...the importance placed by some on his "developing young men"

("It's not about wins, it is about developing young men. #footballis5th - and there is no coach better at that than Bronco.")

I don't get a couple of things on this topic. With over 80% of his recruiting classes annually serving full time missions, what does he really need to do to develop their character? These guys are already guys with strong character, many are Eagle Scouts, served in Aaronic Priesthood Quorum Presidencies, while on their missions served as DL's, ZL's or AP's, returned home from missions and got married in the Temple and started having families.

What character development do they need? Seriously? These guys are for the most part on auto-pilot spiritually. It's very doubtful that there's a football team less in need of character development in the country than BYU.

I submit that it should be quite the opposite from the quote posted above, it should be about trying to achieve excellence on the field and that the effort to become and maintain excellence will develop high character young men. BYU's Honor Code, the desire to serve a full time mission by the majority of the players he recruits and the need for ecclesiastical endorsements already sets the structure for their moral character. Winning doesn't have to come at the expense of high character. If done correctly, high character can be a by-product of being excellent on the field.

I'm not sure how much truth there is to the notion on CB that Pres Eyring told Bronco that BYU Athletics is the 3rd most useful missionary tool in the Church. But I do know that BYU football wasn't the 3rd most useful missionary tool during the 30's, 40's, 50's or early 60's because for the most part they stunk, lost to all their in-state rivals and nobody gave a hoot.

They became a noteworthy representation and viable source of positive attention on the LDS Church starting in the 70's when they started achieving excellence on the field with a competitive, winning football tradition boasting high profile players that they started putting into the NFL (Marc Wilson, Giff Nielsen, Steve Young, Jim McMahon, Todd Christenson, Bosco, Sikahema, etc) and onto NCAA All-American teams, winning a National Championship and National Awards like the Sammy Baugh and DAvey O'Brien awards, Outland Trophies, a Heisman, etc have all been major components of building football into the 3rd most effective missionary tool.

As we've seen the past few years, the product on the field won't take care of itself, football has to be the primary focus, but the intentional by-product of having great football teams year in and year out can definitely be the producing of great young men year in and year out. Nobody cared or paid attention to BYU football back in the 40's and 50's (not even BYU fans). But alot of people took notice when they started playing great football. Making winning football a priority doesn't detract from the importance of character building and faith promoting and instead it actually enhances it. You just need to have and hold fast to your core operating principles and the rest will take care of itself as a natural by-product. Winning doesn't have to come at all costs, achieve excellence on the field and it will be a by-product along with producing great young men.

Bronco already recruits young men that are of high character, he needs to focus on making them become excellent football players and the rest will take care of itself. Being satisfied with 8-5 every year doesn't cut it.