Fire Kalani

[fusnik]

Why is it nutually exclusive? Both deserve to be canned.

Why does KS deserve to be fired?

The institutional impediments are insane.

Don’t athletes have to have a 25 ACT and 3.0 gpa to get in? And he gets 3-5 exceptions per year? They also can’t drink and bang girlfriends.

Stanford is a 26 ACT. Stanford’s coaching staff says they have a pool of 40 kids per year that are recruitable. That means BYU has maybe 20 legitimate recruit targets a year.

You can’t schedule a P5 schedule when more than half your kids aren’t P5 players.

Name one player on BYU that starts at Utah? Bushman?

[Maximus]

unless he's completely old and senile, why would he want Grimes. ftr, he can have him. please, take him. save us from ourselves.

Meh. Kalani would just promote roderick.

[Maximus]

Lol fire KS?

Some people are so dumb.

What’s the best BYU team of the past 20 years? Hall’s senior year? Becks senior year? Domains senior year?

You replace any of those teams with this years team and they go what? 9-3 maybe?

The person to go is Holmoe.

Independence is awful, he navigated P5 inclusion insanely bad, his scheduling while it looks cool is absolutely idiotic.

If the team starts 0-6 next year would you really be that surprised?

Why is it mutually exclusive? Both deserve to be canned.

[fusnik]

Lol fire KS?

Some people are so dumb.

What’s the best BYU team of the past 20 years? Hall’s senior year? Becks senior year? Domains senior year?

You replace any of those teams with this years team and they go what? 9-3 maybe?

The person to go is Holmoe.

Independence is awful, he navigated P5 inclusion insanely bad, his scheduling while it looks cool is absolutely idiotic.

If the team starts 0-6 next year would you really be that surprised?

[Goatnapper'96]

What should BYU have done differently to keep Bronco? Don't just say "pay him more" without specifying where the money will come from.

I don't know if they could have. I don't know what BYU's financial situation is and what it can afford to pay coaches. I really don't know if BYU is paying out at the max of what it can or if it holds back due to cultural/religious beliefs on greed and an effort to eschew the arms race of college football and basketball. But I don't think with Mendenhall it was all about money. I think Mendenhall left in the end because he was fatigued with the situation. The situation as I define it includes many variables that made it no longer worth it to him to coach at BYU. I don't know what percentage each variable was of the pie that motivated him to move on and I would think there are things I am missing but here goes my perspective on why Mendenhall moved on:

1.) The situation has led to BYU scheduling way above the program it can put on the field. BYU's unique fanbase and the size of it afford it certain advantages that are greater than the non BCS conference teams. This allows BYU to get good schedules against good teams, mostly in the first 1/3 of the year, and a fatter paycheck from ESPN than they would get as a member of a conference. However, that exposure on TV and good games against good teams in September and early October does not appear to be helping BYU to overcome many of the institutional and landscape impediments it faces when recruiting. Hence, BYU is overscheduled and will likely do well to average 7.5 wins a year.

2.) I think Bronco wanted to be in a conference. I wonder if this was part of what frustrated him. In a conference the talk is the kids have something to play for, and I am sure that was part of the situation. However, I think a bigger part of what conference affiliation does is it forces BYU to schedule itself more consistent, or at an advantage versus, its competition. This is really just a solution to problem #1. As I said I wonder what Mendenhall's perspective was when Independence was being evaluated as hubris is a characteristic of him I can believe, but I wonder if once he concluded this was not going according to plan he wanted to adjust and the powers that be like the higher revenue BYU gets under independence. Or more likely, I bet he thought BYU would be in the Big 12 by the time he had enough and bolted.

3.) BYU has institutional impediments to athletic success. Some of those are non-negotiable and some are negotiable. These are both academic and honor code related. I am certain that if one coaches sports at BYU, but specifically the two high profile sports, there is a grind where in time you likely begin to view more and more of the impediments as negotiable and get frustrated that kids you think could help you win are either not admitted or suspended/dismissed. I know myself and how competitive I am and my instinct is guys coaching at the D1 level want to win and likely on occasion feel they are not getting the help from those areas they would like. Just like a small pebble in your boot on a hike. Early on it doesn't hurt but in time it can be real painful. I am not citing any specific case with Bronco just articulating that it is my belief that in time he likely got fed up with dealing with the BYU's institutional impediments to success that he would not have to deal with elsewhere.

4.) I think it would also be a grind to deal with a fanbase whose expectations are not congruent with either the institution's decision makers goals or the program's potential. Look at how people overreacted to Robert Anae and the final drive in the 2010 game against Utah and how folks are overreacting to the 2nd half of the game against Utah. I know fans everywhere have issues but I think that the BYU fanbase suffers from the biggest case of what they believe the program can do versus what it can really do. Bronco was a good coach but the fanbase never really forgave him for Utah 2008 and TCU in 2009 and 2010 providing their fanbases special seasons and him only being consistently good at BYU. I don't think the admin shared the fanbase's opinion but I do think that it just became part of the situation that led to his unhappiness. I am not sure there is anything BYU can do about that issue however. It is not smart business to purposely beat down the hopes and dreams of your customer base.

So in essence the only steps BYU could take is:

1.) Join a conference so that scheduling returns to where it was from about Ty Detmer through the first couple years of independence.

2.) Make it easier for athletes, or all students, to get into school and stay there.

3.) Pay great coaches more if it can.

4.) Institutionally support a goal to be better even if that means bad exposure on occasion.

