My mom and dad loved BYU football and after my mom’s passing and funeral last week my dad wanted to go to the game with me and my brothers. A couple of us from out of state were able to extend our stay and we decided late to go to the game and were having a difficult time finding enough seats together. My sister-in-law is really good friends with an associate athletic director. She called her friend and we got tickets together and were hooked up with pre-game field passes.

Got to the field about 75 min before kickoff. KS came out and we got a pic with him and then he chatted with the man next to us. I found out they have a long relationship (he was a professor of KS’ back in his GA days) and he mentors KS on coaching (non-scheme/football related items) and that he has very good relationships with many NCAA coaches (including Bronco) and NFL scouts. The man shared a lot of information and I will do my best to recap the 60 min discussion.

1. KS is very focused on always becoming a better coach. KS is always looking for feedback on his coaching and looking to improve. Most of his time at Utah and OSU he would have his mentor at the games close to the players and coaches. KS would meet for lunch on Monday and get feedback on what he can do better. I think this is awesome, we all want to get better at what we do, but to make sure you carve out time to get good feedback weekly is awesome.

2. The mentor told me he was always trying to get Bronco to be more hands off on the defense, and Bronco should hire KS. KS would have come home to BYU anytime, but Bronco’s philosophy did not align with KS and they would have conflicted often.

3. To help increase the payroll for assistants KS hit the fundraising trail when he was hired. He raised more money in his first 3 months as HC than Bronco did during his tenure.

4. Ty was not KS’ first choice for OC (he had many of the same concerns as I have read on CB). TH wanted KS to think hard about Ty. BYU had been trying for years to get Ty back and he became a real possibility, but KS was still unsure. He reached out to 4 NFL GMs and a couple of NFL coaches that knew Ty and they almost all had the same thing to say. Ty is a sought after commodity in the NFL. At any time Ty could coach in the NFL.

5. Ty could have got a lot more money out of BYU but was accommodating, he came back because of what BYU means to him and the fit with philosophy. (This was not said, but I read into it that he also freed up more money for assistants too. What a team player.)

6. Ty is still learning a lot about being an OC. The schemes and game planning is great, but Ty is still picking up the art of play calling. One big difference is he has to be thinking about 8 different scenarios to be 3 plays ahead and based on the outcome of each of the next 3 plays.

7. I asked about the DC position and coach Tuiaki. He said he and KS have been tight since Tuiaki was a GA at Utah in ‘08. When Tuiaki came back to Utah, KS started grooming him to be a DC. KS told him that when he became a HC he wanted him to be is DC. He followed KS to OSU and continued grooming for the DC position. I asked how much leeway he is given or if KS is very involved. He said they think very much alike and KS lets Tuiaki do his job.

8. Asked about the QB situation, it was his opinion that they made the right decision to start Hill and keep Hill as the starter. In regards to Tanner, he did say he is close to the head scout for the Falcons and Tanner is #5 on their draft board for QBs. This seems to be a close assessment of most teams and where they are slotting our QB.

9. He thinks it is very unlikely that Tanner will stay at BYU for the 2018 season.

10. Ty’s system will be more dangerous with a QB that has the arm and accuracy that Tanner has.

11. I asked if Dr. Hill at Utah was the reason that Utah cannot keep an OC. He smiled and did not answer. He responded that the DC position worked for KS for so long because of KS’ personality allowing him to work with Kyle so long. (I read into this that Kyle is the problem and may not give the coaches room to make decisions).

12. Gary Anderson it the one that told Kyle that he needed to go get KS. Gary Anderson and KS are very tight. Gary tried to get KS to come to Utah St and to Wisconsin. Kyle offered the DC job and it was more money that Utah State. Wisc was too far for Kalani's wife and decided not to go based on the family.

13. KS had been looking to leave Utah for a while to spread his wings, but he did not want to burn a bridge with Kyle and Kyle would have felt shafted if KS left for an equal position. When Gary came back to OSU he made sure there was enough to pay KS more than Utah would. With that much more money on the table, Kyle understood the lateral move.