Former player during Bronco's regime talks to me

[MikeWaters]

Talked to a former player today and got some insights:

1. Bronco is a "weird guy" (his words). He is very impersonal and distant. He relates Bronco passing him and never talking to him in a month, and then saying something weird, like he was unsuccessfully trying to make a joke. He makes the point that this is not a coach whom the players feel close to. This demeanor, he feels, transfers over to the team.

2. A related point is that Bronco is not a very good recruiter. He doesn't get the best LDS talent, and he does in fact believe in the mantra that we don't recruit players, the players recruit us. He says that Doman *is* a very good recruiter.

3. Bronco threw Dallas Reynolds under the bus. After the combine, the NFL coaches talked to Bronco, and Bronco said that Reynolds did not have the drive or work ethic to be successful. My contact says that aspects of this were probably true, but what was remarkable is that Bronco would not defend his player, when every other coach in America is defending their players. The next year when players were talking to agents and trying to improve their draft positions, they were instructed to "find out where you stand with your coach." Thus, I think we can gather that this account is likely well known amongst players. Bronco does not necessarily have your back. My player contact says that this no doubt harms recruitment. According to a blog I just read, BYU only has seven players in the NFL right now. That's one of the most important stats regarding the Bronco era.

4. He doesn't feel like Bronco develops players well. That they don't improve and reach their potential. Says that Bronco brought in a consultant last year to improve the weight program and the athletic trainers, but the results are still preliminary. In my mind, this a massive indictment of the BYU program. Why go to a school that won't develop you for the NFL?

5. He feels that Doman may need to go. That Doman has developed his quarterback and offense around the style that he is comfortable with--the hybrid running/passing quarterback.

6. Max Hall he said was a real competitor and gamer. But he was never good at X's and O's and reading defenses. Not a student of the game. He says that John Beck, for example was amazing in his ability to analyze defenses, that his game film commentary opened his eyes. Not so with Max Hall.

7. He thinks the talent on the team is just as good or superior to the Crowton or Edwards days. But the coaching is not taking advantage of it. He doesn't think Bronco ought to be fired.

8. Says that Andy Reid has been a great church guy in the Philadelphia area. Does firesides and such.

9. He hopes that Detmer can come in as offensive coordinator. I personally have been observing that Detmer has seemed to have positioned himself to be much more visible to the BYU fan in the last couple of years. While I would not call it a "campaign" I do think that it is something akin to that.

10. Says that there is a real office-business atmosphere to the BYU coaches.

11. When I suggested that assistant coaches and coordinators need to be afraid that they will lose their jobs, he provided an interesting insight. Under Bronco, they already are afraid. Each is under a one year contract, and Bronco has fired many coaches under him. This pressure filters down the players he says, and in some cases causes them to play scared. Afraid of making mistakes. Lavell had a year to year contract, and that's what made the Bronco 5-year contract so remarkable.

[ChinoCoug]

Dang that sucks. Not one person from the Reynolds dynasty was drafted.

[ChinoCoug]

This just came to me. This is glaringly strange, if that guy you talked to is correct.

Bronco is meritocratic when giving information to NFL scouts. He doesn't recommend people whom he does not honestly believce is NFL material.

Bronco is un-meritocratic in personnel decisions on who is starting/playing. He favors those who have given invested more time into the program.

In both situations, BYU gets screwed. If my assessment is correct.

[Viking]

I had a chat w a buddy of mine that really made me rethink my view bronco sticks around.

He is not an insider but he's a former QB and close to the program and thinks Holmoe wants to clean house. Whittingham was verbally a cougar again; bronco was the default, is this fellow's logic. Holmoe sees the fan unrest; this is his chance to remake the program.

He doesn't know about Reid. He played in the nfl and thinks it is pretty tough to go from the pro game to college but Reid is very young at heart.

I would be ecstatic to see Bronco leave. Wish him well, but leave.

[ChinoCoug]

I hate to see him go, as there is so much of him that we need: discipline, toughness, etc. If we can only tweak him here and there...but he doesn't seem like someone who can be tweaked.

He has consistently produced top defenses.

[MikeWaters]

I would be shocked if Bronco were fired. I do not believe this will happen.