...this statement: "I believe he saved a program that was at a crossroads."

I think this is over-blown and not accurate. Yes we'd had a few losing seasons in a row while the previous coaching staff had to re-stock the recruiting pipeline with talent, overcoming several bad recruiting classes at the end of Lavell's tenure, and endured some inexperienced QB's (face it, it's hard to win at any level without a good QB). Bronco's 3-3-5 defense wasn't very successful when he was the DC and giving up 26-27 pts a game as a defense will contribute to a lot of losses. If you break down the 2004 season however you see a new QB begin to emerge (John Beck) and a host of future NFL players and BYU all-time great players start to come together on the offense. What people seem to overlook is we finished 2004 at 5-6 after playing the toughest schedule in BYU history (11th toughest that season according to Sagarin) and we were a FG hitting the upright on the road against #14 ranked Boise State (we lost 27-28) away from finishing that year with a winning record and going to a bowl game at 6-5.

The talent issue was already turning around before Bronco took over the HC position, it was just a matter of time for a reloading Offense (new starters at OL, RB, WR, TE and QB) to gain experience and chemistry. it helped matters greatly that Bronco played a ridiculously easy schedule his first year (#72 SOS) compared to the previous two seasons under the previous coach (#14 SOS and #11 SOS). Super easy schedule combined with major returning talent at all positions on offense (including QB) Bronco managed to win one more game than the previous coach did with greener players playing the 11th toughest schedule that year. Not really saving a program at a crossroads imo.

Yes, he brought stability and a spiritual component to the program but even then I think this gets over-blown a bit. It's not like BYU has never had major scandals before with it's football program. In 97 we had a major one on par with the scandals of 2004. The program corrected the issue and moved on. In 1985 there was a scandal at the Citrus Bowl (not to the degree of '97 or 2004 and not as widely known) which contributed to our playing like we had a hangover and losing 10-7 to Ohio St. Also Jim McMahon was a walking scandal (my brother attended BYU during that time and said McMahon flouted the Honor Code and dared them to do anything, his exploits were legendary, well known on campus just not covered by the media).

Scandals happen, the Athletic Dept handles it and life goes on. I'm not sure why people seem to get their undies in a wad thinking that the scandals were going to continue unabated and needed a savior. Yes, the two scandals in 2004 were embarrassing but they were dealt with and offending players were sent packing. After that things cool down and we get back to playing football, like we did in 97, like we did after other lesser scandals, etc.