HB Arnett's "Lite" <mailto:hbarnett@fiber.net> hbarnett@fiber.net 801 372 0819 Vol. 38, Issue 15, - November 5, 2018 Bill Clinton, Bad Coaches or Bad Players? "It's the economy, stupid" is a slight variation of the phrase "The economy, stupid", which James Carville had coined as a campaign strategist of Bill Clinton's successful 1992 presidential campaign against sitting president George H. W. Bush. No question some coaches are better than others and that may be the current case at BYU football and basketball, but I've always preached that 90 percent of the time "It's the players stupid", not the coaches that make a team good and sometimes great. In BYU's 21-16 loss to Boise State last Saturday night, BYU made enough mistakes and enough questionable coaching decisions to have been blown out by 3 touchdowns. To their credit, they had a chance for a win with the ball at the BSU 2-yard line with 7 seconds to play. They didn't score. Game over and fans were all over Zach Wilson for not throwing away the ball and all over BYU coaches for calling the ill-fated play. Click Here <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evHIBsB-Bq0> , to watch those last 7 seconds. This may have been a bad play call, it may have been a mistake by Wilson to not throw the ball away. But why didn't the play work and why didn't Wilson make a quick throw? Again, Click Here <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evHIBsB-Bq0> and you tell me why this play didn't work? A BYU player got beat by a Boise State player. "It's the players stupid". BSU's defensive player was better than BYU's offensive player, at least in this instance and play. Good players make good coaches. Against Boise State, Zach Wilson was head and shoulders above all other Cougar players with the performance he delivered on the blue turf. His good play gave BYU a chance to win, which hasn't always been the case the last two years. We can all identify Wilson as a good player. Against BSU, Talon Shumway showed he is a good player if targeted enough times by Wilson. Matt Bushman is a player, despite his costly fumble late in the game. We thought early in the season that the Cougar offensive line was full of good players. That theory is now under further review after watching NIU and BSU's defensive fronts handle BYU's offensive front. BYU still needs a good running back and a deep threat receiver to go along with Wilson. If Sitake and staff can come up with that tall task, then the next few seasons could be very interesting and stupid good. Bad coaching can be remedied if those bad coaches can recruit enough good players. See later in the letter for an example. Here are the BYU offensive stats against Boise State. Go through them and pick out just whom you think are players. Football Fluff and Stuff BYU now needs two consecutive wins against UMass and New Mexico State in order to have any hope of receiving a post-season bowl bid. UMass beat Liberty last Saturday 62-59 in 3 overtimes. They passed for 540 yards. The Minutemen are currently 4-6 overall and 3-2 at home.New Mexico State also was at home and beat Alcorn State 52-42. They had a big passing game throwing for 396 yards and 4 touchdowns. They currently are 3-7 on the season. The UMass game is set for a 10 am kickoff Mountain Standard Time and will be shown live on BYUtv. Here are the current television arrangements for the next two BYU football games according to BYU's official website. Corroborating Evidence As corroborating evidence to my good players make good coaches' proposition, I present 2 resumes of two coaches, Dave Aranda and Mike Locksley. Plus, a bonus LDS coach who gives credence to my assertion that It's the players, stupid. Dave Aranda Aranda makes $2.5 million per annum as a defensive coordinator and associate head coach after signing a 4-year $10 million contract with LSU. He was hired by Ed Lamb to be the defensive coordinator at Southern Utah in 2008 but lasted just one month after Hawaii offered him more money. Interesting that when Norm Chow got the UH job, he didn't retain Aranda. My guess is that SUU was offering a salary of $40-45 K and Hawaii at least doubled that offer. His coaching star started to rise at Utah State and when Gary Anderson went to Wisconsin and Aranda followed. When Anderson bolted for Oregon State, Aranda was hired by LSU. Texas A&M came calling and LSU had to raise their ante for Aranda to keep him in Baton Rouge. Thanks to Norm Chow's decision to not retain Aranda at Hawaii, this guy is making big bucks and is considered a