007 issue of Proceedings, the periodical of the U.S. Naval Institute. I posted a summary of the article at UF.N in September 2007 (link):

http://www.utefans.net/message.php?id=496336

I have no problem with BYU doing the Haka, but doing it on your rival's field might not be a particularly good idea. If it is about building team unity, it can be done anywhere, and therefore need not be done on an opponent's field.

I have to say that I am a little bit uncomfortable with the likening of football to combat and war. I think calling football uniforms combat uniforms is stupid. I am not comfortable with "War Utah!" cries.

I have read enough about war to know that it is ugly. It always has been ugly, and it always will be. There is no such thing as a good or clean war. Sometimes, however, there are just causes to fight for. In spite of the use of football terminology in combat, the two bear little resemblance.

War is hell, football is not. It is well that war is so terrible or we would grow to fond of it. It is well that football is not terrible so we can be fond of it.

I agree with you, but it looks like BYU has stopped doing the Haka. We must depend on Shaka to keep the tradition alive. The video will be priceless.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Didn't BYU abandon the haka thing? Why are we still talking about it?

[Flattop]

Didn't BYU abandon the haka thing? Why are we still talking about it?

They did, so this is a history discussion.

[byu71]

I agree Doman is very competitive and probably smart. And I think he'll eventually be a good offensive coordinator. I hope the Doman era starts this week.

Doman has a great personality. He's high energy and very likeable. That's a great trait and helps him in his role as recruiter. But those traits have next to no value in the role of a coordinator where it's all brains. I'm not convinced yet Bronco didn't drink the same Kool Aid the fans were drinking.

Sorry for being a little grumpy about it. If Anae haters can be irate all last year and make all manners of outlandish claims, I can make some complaints here in the aftermath.

I guess it is just the way things are, but it seems all of our coaches are growing into it after they arrive. Bronco is growing into it, Anae was growing into it, now Doman is growing into it. Jamie Hill was growing into it.

LaVelle had the luxory of have coaches that "had" grown.

[Jeff Lebowski]

They did, so this is a history discussion.

I thought the haka was a dumb idea so I am glad they abandoned it. But if it got into the heads of Ute fans as significantly as it appears based on comments by you and others, then perhaps it was worth it.

[Goatnapper'96]

I thought the haka was a dumb idea so I am glad they abandoned it. But if it got into the heads of Ute fans as significantly as it appears based on comments by you and others, then perhaps it was worth it.

Using stringpulling ALUF's ire as a litmus test for worthwhile BYU endeavors is a pretty low bar. It is time for BYU fans to rise up and set our sights higher than being the best surfer on the Antarctic Continent!