Absolutely. Mendenhall gets credit for what he did at BYU, and he will most certainly be very happy for BYU if and when they join the Big 12. That last part is also to Bronco's great credit. There is no question in my mind that he loves BYU. Kudos to him for being a standup, loyal man.

He also dropped some games he should not have, made some puzzling decisions, adopted questionable practices, got utterly spanked by his rival and left in the dust by TCU while Utah freakin' State shrunk the gap significantly during his tenure.

I respect the man for his skill in a number of areas. He is admirable in many ways, as is the job he did at BYU. I'm just not ready to lionize him, Big 12 or no.

It seems like almost a Trump/Hillary theme, where we're expected to affiliate with one extreme or the other re: Bronco. I'm not pulling the lever for either of those two candidates, and I'm perfectly content to say that Bronco did well but didn't rise to his own ceiling at BYU. Some of his more whacky and avoidable decisions proved costly to BYU's record over the past 5 years, and with it, Bronco's legacy. He still had a net positive effect, I believe, on BYU's current petition to the Big 12.