I suspect that most Mendenhall supporters don't claim he is an elite coach. A program like BYU, whether we like it or not, isn't likely to happen on to an 'elite' coach at this point. And, if we did and he wasn't LDS, he would last until his first 10 win season.

Second, when it suggests that 'elite' coaches do it early it's good to remember that Mendenhall won 2 conference championships in his first 3 years after taking over a program that had been in the dumper. By BYU's standards, he had, in fact, gotten it done it early.

By BYU's historical standards, Mendenhall, in-arguably BYU's second best coach ever, has done somewhere between ok to relatively well, depending on your POV. By Nebraska's historical standards, Pellini hasn't. It isn't a good comparison whatsoever.