opposing coaches and fans say, "It is no wonder BYU football is successful--look at all of the advantages they have", and they will talk about the mission "advantage", the LDS "advantage", the legacy of LaVell helping BYU to draw highly regarded recruits, and perhaps even the Honor Code "advantage".

You will also hear coaches say that any competent coach could be successful at BYU, and that only an incompetent could louse things up at BYU (inferring that if they were at BYU, they'd be that successful, too).

Why do I say this now? Just to point out that will seem obvious in a few years, is not so obvious now. It takes a coach with vision to change the conventional wisdom, and we have one at BYU.

Because we have a coach who is smart enough to realize that he needed to shift the paradigm, and instead of running from what conventional wisdom called challenges and obstacles, it was possible to turn them into strengths.

Instead of a coaching staff who downplayed the honor code to non-LDS recruits, Bronco and Co. made it front and center as they targeted recruits of high standards. What parents with standards--LDS or not--wouldn't be at least a little intrigued by a sales pitch which included a part about how BYU tries to build adults of character and integrity, and we put that into a written code of conduct that is vigourously monitored?

Instead of being a coaching staff frustrated by the missionary program, why not tap into the fact that they have a team who the majority of its members really know what it means to sacrifice to a cause? Instead of talking about how hard it is to manage missions, why not embrace it and talk about the title of liberty and being stripling warriors?

Of course, there are a lot of smart coaches out there who could also come up with these things, but what is making Bronco successful is that he also has the courage to put these ideas into practice. Not many coaches would have had the courage to go in front the media and read scripture--they'd be scared of the firestorm it would cause in Utah from the yewts and their anti-LDS sympathizers. Bronco, on the other hand, didn't care--and in one swoop, he energized almost the entire BYU fanbase with one press conference.

Another example of his courage is in targeting and closing the deal early with the existing base of football recruits. Other coaches (ahem) would be too scared to do it for fear of opening themselves up to second guessing, but Bronco and company are trusting in their talent evaluation skills, and not wasting time and energy dancing with recruits for months who will commit right away.


Now, many of the people who I predict will be complaining about BYU's "advantages" in a few years are the same yewt fans and scared and disspirited BYU fans who over the last few years have been telling all who will listen in grave tones about the demise of BYU football. They have said that BYU fans should be ready to become a New Mexico or Air Force-esque program who in a good year might win 7 or 8 games, but otherwise will be a middle to bottom of the pack program in a bad conference.

The people who say this are either enemies of the program who hope for the worst for BYU, or they are those who the scriptures call people "without vision". They call themselves "realists", people who are unwilling or unable to see anything happening on the periphery which might be harbingers of things to come.

People like this make good critics, because they are good at seeing and stating the obvious, all the while unwilling or unable to see what good and bad led to the present reality.

So, remember folks. When people say in a few years how anyone could be successful at BYU with our advantages, remember that I told you long ago that not everyone is smart and brave enough to turn weaknesses into strengths, and not everyone is a good enough leader to get the team, the coaching staff, and the fanbase to buy into it.

I don't know how many coaches there are who are able to do these things, but I do know of at least one: Bronco Mendenhall.