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Aug 22, 2014
9:15:38am
Bronco's Paradigm shift...is it for real?
Is Bronco finally having a paradigm shift? Has he finally decided to recruit athletes instead of winning with walk-ons and guys from Snow Canyon HS? (no offense intended, SCHS). It appears that it has taken Bronco nearly a decade to realize that athletic ability matters. Sure fanatical effort, discipline, coaching etc. are important. But as Bobby Bowden once said "it's not about the x's and O's but the Billy's and Joe's". There may be another way.

Most people knew that Bronco struggled with this paradigm, but the glaring example was Ziggy Ansah. After 3 years of playing mostly special teams, he cracked the starting lineup. Not due to Freaky athletic ability, size or skill but because the starter ahead of him got injured. Sure we knew he was athletic, but Bronco kept telling us that he was too raw, didn't know the plays, and gosh darn he "barely knew how to put on his pads". It also seemed that "hints" were given that he didn't work hard enough in practice. (note to Bronco: some guys are practice players and some are prime time players, even most HS athletes know that).

Certainly Bronco was understandably proud a few years ago when his defensive secondary (All walk on players) were playing well against scholarship athletes (as he continually mentioned that he beat other teams with his "hard working" walk ons). His paradigm was probably influenced by his own career. As a fanatical worker and disciplined player he rose above his limited athletic ability to garner a D1 Scholarship at then lowly Oregon State. He probably thought that with fanatical effort, flawless execution, and hard-headed discipline he could win a national championship. Unfortunately, over the past decade he has won some nice games with that exact recipe, and it may have kept him from realizing the importance of athletic ability. Certainly it's a lot easier to convince that hardworking farm boy from Spanish Fork to commit to BYU than the inner city kid from Fresno, CA.

Bring on 2014 and a new BYU recruiting director Geoff Martzen and we have started to recruit athletes that we have never seen at BYU before (at least not in this quantity). Only time will tell if Bronco can change his paradigm completely and recruit more athletes. I am sure that he will keep a few walk-ons around to give him that old warm fuzzy feeling. But one must wonder... how does a top 5 NFL pick languish on the bench of a school that begs for athletic ability? How many other athletes have suffered the same fate at BYU? Is there a lesson here? Sure there is for both Bronco and Dave Rose. However, when you are a major college coach that has had some good success it's difficult to change and even more difficult to listen to those that you perceive don't know as much as you do.
This message has been modified
Originally posted on Aug 22, 2014 at 9:15:38am
Message modified by kfbob on Aug 22, 2014 at 9:18:05am
Message modified by kfbob on Aug 22, 2014 at 9:19:47am
Message modified by kfbob on Aug 22, 2014 at 9:20:44am
Message modified by kfbob on Aug 22, 2014 at 9:22:14am
Message modified by kfbob on Aug 22, 2014 at 9:24:43am
Message modified by kfbob on Aug 22, 2014 at 9:34:24am
kfbob
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Bill Bix
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All made up info aside, does it seem to anyone else like BM has made a big leap (byutx, Aug 22, 2014 at 12:04pm)

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