HB Arnett’s
801
372 - 0819
1391
West 800 South –
Vol. 33,
Issue 8 – September 21, 2012
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Editor’s
Note: Some of you
won’t like what you read below. Consequently, please forgive the
disparaging remarks as they concern BYU football. They are the result of what I
saw and heard last night in
IS BYU’S SHIP SINKING? NO, BUT
IT IS OBVIOUS THAT THERE ARE SOME SERIOUS LEAKS THAT NEED PLUGGED
I wouldn’t say that BYU football has a gigantic problem. They
have a Titanic problem.
The 7-6 loss to
I am assuming you might have heard his comments. If you didn’t,
here is something similar to what was said. It is taken from the obscure post
game show of Captain Edward John Smith, the Captain of the Titanic, just after
his ship sunk.
Radio Guy: Captain
Smith, it looked like you had some iceberg problems tonight. Would you say that
was a result of some steering problems?
Smith: Steering
problems? I love this boat. It was built on integrity, hard work, fire and
competitive spirit. I would take this boat and ram it into an iceberg every
time. I trust my boat.
Radio guy: Are you
saying you wouldn’t do anything different to avoid an iceberg incident if
given a second chance?
Smith: I love this
boat. It has earned all the iceberg chances I can give it.
Radio Guy: So if
you were given another ship to steer, you wouldn’t do anything
differently? Are you saying that despite now being at the bottom of the sea,
your perspective hasn’t changed?
Smith: Absolutely
not. I trust my ship and the way I steer it. I feel sorry for the next iceberg
I see. Those icebergs better get ready to be hit, hit and hit again. We may be
sinking into oblivion, but those icebergs will know that they have been hit by
a good and gritty ship. That is more important to me than staying afloat and
saving the passengers. It’s about how I feel as a captain, not how the
passengers feel.
Radio Guy: Captain
that might be perceived as arrogance and ignorance. Do you want to rephrase
what you just said?
Smith: Well Radio
Guy, if I must, here is what I would say. We may have sunk to new lows, but I still
have trust in my boat. It was forged and built in
Besides, it might affect my book sales. You may have seen my new book.
It’s titled: Smooth Sailing Is What I
Say It Is.
It is a sequel to my first book: The
Emperor’s New Clothes
TOO MANY BRONCO WANNABES IN CLOTHES
AND COACHING
The Danish fairy tale, The
Emperor’s New Clothes was written by Hans Christian Anderson
in 1837 and is referenced above.
For those not familiar with it, here is the plot synopsis copied from
the website answers.yahoo.com.
Many years ago there lived an
emperor who cared only about his clothes and about showing them off. One day he
heard from two swindlers that they could make the finest suit of clothes from
the most beautiful cloth. This cloth, they said, also had the special
capability that it was invisible to anyone who was either stupid or not fit for
his position.
Being a bit nervous about whether he himself would be able to see the cloth,
the emperor first sent two of his trusted men to see it. Of course, neither
would admit that they could not see the cloth and so praised it. All the
townspeople had also heard of the cloth and were interested to learn how stupid
their neighbors were.
The emperor then allowed himself to be dressed in the clothes for a procession
through town, never admitting that he was too unfit and stupid to see what he
was wearing. For he was afraid that the other people would think that he was
stupid.
Of course, all the townspeople wildly praised the magnificent clothes of the
emperor, afraid to admit that they could not see them, until a small child
said:
"But he has nothing on"!
This was whispered from person to person until everyone in the crowd was
shouting that the emperor had nothing on. The emperor heard it and felt that
they were correct, but held his head high and finished the procession.
Bronco isn’t an Emperor and certainly always wears a tee shirt or
some other royal garb on the sideline.
He has, however, surrounded him self with a coaching staff of Bronco
wannabes who hope to one day grow up to be just like Bronco.
Most of those wannabes have no coaching resumes to speak of. They
seemed to have been hired based on grit, determination and guts, not on
coaching acumen.
If assistant coaches aren’t going to present Bronco with a clothes
critique, then who is?
The difference between Bronco and LaVell the legend, is that LaVell,
surrounded himself with opinionated and feisty competitors who would tell it
like it was and were willing to literally fight with other coaches on the staff
to get their point across.
There were fights between assistants in the press box under LaVell.
Guys like Doug Scovil, Fred Whittingham, Mike Holmgren, Norm Chow and Roger
French had no trouble telling LaVell that his schemes, game plans and personnel
decisions were buck naked.
