A Fond Farewell to BYU coach, Jaime Hill?

Totally agree about the loss of physicality and aggression on the defense. That was the most glaring aspect of the Utah State game. Jan jorgensen said on the radio Friday that Bronco and Rocky Long demanded physical play. He said that the New Mexico games were always the most physical games of the year. I hope it doesn’t take long to get the Cougs turned around.

It’s good to hear your perspective. I hope that they can get back to playing hard, physical, ball by tomorrow evening.

Seeing how the offense has dropped in production as well, (receivers/TEs getting pushed around, not getting open, dropping balls, o line not opening running lanes as well as they have, running backs not getting short yards up the middle as much), what do you think Coach Anae’s reaction has been?

A link to his professional bio (here)….that would be an interesting hire if it happens.

The defense isn’t good, but I really don’t think it’s the problem. In our 4 loses the D has been on the field for an average of over 35 minutes per game and the opponents starting field position has been their 33 yard line. The defense has been given on the field for long stretches in tough conditions and has looked like it. On top of that against USU the defense was playing without 3 of it’s top 4 players (Fuga, Pendleton, and Rich) and it showed – USU was able to gash the D up the middle repeatedly, which then opened up the play-action and the outside.

The one area where I really do blame the defense, however, it on 3rd downs. BYU is currently 112th in the country and just can’t seem to get opposing teams off the field. That seems like an area where Bronco can make some immediate impact.

BYU is facing a 4-1 San Diego State team and a 5-0 5th ranked TCU team. They will lose both of these games extending their losing streak to 6 games. They might have a chance over Wyoming, and hopefully BYU beats New Mexico, UNLV, and Colorado State. You can kiss the Utah game goodbye. If your confidence is really restored you must be talking about the UNLV New Mexico Colorado State stretch. Good job then BYU. You guys got your confidence back against three teams who should be ashamed to call themselves FBS teams.

GO UTES

I was surprised that the one big change the day after the game was sacking the head of the defense. Could we try keeping our offense on the field, thereby keeping the opponents’ offenses off the field, thereby reducing their offensive output? When I was a freshman at BYU in 1969, we were so bad that for the first half of season (as I recall) the defense had outscored the offense; the cheerleaders had us yelling, “The best offense is a good defense.” Maybe now, in contrast, the best defensive move would be to have an offense. We’re making progress, though: we averaged 15 points per game in the first four games and we scored 16 points against USU. Clearly a problem with Coach Hill’s defense.
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A couple of suggestions:

• Hire an anger-management coach to resolve whatever issues the players-listed-as-receivers have that lead them to REFUSE to catch passes that hit their hands.
• Explain to the players-listed-as-receivers which sport is played on the rectangular field with the lines running across it. Heaps throws as hard as a baseball pitcher; maybe they’re looking for a free walk to first base for being hit by a thrown ball. Some of them didn’t look like they were trying all that hard to avoid being hit, others clearly were.
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  In LaVell’s glory days of the 1980’s we beat teams by scoring more points than they scored. I believe this formula still could work. At least, given where we are this season, it would be worth experimenting with this idea.

At first I was a little suprised when I heard about the firing, since the offense seemed to be struggling more than the defense. After thinking about it though, I realized that the expectations on the defense were much higher than they were on the offense because of the inexperience at QB. While the offensive output has been disappointing, the defense has really not measured up to expectations. They were supposed to be better than they have been. You’re explanation illuminates other issues that I had not considered with regard to the defensive drop.

The entire BYU offensive system is predicated on one thing: the QB and catching the ball. When I watch the offense struggle, I see lack of execution due to an 18 year old QB and, inexplicably, receivers not catching the ball. I think Bronco is sure Anae will figure that out. When I watched the defense, though, I saw an increasing lack of desire, a lack of passion. It seemed like the players weren’t just struggling to execute, it seemed like they had become disconnected from their coach. Based on Bronco’s comments today, which of course are somewhat vague to be professional, something was breaking down within the defensive system that he felt was not going to be fixed by Jaime. I think everyone who has played on a sports team has known a coach who was a good person, and even a good coach, but there comes a point where certain breakdowns within the system are caused by frictions with that coach. Change isn’t always bad; often it is good. Hopefully, Anae can get the offense problems fixed. Who coaches our receivers this year? In my mind, he’s the one on the hotseat for coaching performance issues. Much like Mike Tice – the offensive line coach for the Bears. They showed him like 20 times Sunday night on NBC. He looked like, “Oh come on, guys, you’re killing me” every time Cutler got hammered (9 times in the first half!).

I think this was more about Bronco wanting to roll up his sleeves and get hands on with the D than any real trouble with Hill. After reading Bronco’s comments I think that if Bronco felt he could step into an offensive coach’s position he would have fired one of the offensive staff rather than Hill. Of course he’s not an offensive coach and the only place he can really make an impact is as the D.C., so Hill had to go to make room for him to take over.

I also get the feeling more and more that Bronco has really completely handed the offense over to Anae and trusts him to run things on that side of the ball.

I have been really disappointed on how poorly our defensive backfield has been able to avoid blocks by the other team. Since you have played at the college level, what are our players taught, and how well have they been performing, in your opinion?

I remember when former players were bragging so much on Coach Hill that they thought we wouldn’t be able to keep him because somebody else would pick up since he’s that good. Now we have a precarious situation here where our D-coordinator is fired mid-season. I really hope that there something more involved going on here that only the people involved know about, not just the crappy record. I really hope Coach Mendenhall is not disrespecting Coach Hill just to cover his butt. I’ve always thought of Bronco as the epitome of classy, and this is not that classy. I also don’t think this dramatic of a change mid-season is a great move. Just like making a true freshman a starter our QB, changing up the coaching staff is going to have immediate negative affects. I hope it works out.

Great insight Markell. I really like your take on this.
Knowing how Ben feels and felt about coach Hill made this tough on me. I like coach Hill and feel he did a great deal for BYU’s secondary play, especially in ’06 and ’07.
However, also knowing some of the drama that has occurred the last couple of years between him and a few players, makes me wonder about the overall pressures he may have been under too.
Bronco is his own man, a great leader and motivator; so I am sure in the end this will be a good move for BYU overall. I just hope Coach Hill also makes some good lemonade out of what appears to be a sour situation right now. I wish him nothing but the best.
Thanks again for your very insightful thoughts.
 Mike Criddle

For those who have come to believe that Hill being fired had to do with the state of the team’s defense, you are mistaken.
Friday night at Utah State Coach Hill decided during the second half that he no longer wanted to coach. He stopped calling plays for the Defense. The boys did not know why nor had they ever anticipated being deserted by their coach and Mendenhall was as confused as they were. After the game Hill had no excuse for what he did and was given the option to resign. He refused to do so and insisted that he be fired. That’s why he was terminated. Let’s not say silly things like “Hill was fired bc Mendenhall wanted to run the D” or that the firing was because BYU’s losing so they needed a scapegoat.

On a side note: although I am a huge BYU fan I also love the Utes. I know, most wont understand that but whatever. The reason I point this out is bc I’d like to respectfully ask the Ute fans not to troll these boards. I personally wish your team the best. Y fans, let’s not troll their boards either.

Staffieri – my brother, a cousin, and several friends of mine are on the team, I am friends with a few coaches and one of them is my dad’s cousin. Because I am around them all the time, I hear everything that happens with the team. However, my brother found out I posted that info about Coach Hill and asked me to keep things confidential from now on. I understand why you were not at liberty to write those things and from now on I wont either. I was allowing myself to get annoyed by people who are not in the know’s speculations. From now on, I will not be sharing information I get from the team.