Do you like Max?

[JohnnyLingo]

I would say that is more Xs and Os or a failure to properly teach whatever Xs and Os the coaches had developed.

Fair enough.

[Goatnapper'96]

The point is, if your defense sucks, as the OC, keep the ball out of the other team's offensive hands. You can control that. You can't control suckiness.

What was our avg. yard per running play at Tulsa? Again that only works if you are ahead and I don't recall if BYU was ever ahead.

BYU was ahead in the first quarter and had a chance to go up 14-0 but choked and missed the FG attempt. Things went downhill from there. Further, check out the average TOP on Tulsa scoring drives. They kept giving the ball back to BYU's offense in a hurry. TOP was decidedly in BYU's favor and the issue wasn't the offense. The issue with the coaching staff was either the inability to develop a scheme on the fly to deal with what Tulsa was doing - something BYU had never seen before, or the issue with the coaching staff was the inability to effectively communicate to the defense how to implement the quickly developed scheme. I love and adore Mendenhall as a head coach and think he is much better than the pussy fanbase at BYU deserves, but adjusting on the fly is not his strongpoint, IMO.

[Indy Coug]

BYU was ahead in the first quarter and had a chance to go up 14-0 but choked and missed the FG attempt. Things went downhill from there. Further, check out the average TOP on Tulsa scoring drives. They kept giving the ball back to BYU's offense in a hurry. TOP was decidedly in BYU's favor and the issue wasn't the offense. The issue with the coaching staff was either the inability to develop a scheme on the fly to deal with what Tulsa was doing - something BYU had never seen before, or the issue with the coaching staff was the inability to effectively communicate to the defense how to implement the quickly developed scheme. I love and adore Mendenhall as a head coach and think he is much better than the pussy fanbase at BYU deserves, but adjusting on the fly is not his strongpoint, IMO.

Coach: Safeties, stop biting so hard on the play action fakes

Safeties: OK, coach.

[Safeties bite on play action, get beat on deep route]

Coach: Safeties, stop biting so hard on the play action fakes

Safeties: OK, coach.

[Safeties bite on play action, get beat on deep route]

Coach: Safeties, stop biting so hard on the play action fakes

Safeties: OK, coach.

[Safeties bite on play action, get beat on deep route]

[JohnnyLingo]

I love and adore Mendenhall as a head coach and think he is much better than the pussy fanbase at BYU deserves, but adjusting on the fly is not his strongpoint, IMO.

Is it fair to expect great coaches to have this ability?

[Goatnapper'96]

Is it fair to expect great coaches to have this ability?

I don't really know. I tend to think the only way to trully judge a head coach is in the overall performance, wins and losses. Compartmentalizing his individual weaknesses or strengths in various components is fun, but the dude's job is to win games and not give warm fuzzies to Non-Sequitar or anyone else. IMO, given the resources at his disposal and the limitations affiliated with BYU I think he is one hell of a head coach.

Part of what makes BYU so good is execution. I think to be really good at the adjustment game one is likely to lose some ability to execute. I don't pretend to know what the balance should be, other than to evaluate the end result.

[Flattop]

If he's losing games because he can't make adjustments, can he be a great coach?

[Babs]

If he's losing games because he can't make adjustments, can he be a great coach?

sure he can! After all, Stoops is top five.

[Goatnapper'96]

If he's losing games because he can't make adjustments, can he be a great coach?

Great coaches are defined by how often they win, not by the reason that they lose. I think that when you win double digit games for 3 straight years you are well on your way to being a great college football coach. My bar might be set too low, but I spend most of my time at the office pontificating about bullshit I know nothing about. Hypocrisy is not my strongsuit!

[Flattop]

"Simply pursuing operational effectiveness while adhering to an obsolete strategy is a formula for failure."

-- Vice Admiral Arthur K. Cebrowski, USN & John J. Gartska

Simply trying to execute better while adhering to a flawed game strategy is a formula for losing.

[HuskyFreeNorthwest]

Mitch usually gets good PT against the lower tier teams, like Oregon.

Weak weak sauce, Trojan.

[JohnnyLingo]

Great coaches are defined by how often they win, not by the reason that they lose.

What if you win because your talent is head and shoulders above that of your opponents?

[Indy Coug]

What if you win because your talent is head and shoulders above that of your opponents?

Then take that into account by looking at the style points. Just because your talent is better than others doesn't mean you're going to win games. Look at circa 1980s-1990s USC.

[Goatnapper'96]

What if you win because your talent is head and shoulders above that of your opponents?

Recruiting is part of coaching the college game. People can bitch and moan about Lute Olsen, but by my definition he was one hell of a great college basketball coach.

[Flattop]

What if a coach piles up blow-out wins against a weak schedule but loses the few games against good teams because he can't make adjustments?

[Goatnapper'96]

"Simply pursuing operation effectiveness while adhering to an obsolete strategy is a formula for failure."

-- Vice Admiral Arthur K. Cebrowski, USN & John J. Gartska

Simply trying to execute better while adhering to a flawed game strategy is a formula for losing.

At a military institution far superior* to the one that developed that pollock you quote they frequently taught that a less well developed plan violently executed will usually bring better results than a better plan poorly executed.

At the end of the day the way to evaluate the effectiveness of the different approaches is easily done. At least with respect to college football coaches. Check out the win and loss records.

* I would think that most educated and intelligent people would agree with me and Forbes Magazine.