There are no such guys currently employed on the BYU football staff.
There are guys that are absolutely wonderful human beings in every way
possible except in resumes.
It is my opinion, that the only thing these guys have in common is that
they want to be just like Bronco…not in coaching acumen, but in
personality and makeup.
After two seasons, even the biggest BYU honks would at least have to
say there is cause for concern in thinking that Brandon Doman may be over his
head as offensive coordinator.
Before being blindly handed the offensive reins by Bronco, it appears
that Doman and BYU would be better off if he had have spent at least five years
at some FCS school, honing his skills and play calling.
With LaVell, he always had some salty guys on his staff. They would say
what they thought to each other and to LaVell. That probably wouldn’t
work well now because of the internet and because Cougar fans want to think
their coaches are all seminary teachers.
Bronco has plenty of seminary and wannabe guys. What he needs is at least
one coach on staff, or an athletic director, who will tell him to put some
clothes on.
MENDENHALL IS WORTH A MILLION BUCKS
I don’t know what Bronco Mendenhall is making in salary at BYU,
but he certainly could be making at least a million dollars annually as a
defensive coordinator at a school like
He is big time as a defensive coach and coordinator. He was very good
as a defensive coordinator with limited talent. Now that he has talent, he has
been much better. The defensive goal line stand last night against
He is also big time as a motivator and molder of young men. He would be
worth a million bucks as a mission president.
But when it comes to finding ways to beat rivals, good teams and win in
big games that mean something on the national stage and actual game management
outside of his defensive duties, he is not nearly as good.
In my opinion, he as a head football coach and his hand picked
offensive coordinator, Brandon Doman, may be prime examples of the infamous
“Peter Principle”.
Here’s how Wikipedia defines the Peter Principle: The Peter Principle
is a belief that in an organization where promotion is based on achievement,
success, and merit, that organization's members will eventually be promoted
beyond their level of ability. The principle is commonly phrased,
"employees tend to rise to their level of incompetence." In more formal
parlance, the effect could be stated as: employees tend to be given more
authority until they cannot continue to work competently.
Here is the HB Arnett definition of the “Peter Principle”
when it comes to Bronco.
Defensive coordinator? Absolutely, unequivocally and without question,
yes, yes, yes and heck yes!
Fireside speaker and motivator of young men? You betcha!
Game manager and football only administrator? Let me think on that one.
Here are some other random musings from me on the BYU offensive
situation.
Forget a quarterback controversy between Riley Nelson and Taysom Hill.
What about Alex Kuresa?
Look, it is no secret that Nelson is hurt. He was hurt because he was
constantly taking a beating running the ball. Hill is a better athlete, faster,
stronger with a stronger arm. Under the current offensive system, it will just
be a matter of time before he gets banged around enough times before he also
succumbs to injury.
Instead of Nelson and Hill getting tons of carries, how about sharing
the load with Jamaal Williams? You have to get the ball in the hands of your
best and most talented tailback. That isn’t Michael Alisa. He is your
most trusted and experienced tailback, but running Alisa wide just
doesn’t make sense.
Get Williams the ball.
Now back to Kuresa. The BYU offense is flawed as it is drawn up
currently to use the running abilities of Nelson and Hill. They are not Denard
Robinson of Michigan. If we had him, then the current offense would make more
sense. We don’t and never will have a qb with that skill set.
What we have had and still have are quarterbacks that can drop back and
throw the ball. That is what we have done when we are good offensively. Get
Kuresa back from wide receiver and let him sling it down field before he heads
out next season on his LDS mission.
Pull a Dave Rose and have Bronco asked Tanner Mangum to delay his
mission plans for a year. That is what Rose did with Cory Calvert when it was
obvious that he had no shooting guards. Bring Ammon Olsen back from the scout team.
Try something because the option/take a qb beating scheme is not going
to work consistently.
Throw the ball and throw in Williams and now we are talking.
So much for salad bars
The new leaner and more nutritionally nourished offensive line is undoubtedly
healthier, but they certainly aren’t better blockers. At least when they
were fatter and sedentary, they had more weight to keep themselves anchored at
the line of scrimmage and free from illegal procedure penalties.
The best thing that could happen to the offensive line is to follow the
BYU defense around and see what they are eating and ingesting. It certainly
works for them.
