Wednesday, October 7, 2009

BYU Coach Says What?


I received a friendly e-mail today from a colleague who is a die-hard University of Utah fan. We regularly send each other taunts, clippings, and pictures in the form of e-mail bashing the opposing school. So it naturallly caught me by surprise when the tagline in the e-mail today read: My Level of Respect for Bronco has now Gone Way Up.

Included in the e-mail, were instructions to go to Google and type: "BYU coach calls fans dumb" and see what you find . . . Some interesting articles about Bronco Mendenhall calling out BYU fans who have been found criticizing the program recently.

The punchline from all the articles is (referring to BYU fans, who apparently criticize)
"The level of criticism usually matches the level of
education."
You can listen to the clip at http://www.mwcconnection.com/2009/10/5/1072046/byu-head-coach-bronco-mendenhall.

Did I hear what I thought I heard? Now, let's be honest, with BYU receiving national press constantly this season with their upset victory to #3 Oklahoma, a lot of words have been twisted, distorted, and taken out of context. But the words coming from Bronco's lips don't appear to be taken out of context. Can I echo Chris Berman and other ESPN announcers in saying, "C'mon man!"

Speaking of levels of education . . . Maybe, Bronco should go back to Business Management 101 and learn what the term "Job Security" means. Criticizing fans and boosters who fund the football program because they have so-called "high expectations" isn't exactly what I would call "an educated decision." I would call it biting the hand that feeds.

Let's face it Bronco, we live in a new day and age where fan expectations are going to be a little higher than the Lavell days where a conference championship would suffice. Now that our friends up north have busted the BCS and won their bowl games twice in the last five seasons, every BYU fan across this beautiful green earth can't help but ask themselves, "why can't BYU do the same?" The other coach vying for your position (Whittingham) has taken his team the distance by going 13 - 0, and now it's time for BYU to figure out how to do the same.

12 comments:

  1. Hey B! I saw this on Facebook and as a die-hard Utes fan just couldn't help myself! Hope all is well! ~Linds

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  2. Wait a second. He's NOT saying the higher your level of criticism, the higher your education? Dang, and I felt so complimented.

    I really can't think of a way to spin this that makes it look good for Bronco. He better hope BYU beats TCU and Utah this year, or he might regret that little ditty.

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  3. What I took from his comment is the education we have, as fans, in football. NOT how smart we are. As a former college football player, it's hard to sit in the stands and listen to fans tell the coach how to coach. We have to remember that they (coaches) do football full time. They spend hours and hours studying film. We just have 3 hours or how ever long the game lasts. They know their team and the team they are playing better then we do. But there are always those fans that think that they can do a better job then the coaches. It's like me trying to tell a lawyer how to do his job because I watched a season of Perry Mason. Or diagnosing a patient because I watched House. It's stupid.... but I guess that's what being a fan is all about, right?
    At the same time, a TRUE fan supports his/her team through thick and thin. Yeah Max needs to work on the INT's. But we are winning! Besides FSU, we have played some great games! If I was Bronco, I would have said the same thing. If I was a player, I would say we have come out with some great wins! I could go on and on with this but I think you get the point. I totally agree with what Bronco said.

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  4. Appreciate all the comments. Mike, agree with most of your comments, but completely disagree with the last paragraph.
    If we want BYU to be champions, they have to start having a champion attitude. Max Hall stating post FSU game, "well sometimes you lose . . ." and Bronco saying that fan expectations are too high is a loser's mentality.
    Vince Lombardi didn't say, "If you can't win, lower your expectations." He said work harder so that you do win.
    Tim Tebow showed what the heart of a champion is last season after Florida lost. Max Hall and Tim Tebow's responses to defeat were complete opposites. Tim said he would be the hardest working player in college football to ensure losing didn't happen again . . and guess what? He was, and we know the result.

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  5. Budd, I completely agree with your comment contrasting Max Hall's reaction to the FSU loss with Tim Tebow's response. As long as we remain satisfied with 10 win seasons that is all we will get.
    I believe that in most circumstances, every coach's goal should be to win the conference and anything else is just icing on the cake. But given (1) the state of college football, (2) the recent success of Boise State and the University of Utah, and (3) the supposed talent of this year's team, I think it was perfectly reasonable for BYU fans to have expected more. Given that it is very difficult to go undefeated, I understand why the high expectations may frusterate Bronco, but he too should understand why BYU fans feel the way they do and just be happy that we care. I would rather have fanatical fans that express their disappointment than no support at all.

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  6. Way to inspire healthy discussion Brandon! But I'll always remember those immortal words from Alaska - When you run it into the end zone, don't act like it's your first time being there. Be cool. That obviously won't work for this post.

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  7. Mike has a good point that the coach is more knowledgeable and more informed then the fan. But that doesn't mean the coach cant make stupid
    decision and the fan call him out on it. Weber State Wildcat lost last week 21 to 26 they had the ball on ½ yard line with .04 seconds left in the game and the coach sent them out in a spread shout gun and they ran the option. They lost five yards on the play, maybe someone should so the cats how to run a quarterback sneak. As far a Bronco is concerned I get tried of his same old redirect about preparation and discipline and to have your starting quarterback Max Hall have 11 Int with only 10 touchdowns doesn't add up to discipline and preparedness. It seem like the Cougars are mental weak and unable to consistently play on a high level which is also a refection in coach. Not only is a lame for a coach to trash his fan it is also a sign of insecurity.

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  8. Way to open up a dialogue Budd and you got your mother and mother in law to comment!! I wanted to comment on Mike's discussion. I just wonder what Bronco was doing the week before BYU met Florida State if he was immersed in footbal three hours plus a day. Was he looking ahead? Why would Bobby Bowden make the comment that they knew BYU would not be prepared for them? Obviously BYU wasn't and I've constantly been disappointed because that seems to be the pattern for BYU.

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  9. Bronco needs to not be so sensitive to the comments of fans and just ignore them. According to my friend, Dennis, the fan bill of rights states that fans have the right to be fickle and can criticize whatever they want. Coach Edwards used to just the ignore the fans comments. Max Hall needs to be more careful about throwing interceptions. I would love to go 12-0 and go to a BCS bowl and someday I think we will. After our win over Oklahoma, I thought we might have a chance but many fans forgot we had 11 more games to win and so did our team. However, we as fans need to be excited about the football games we are winning and realize it is very difficult to win every game. Coach Mendenhall has done a great job and I support him 100%. He is still a young coach and has much to learn and he will. Let's all give him a break.

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  10. Nice comment Wilf (wclyde). Good perspective from both sides. I'd like you to post the "fan bill of rights" you and Dennis created.

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  11. Stay tuned for the new and improved "Fan Bill of Rights", it's awesome and totally dead on.

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  12. Right on Brandon.....Bottom line is this: Most fans watch sports for the entertainment and the competitive spirit to win. I'm not sure who ever defined "True" fan as one who likes a team the same whether they are winning or losing, but I'm definitely a bigger fan when they are winning. That's how most fans are. You rarely see a packed stadium for teams that don't win. On another note....I don't criticize Bronco for any of his decisions....I assume he knows what he is doing. However, he obviously forgot for a moment that the fans are ultimately the ones who pay the bills for his benefit. I don't think the tie between the criticism has anything to do with education level of football or anything else. In my opinion it has more to do with the level of emotional commitment a fan puts into the season. Bronco is doing exactly what he is ticked off at his fans for doing...maybe he's just too emotionally committed.
    Sweet site Brandon!

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