The Exorcism of Brigham Young
by Prettyman on Oct 11, 2010 10:00 PM PDT
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PrintSaturday’s game was a relief in more ways than one. The win was great but there something even more important accomplished last Saturday. If you loved Bronco and BYU you should have been in full meltdown mode coming into the SDSU game. If Bronco was actually "coaching" a team with no heart, no enthusiasm, no defense and no clue, then it was indeed time to hit the panic button.
That’s what had cougar nation so worried…how could the Bronco we know and love be doing such a terrible job? Had he lost his own fire? Was his heart on life support? Why was the defense, which is Bronco’s coaching specialty, almost literally the worst defense in the country?
Before the SDSU game Bronco’s two most important traits; his passion and his defensive coaching skills, were not being reflected in the team’s effort, execution or demeanor. How could anyone see that team and not think that the head coach had lost his grip. It turned out that was exactly what had happened, but luckily not in the way we assumed.
So first the bad news - Bronco had indeed lost touch with the team. He had moved more into an administrative role and away from the teacher and motivator that led to his past success. Too much trust and responsibility had been delegated out and the worst part is it had been delegated to those who didn’t share his vision and passion. Delegation can be effective but you first have to have the right people in place and obviously this was not the case.
It was during the Utah State game when we all became aware that this team had become possessed. The spirit (or lack thereof) of J-Hill had infiltrated the defense and was quickly spreading to other parts of the team. An exorcism was necessary. I’m sure it was painful for all involved and let’s not forget that this was the first person Bronco had fired in his young coaching career… a task that’s taxing on any individual.
Now the good news. Bronco admitted his mistake and repaired the tether to this team that he had allowed to wither and rot….and most importatnly, Bronco still has the magic touch. You could see his fingerprints all over this team on Saturday. Inspired, sound football. So I think Cougar Nation can be upset that Bronco erred in drifting so far from this team and can mourn the toll that mistake has taken on the first half of the season, but there is a reason to rejoice knowing that it wasn’t Bronco’s coaching ability that hurt BYU but his lack of coaching.
Bronco’s figured it out and hopefully he’ll never lose control of his program like that again. The future is still a bit bumpy with a certain loss looming this week against TCU but I can live with a loss to a better team if we come out and play with the same determination and enthusiasm displayed last week.
Welcome back Bronco. The exorcism is complete.
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Bronco on saturday
After San Diego State went three and out to open the game, Bronco was fist-pumping all over the place. His intensity was what brought BYU back to national prominence in the first place, and I believe it will bring us back to where we need to be this season. 7-5 and a bowl game.
Couple of questions
If Bronco is such a genius – how in the world did it take him so long to understand where the crux of the problem was? I mean come on he must have really been disconnected from the group….
Also – It was nice that he took time between conference sessions to fire Jamie Hill. I guess he could do it then since Jamie is not of the cloth. If it was another guy like Anae or Doman would he have at least waited for the conference center to have cleared all together on Sunday night ?? I am just saying the timing was very strange since we would all expect Bronco to have been watching conference or something instead of firing a coach. I’m jsut sayinn – I guess that is what TiVO is for…….
Good luck this week Cougars – I think after another annual trouncing at the hands of the Frogs you may need another Exorcism next week – I love the new found passion and only hope it is not too fragile to survive a tough loss in TX.
Do your research next time
how in the world did it take him so long to understand where the crux of the problem was?
You know not of what you speak. Thanks for being so interested in the Cougars, you are a great fan!
Now let’s respect the space.
"McGrubber" is Spanish for...
Gary Patterson. Guy needs to stop trolling on this board and go coach his team up for Saturday’s loss..err..game.
Coaches are to blame
Boys chill out a little. I think that I have posted enough times here not to be considered a troll. I do think that we are looking over the fact that this “Exorcism” should never have had to occur. If Bronco was not so slow to act we may not have found ourselves in this mess to begin with. I think that he kind of forgot he could make tough decisions or was ignoring his duty to act under the guise of delegation. Maybe he has corrected the course ot this ship but I have lost some confidence in his ability to be decisive and actionable.
As for my comments on the upcoming TCU game – what evidence can you show me to the contrary. We are going to get waxed by them this weekend. We have been destroyed by them when we had great teams and will again now that we have a young and average team. Is is a fact. Don’t ignore it and don’t call other trolls or disrespectful of the program for calling a spade a spade.
I hope I am wrong but come on guys get with reality here it will most likely be another ugly loss in Texas on Sat Night.
Bronco explained
If you know nothing else about Bronco you have to know that he is more concerned with developing people than he is with developing a football team. He has said that he felt like he needed to make a change earlier, but wanted to try and help Jaime Hill develop. He also said that he basically regrets waiting, so I wouldn’t say it took him a long time to recognize the problem…I think it took a while to realize that the problem was not going to get fixed…the old
“Fish or cut bait”line.
As for TCU…I think it will be closer than people think. TCU is playing great football…but I don’t think they are as great this year as they were in ‘08 and ’09. They are like an A- instead of an A. On paper there is no doubt they are the better team, but with a resurgent BYU defense we could see different results. Keep in mind the defense didn’t just weaken this year under Hill, but has progressively weakened since Bronco let go.
The TCU defense doesn’t have the pass rush they had with Hughes and Co. so that should help our offense out a ton, since that is what really killed us the past couple years. Our run game has been fine against TCU. I think Harvey put up 100+ last year, so we have that part. Now we need to protect Heaps, unlike what we did with Hall.
Good post
I think we have a chance for these reasons and because let’s face it TCU’s leading players have two recent trouncings of BYU to contemplate. On top of that BYU is off to a rough start. These elements combined give TCU a lot of confidence, and I"m hoping that it is too much confidence. Let’s hope they severely underestimate BYU and we get a win on Saturday. If we could pull it off our national rep takes a HUGE boost and the four losses get somewhat written off by the majority of the media (everyone one of them except the yewt fans). If ever there was a perfect time to pull of the “impossible” win this is it!
Similar to OU last year
There is a lot at stake for TCU and nothing at stake for BYU…I like those scenarios. I listened to an interview with Gary Patterson the other day that referenced the BYU at TCU win in 2006. Patterson was actually the one who brought it up.
When Bronco was asked the same question, he said he had no desire to bring it up with the current team as they were not around and would have no reference point to it.
Interesting scenario
Didn't think of that
This is similar to OU last year. BYU seems to play their best when no one expects anything special.
well that is comforting
I can’t believe we have sunk to the point of hoping BYU will play good because nothing matters. I do barely remember (last year) when we used to think BYU plays good in big games (with the exception of the TCU week). Wow
common thread throughout all of sports
This type of scenario – “nothing to lose” is a recurring theme in life. It’s more than just being an underdog, it implies a unique risk/reward relationship. It has application in business, medicine, religion, education as well as sports.
IMO, almost everyone will perform differently when they have a huge amount to gain and essentially nothing to lose.
It’s hard and almost impossible to have that “killer mentality” for every game, or for one to reach their fullest potential in every action. You are naturally going to be “up” for some things and have your “down” days as well. That’s what’s fun about sports – you never know what you are going to get. Just when you think that we are never up for any games, a Miami or a Kansas St or an Oklahoma happens.
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