If you are depressed now about the last two losses to
They are spectacular. What they did at
While I am rambling, at the end of this letter you will find a
reasonable email I received from a subscriber that he sent me last week after
the
WINNING WOMEN
The BYU women of soccer and volleyball continue their winning ways.
The volleyball team swept No. 14 and league rival Pepperdine 3-0
Thursday night in
Their next match is on Saturday in
In soccer, the Lady Cougars defeated
Next up is
If BYU is hoping to heal its wounds and offensive headaches from the
last two weeks,
They are not a terrific defensive team.
BYU should be able to finally score some points against a defense,
regardless if the quarterback is Riley Nelson or Taysom Hill.
Those two guys are the key.
The more Brandon Doman takes the ball out of their hands and gets it
into the hands of guys like Cody Hoffman, Ross Apo and Jamaal Williams, the
healthier Nelson and Hill will be and the more productive the offense will also
be.
BYU has to find a way to stop the pounding of Nelson. They have to get
the ball to other offensive players.
Primarily, that means throwing the ball down field. The sooner that
happens the sooner BYU will start scoring points again.
I call it BYU 27 Hawaii 14
Television Timetable
BYU vs.
Friday, Sep 28 at
Kickoff: 6:00 pm Mountain Time
TV: ESPN
BYU vs.
Friday, Oct 5 at
Kickoff: 8:15 pm Mountain Time
TV: ESPN
BYU vs.
Saturday, Oct 13 at
Kickoff: TBA
TV: TBA
BYU vs.
Notre Dame
Saturday, Oct 20 at
Kickoff: 1:30 Mountain Time
TV: NBC
Extra-curricular
reading
Here’s a reasonable view and opinion of a concerned subscriber
that was sent to me last week and before the
Dear HB,
For
over three decades BYU football established an offensive legacy that was the
standard by which all passing teams were judged. The reasons for moving to a
"progression based", possession passing game are just as true and
necessary today as ever before. Why in the world when you have one of the most
productive, entertaining and competitive passing offenses in the country would
you abandon the "offensive culture" to become a "balanced
team".. BYU never was balanced, except when the games were so far out of
hand, Lavell Edwards refused to throw the ball in the fourth quarter and often
part of the third quarter.
The
more balanced we become, the "mediocre" we will be, and we will
certainly fall into national irrelevance, where we are right now. ..
Please
understand, I am a great fan of Bronco's values and the qualities he expects
and instills in his players.... However, by his own admission, "He knows
nothing about offense".... Why would you bring an option oriented QB
without any experience, allow him to bring in his high school buddy who is the
running back coach at an option offense university (Navy) and give him the keys
to drive a high powered passing game into football independence, where every
game is critical?
Simple
answer, YOU DON'T. The Brandon Doman experiment
has
failed. We can't move the ball effectively against top flight defenses by
being balanced. BYU needs to throw the ball 50 times a game and the running
game with take care of itself. Unfortunately, Doman was a mediocre passing QB
at best, and unfortunately Nelson is his clone.... Reilly should have had three
more passes intercepted against
The
whole passing scheme of old has been scuttled for a balanced attack that will
ultimately lead to disaster. Frankly when you consider the competition I don't
think we can get too excited about Bronco's record against meaningful
competition. This year I felt we had four games that would define the program
and determine our national relevance. We just lost the first one to
Years
past we had that many passing yards in a half. Looking closer,
The way
That is
the last thing teams wanted from us in years past, and they
knew
they were going to see it 50 times a game. Can you imagine the
old BYU
passing attack in a "hurry up mode", passing with 20 seconds left on
the play clock. Unfortunately, Doman does not have the mind for the passing
game and he should be thanked for his effort and moved into another capacity.
Taysom
Hill may or may not be the answer, but if all he is going to do is run the ball
when he comes in, then he isn't the solution either. Put him in the pocket,
let his quickness allow him to elude rushers, and see if he can pick up the
third or fourth options in the passing scheme. That is if Doman still has
those options available to him. I guess like so many fans who remember the
good ole days, the football we are watching game in and game out is very
painful. Fortunately, the defense is getting better. We have never had better
receivers and more inadequate and untested quarterbacks in over 30 years that I
have been watching. ESPN can't be happy. The ESPN announcers frequently
mention this isn't the BYU offense they have enjoyed over the years.
Last
Saturday night the ESPN announcers kept wondering why BYU was sticking with the
option. 9 rushes and 12 yards won't get it done. I guess they forgot BYU's
passing offense now has an option QB for the OC.... Next year with
A
subscriber