[smokymountainrain]

What should BYU have done differently to keep Bronco? Don't just say "pay him more" without specifying where the money will come from.

their checking account. boom!

jl me

[Flystripper]

What should BYU have done differently to keep Bronco? Don't just say "pay him more" without specifying where the money will come from.

I don't know the specific accounting of where the money would come from, but does it really matter? There is plenty of money at BYU/the Church to pay the coaches whatever they want to pay them. Are you saying BYU can't afford to pay the coaches more (if they deem it necessary to do so)?

[USUC]

I keep seeing this argument over and over here. It is like an article of faith to handwringing byu fans. But what should BYU be doing that they are not? Which resources are you talking about?

Obviously, I have absolutely no insight into anything in the athletic department and I clearly no nothing about what it takes to run a successful program. My perception, based mainly on what my ignorant self sees and some of the "people connected to the program," is that coaching salaries are worse than the successful G5 programs, that money invested in recruitment lags far behind, that the admissions office won't work with the football program, and that the HC office unnecessarily places a microscope on the players.

Is this true? I don't know.

[Jeff Lebowski]

I think what you have seen on the field and the fact that Mendenhall left for UVA should be an indicator about what BYU's commitment to football is. I don't know and I don't really know if anyone really does but recruiting has dropped fairly significantly from where it was. It seems to me that Crowton recruited about as well as Lavell did the final 5 years of Lavell's tenure. Then under Mendenhall it dropped a bit from what Crowton did. Then the last half of Mendenhall it dropped a bit more and Kalani seems to be recruiting at about that level. With the increasingly difficult schedules it is not a match made in heaven. I don't know who was involved in all the decisions but my instinct is one of the reasons Mendenhall left was because he recognized the mismatch, but I wonder if he overestimated what he could compete against with what he was able to recruit.

What should BYU have done differently to keep Bronco? Don't just say "pay him more" without specifying where the money will come from.

[Jeff Lebowski]

If BYU isn't going to put in the resources to compete in big time football, then maybe the AAC is the best place to be. The problem is I have no idea what the commitment is. I have no idea if they are just waiting to see how the landscape changes or if they are being proactive. I have no idea if they are willing to look at modifying admissions standards for athletes. Because they are radio silent, I'm hesitant to have them just jump into the AAC. But if they do, there needs to be a clause to exit the conference without penalty of a P5 invite comes.

I keep seeing this argument over and over here. It is like an article of faith to handwringing byu fans. But what should BYU be doing that they are not? Which resources are you talking about?

[Goatnapper'96]

If BYU isn't going to put in the resources to compete in big time football, then maybe the AAC is the best place to be. The problem is I have no idea what the commitment is. I have no idea if they are just waiting to see how the landscape changes or if they are being proactive. I have no idea if they are willing to look at modifying admissions standards for athletes. Because they are radio silent, I'm hesitant to have them just jump into the AAC. But if they do, there needs to be a clause to exit the conference without penalty of a P5 invite comes.

I think what you have seen on the field and the fact that Mendenhall left for UVA should be an indicator about what BYU's commitment to football is. I don't know and I don't really know if anyone really does but recruiting has dropped fairly significantly from where it was. It seems to me that Crowton recruited about as well as Lavell did the final 5 years of Lavell's tenure. Then under Mendenhall it dropped a bit from what Crowton did. Then the last half of Mendenhall it dropped a bit more and Kalani seems to be recruiting at about that level. With the increasingly difficult schedules it is not a match made in heaven. I don't know who was involved in all the decisions but my instinct is one of the reasons Mendenhall left was because he recognized the mismatch, but I wonder if he overestimated what he could compete against with what he was able to recruit.

[USUC]

We had all the same issues under bronco, but somehow didnt lose to teams like umass, get blown out by USU two years in a row, etc. etc.

i get the schedules are harder, and it is obvious it isnt the right choice. Recruting isnt getting better, but schedules getting harder. Time to go to the AAC

If BYU isn't going to put in the resources to compete in big time football, then maybe the AAC is the best place to be. The problem is I have no idea what the commitment is. I have no idea if they are just waiting to see how the landscape changes or if they are being proactive. I have no idea if they are willing to look at modifying admissions standards for athletes. Because they are radio silent, I'm hesitant to have them just jump into the AAC. But if they do, there needs to be a clause to exit the conference without penalty of a P5 invite comes.

[Maximus]

In retrospect, the Kalani hire was not a good one. The concern at time of hire was that Whitt was managing the defense, and his coordinator experience wasn't as valuable as others. That turned out to be the case. Now that he is the man, he comes across as a little disorganized and immature. I think he's learned some lessons and is and will do better. If we had an obvious choice, maybe I'd fire him and take it. But we don't. And last time we didn't have an obvious choice, it didn't get better. We have too many institutional problems with football right now to expect much better results than we are getting.

We had all the same issues under bronco, but somehow didnt lose to teams like umass, get blown out by USU two years in a row, etc. etc.

i get the schedules are harder, and it is obvious it isnt the right choice. Recruting isnt getting better, but schedules getting harder. Time to go to the AAC

[jay santos]

In retrospect, the Kalani hire was not a good one. The concern at time of hire was that Whitt was managing the defense, and his coordinator experience wasn't as valuable as others. That turned out to be the case. Now that he is the man, he comes across as a little disorganized and immature. I think he's learned some lessons and is and will do better. If we had an obvious choice, maybe I'd fire him and take it. But we don't. And last time we didn't have an obvious choice, it didn't get better. We have too many institutional problems with football right now to expect much better results than we are getting.

[Sullyute]

Fire Kalani

You have a great home schedule over the next few years. Mad props to Holmoe, tough row to hoe for Kalani.