Olson and Mendenhall
 

This wasn't my poll. But if anyone cares to give a poll creation tutorial, thanks in advance.

Question. For those rabidly against Olson for lying to BYU, leaving our QB situation a mess, being a traitor, whatever...

Everybody knew Crowton would be fired after he lost the New Mexico game mid November. I believe he was fired late November. Bronco's hire date was Dec. 14. Bronco says he has never spoken with Ben--ever.

I don't blame Olson for leaving, but if you do, what do you think of the fact that no BYU head coach (maybe no one representing BYU at all?) ever spoke or attempted to speak with Olson at any time after his mission? And he was on record through many media interviews during this time period that he had not made a decision where to enroll.

Compare this with Beck, who shopped himself around to schools such as Miami, ASU, etc., before being talked into coming back to BYU by new head coach Crowton. What if Crowton didn't even bother to call Beck and Beck goes to another school

Bronco was aware of what went on between Olson (primarily Rick) and Crowton before he took over at head coach. Bronco had also had a couple of exchanges with Rick Olson.

Bottom line, when asked about Olson during a Cougar Club meeting, he essentially said that he had no room for those that had a sense of entitlement.

The same question could be asked about Ben Olson. Why didn't he try to visit with Bronco if he had honestly hadn't already made his mind up that he was transferring?

You are omitting some key facts. BYU was looking to hire Whittingham who may not have been the first choice, therefore was it truly in Bronco's best interest to be making said calls if he wasn't even the 3rd or 4th choice as head coach?

Think about it. Reconsider what we know of the events surrounding Crowton's resignation and the hiring process. It was in Bronco's best interest to sit back and wait it out. Your criticisms are rediculous.

I also think it is as much a timing issue as anything else.

It wasn't a timing issue. The decision was made by the Olsons well prior to Crowton's firing/Bronco's hiring that they were transferring to UCLA. The charade of Ben going on the radio with Monson and spouting some nonsense about Reynolds getting hired might convince him to return was the height of disingenuity.

[QUOTE=jay santos;120923]This wasn't my poll. But if anyone cares to give a poll creation tutorial, thanks in advance.

Question. For those rabidly against Olson for lying to BYU, leaving our QB situation a mess, being a traitor, whatever...

Everybody knew Crowton would be fired after he lost the New Mexico game mid November. I believe he was fired late November. Bronco's hire date was Dec. 14. Bronco says he has never spoken with Ben--ever.

I don't blame Olson for leaving, but if you do, what do you think of the fact that no BYU head coach (maybe no one representing BYU at all?) ever spoke or attempted to speak with Olson at any time after his mission? And he was on record through many media interviews during this time period that he had not made a decision where to enroll.

From several things I heard and read, Bronco heard all he needed to from his conversations with Ben's Dad. You also have to remember Bronco likes Crowton and thinks Crowton got a raw deal. So if Ben's Dad cried an moaned to Bronco about Crowton, it probably didn't go over very well.

I don't think we need to bad mouth the kid anymore. His actions stunk, IMHO. Not his leaving, I would have probably advised him to do so, but his interviews with Monson etc and the way he handled his departure.

He owed BYU nothing except to go away gracefully.

I wouldn't expect Bronco to make a call to Olson until after he was hired. But it probably should have been one of the first calls he made. Olson was still up in the air at that point. But it's not a major criticism. I said before that Bronco has done so much right that it's all water under the bridge. This is by no means an anti-Bronco post.

The point in bringing this up is why the venom towards Olson and accusations of being a liar and traitor when BYU made no attempt to bring him home. Every missionary in this day and age has to be rerecruited. Stratton, Hill, Niu, Sorensen, Hall, Wagner to name a few others that switched.

Wagner re-enrolled at WSU for one year after his mission before transferring to BYU.

I don't blame Bronco for feeling the way he did about Olson and his dad. And again, this is not an anti-Bronco thread. He's kicking ass and taking names. I just don't get why we're so rough on Olson, given what was going on.

I do wonder how Bronco can call Olson out for having a sense of entitlement when he'd never met or talked to him ever in his life. I coach a lot of sports for my kids, and the parents can be a piece of work, but you have to seperate the parents from the kid.

IMHO, people who are on Olsons case for choosing to go to UCLA are up in the night. It was a reasonably sound decision to make and he had no obligation to stay at BYU.

If he had come home and said, hey BYU is a great place and a great school, but I have changed my mind and I hope BYU does well, I personally would have no problem with Ben Olson.

The people who call him traitors, etc. are the same folks who think BYU is on the same stage as a UCLA or USC.

You may choose BYU over Stanford for an education, but don't tell me the world thinks a BYU degree is as valuable as a Stanford one.

Remember some who root for BYU think the sign reads, the campus is our world.