"...in a basketball game tell me exactly how to defend an inbound pass at the end of the game and I still didn't do it right even though he made it clear as day."

I don't disagree with your post but from my perspective the bulk of the responsibility for failure will always fall on coaches. They drive the bus, so to speak. In the example you gave about the inbounds play, a coach can tell a kid something in the heat of the moment but if that coach hasn't drilled and drilled that prior so that the kid has it ingrained what he needs to do and doesn't even have to think about it then as a coach you're just rolling the dice on whether the kid understood you, whether the kid is capable of doing what you want him to do and rolling the dice if the play actually plays out like the coach thought it would (wouldn't be the first time an opposing play didn't play out the way the coach drew it out during a 30 sec T/O).

If I didn't prepare them well enough to perform that's on me the coach. If I have kids with bad attitudes/work ethics, etc that's on them but if I fail to hold them accountable for it, let them play and it hurts the team, that part's on me. If I'm able to take those kids with the bad attitudes/lazy work habits and connect with them, inspire them, get them invested and help them unlock the potential inside then it's shared, I'm a great coach and he's a great kid.

We've read in recent years Bronco boast of his unique coaching model that is so efficient that they don't have to spend as much time in pads, they don't have to practice as long or as often as other programs and that they're able to do more with less (essentially). I don't know exactly what that all entails because he doesn't elaborate but it could explain a few things. Having a few superstars can hide deficiencies because they can carry the load and make up for other's mistakes (ie Taysom Hill this year). They can get by on pure talent more than the rest of us. But the rest of us need to be drilled over and over so that we can do something w/o having to think about it. If we're not getting the reps in that we need, we look like BYU's defense did last year, all over the map and not working together and waiting for a superstar to come in and make them all look better than they are (that player didn't show up this past year).