defensive genius. The difference between Delta State and LSU? It's the players, stupid! Mike Locksley BYU fans may remember Locksley when he was the head coach at New Mexico and ended his stint in Albuquerque with a 3-31 record and a boatload of off the field problems. He was being paid $825,000 a year at UNM. The difference between New Mexico and Alabama? It's the players, stupid! In a head-to-head matchup of Locksley vs. Aranda last Saturday night when Alabama beat LSU 29-0, did Locksley out coach Aranda or out player him? My vote is he out playered him. Here's another defensive coordinator in the SEC that makes $1.1 million per annum. This coach is LDS. Click on his name to read about him. Tosh Lupoi <https://www.al.com/alabamafootball/index.ssf/2017/01/who_is_alabamas_top_re cruiter.html> . Now It's Your Turn for Comparisons Here's BYU's last 4 offensive coordinators and the quarterbacks they had to work with and win/loss records accumulated. Brandon Doman- OC, 2011-2012 (2 years) Quarterbacks: Riley Nelson, Jake Heaps, James Lark, Taysom Hill Win/Loss Record: 2011- 10-3; 2012- 8-5 Robert Anae - OC, 2013- 2015 (3 years) Quarterbacks: Taysom Hill, Christian Stewart, Tanner Mangum Win/Loss Record: 2013 - 8-5; 2014 - 8-5; 2015 - 9-4 Ty Detmer - OC, 2016-2017 (2 years) Quarterbacks: Taysom Hill, Tanner Mangum, Beau Hoge Koy Detmer Jr., Joe Critchlow Win/Loss Record: 2016 - 9-4; 2017 - 4-9 Jeff Grimes - OC, 2018. Quarterbacks: Tanner Mangum, Zach Wilson, Jaren Hall Win/Loss Record to date: 2018 - 4-5 Andy Reid - OC Emeritus and Devotional/ Fireside Speaker.Whenever he wants. Can call plays from home with his own remote BYU X Box console Quarterbacks: Whomever he wants, but prefers Patrick Mahomes if available Win/Loss Record: Who cares? Andre Ware is Zach Wilson's Personal Publicist If you watched the Boise State/BYU game Saturday night, color commentator Andre Ware was gushing about the potential and talent of Zach Wilson. He compared him to Jimmy Garoppolo of the San Francisco 49ers who is sitting this season out with a torn ligament. Before going to SF, he was Tom Brady's backup at New England. Garoffalo played his college ball at Eastern Illinois. So I thought I should fact check Ware and find some college footage of Garoppolo. Click Here <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDgGXpsWdk4> to See actual Garoppolo Eastern Illinois Highlights Click Here <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhCI7_R7thk> to see a high school Garappolo look-alike inspire a teammate to take one for the team. The player suffers a slight abdomen injury in making a big-time play for his team. Both defenders were flagged for tummy targeting. View Discretion advised. Prolonging My Point (BYU Basketball) BYU opens its basketball season this Tuesday night in Reno when they face off against preseason No. 7 ranked Nevada. BYU will be a definite underdog in this game and of course, for the 7th year running a distinct underdog against Gonzaga when it comes to winning the WCC championship. Here is BYU's current basketball roster. Here are 4 current college coaches. If each had the roster above, do you really think any of them would win the WCC and dethrone Gonzaga and make a deep run in the NCAA tourney? Me neither. "It's the players stupid". Here's hoping I'm proven wrong. We will get a big clue on what kind of players and what kind of season Dave Rose will have this Tuesday. The Best of BYU Volleyball Blocks It was amazing volleyball last Friday night in the Smith Fieldhouse as the BYU women's No. 1 ranked team defeated San Diego 3-1. The highlight of the night was the 5 consecutive blocks by BYU that had the fieldhouse rocking. Click Here <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jT_lrFF9D9Q> to see for yourself. As good and thrilling as that bit of volleyball was, it only won the Silver Medal. The Gold Medal of BYU (kinda) volleyball belongs to this video. Click Here <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kT06aDpJCBg> to see if you don't agree. Television Timetable BYU vs. Nevada (Men's Basketball) Tuesday, November 6 at Reno Tip Time: 7:00 pm MST TV: CBS Sports Network BYU vs. Santa Clara (Women's Volleyball) Thursday, November 8 at Provo Start Time: 7:00 pm MST TV: BYUtv BYU vs. UVU (Men's Basketball) Friday, November 9 at Provo Tip Time: 8:00 pm MST TV: BYUtv BYU vs. UMass (Football) Saturday, November 10 at Foxborough Kickoff: 10:00 AM MST TV: BYUtv BYU vs. San Francisco (Women's Volleyball) Saturday, November 10 at Provo Start Time: 1:00 pm MST TV: TheW.tv