My case against Robert Anae

[Brayden Green]

This thread was inspired by the "what would save Anae's Job" thread and me thinking out what it would be for me. I though about it long and hard, and (at risk of having a 2 page post) posted my answer here, as a definitive statement that nothing - in my opinion - should save his job.

I give my reasons here. They are long and hopefully in depth and communicable. This is not intended as a light read, or as an angered response to anyone in particular. I understand that this will most likely go nowhere, and that I could shout in the wind and probably be more effective at making a difference in BYU football, but I love BYU football and can't stand to see it slip into mediocrity. I have watched BYU football for over 20 years, and have stated recently that I will not watch a BYU game next year that is gameplanned offensively by Robert Anae. I give my reasons in support of that statement as follows:


There are many of you out there that don’t know where you stand with Robert Anae. There are quite a few that have defended him, asking for reasons why many are critical of him and what he has done wrong. Many have quoted stats of the BYU offense under Robert Anae, which seem impressive to the untrained eye. To sum it into a few words, I am of the opinion that Anae is at best - a good playcaller, and at worst - loses us games. I am not of the opinion that he has won us any games that he “shouldn’t” over his tenure here, and that his playcalling, gameday preparation, gameday adjustments (or lack thereof) have lost us quite a few that we should have won.

To put it shorter, I believe the BYU football team has had success in the last 5 years in spite of Robert Anae, more so than because of him. Especially from 2008 preparations to current date.



2006
Losing to a 6-6 Arizona team in 2006 with a WEALTH of NFL talent albeit young
(Arizona's other wins that year? Stephen F Austin, Stanford back when they sucked, Washington St., California, and Oregon)

2007
A regular season loss to UCLA in 2007: UCLA finished 6-7 and fired their coach that year. We had Hall, Collie, Pitta, Unga, George, Tonga, Vakapuna. Plenty of offensive firepower. First 3rd down conversion came late in the 2nd quarter. Only went down 20-3 at the half despite giving UCLA the ball early and often. Our 2007 defense was one of our best defenses in the 2000's. Only to be rivaled - I think - by the early 2000's. As far as pure personnel goes 2007 was impressive defensively... Kehl, Poppinga, Jorgenson, Quin Gooch, Ben Criddle, David Nixon, Eathyn Manumaleuna, Brett Denney. Only scored 7 points in the last half of that game. The offensive gameplanning lost that game, plain and simple.

2008
This is where it starts to get UNBEARABLE for me. In 2008 we had the most talent, offensively than we have had at BYU for at least the last 20 years as a collective unit. There is a very real possibility that we have NEVER had this much talent on both sides of the ball in our 100 year history. I didn't agree with the defensive gameplan of Jamie Hill and overall operations of said coach, but we at least had the talent to not lose games defensively. Offensively you had:

QB - Max Hall (Junior RS). All time winningest qb in BYU history, accomplishing the feat in only 3 years. Just his Junior year he received many accolades, a few of which include: All-american honorable mention, serious Heisman trophy candidate, semi-finalist for Davey O'brien award, ranked No. 6 in the nation in passing yards per game (304.38), No. 7 in total passing yards (3,957), No. 8 in completions per game (25.38), No. 9 in total offense (313.23) and No. 11 in passing efficiency (157.21) while completing 69.2 percent of his passes and totaling an MWC single-season record 35 touchdowns. All this while playing only 3 out of 4 quarters in most games...

- Is currently in NFL "tied" for 1st on the depth chart as a rookie for the St Louis Cardinals.

HB - Harvey Unga (Sophomore) - BYU's all time career leader in rushing yards, accomplishing the feat in 3 years. His Sophomore year 2008 was easily his best year, before injuries started to claim him and make him lose a step or two. Sophomore accolades alone are many, but they include: Doak Walker Award candidate, back to back 1000 yard rushing seasons.

- He is currently in the NFL on the Chicago Bears after not declaring for regular draft, and leaving school early for personal reasons.

WR - Austin Collie (Junior) - The BYU Cougars current second all time leader in receptions (passed last year by Pitta - broke the record in 2008), all time leader in receiving yards, and receiving touchdowns. Again, he did this in three years, with his best season being his 2008 junior season. Allowing him (and deciding) to declare early for the NFL. His Junior season accolades are nothing short of impressive on a locan and national level. Among many, belong: A 2008 All-American; named a Biletnikoff Award finalist; led the nation in receiving yards per game with 118.31; led the nation with total yards receiving at 1,538; was third in the nation in receptions per game at 8.15; third in the nation for total catches with 106; third in the nation at receiving yards per catch (14.5); fourth in the nation in touchdown receptions; tied an NCAA season single record with 11 straight 100 yard receiving games (this also set a BYU and MWC record); and was 12th in the nation with all-purpose yards per game (162.46) .

- Austin Collie left early for the NFL and was drafted in the fourth round by the Indianapolis Colts. His 60 receptions and 7 TDs were good for first in the NFL among rookies in the 20008-09 season, and his 676 yards ranked 6th.

TE - Dennis Pitta (Junior) - BYU's current all time leader in receptions. In his Junior season, he earned many accolades as a pass catching TE, while splitting catches with Collie. Among those include: Rotary Lombardi Award and Biletnikoff Award candidate.

- Pitta is currently in the NFL being drafted in the 4th round by the Baltimore ravens. He was signed to a 3 year contract and is undergoing his rookie season this year.

Other mentionables that year:
Fui Vakapuna – Currently in the NFL as a FB for the Cincinnati Bengals.
Travis Bright – Currently in the NFL on the Dallas Cowboys practice team. Has been moved up and down to real team duties and practice duties
Rey Feinga – Currently in NFL on the Miami Dolphins practice team.
Dallas Reynolds – Is in the NFL on the Philadelphia Eagles practice team. Has been moved up and don to real team duties during his tenure.
David Oswald – Signed to the St Louis rams for 2009 season. Currently a free agent.
Matt Reynolds – still on team. Projected by many to be a 1st or 2nd round pick depending on when he declares for NFL draft.
Michael Reed – was a very good possession wr. Could always catch the ball, and was open often.
Andrew George started seeing significant playing time and contributed as well.

So in 2008 we had an ENTIRE offensive line that would be making NFL paychecks (Reynolds is the only one left, and will be making more than all 4 combined), as well as a QB, RB, FB, TE, WR, that are all in the NFL. That is 9 out of 11 starters making the NFL, and 10 if you include Reynolds. That we get blown out by TCU and Utah is insane, but I’ll get to that.

The TCU game - It is Robert Anae’s fourth year in the program in 08. Max Hall and Harvey Unga have started for one year, and been in the program for a few. Collie is a 2 year starter playing his 3rd year. Pitta is basically a 2 year starter (spent a couple years in the 2 position, which at BYU is basically starting) playing his 3rd. Oswald, Feinga, Dallas Reynolds and Bright are all seniors. The offensive line was deep, and would regularly rotate 3 in besides the starters. So with all of this, how do you only score 7 points against TCU in 4 quarters? When they put up 32 on you? You are the “8th ranked” team in the nation, and you play the 24th ranked team how do you not prepare for that game? I’m not saying TCU were schlubs. They were very good that year. But if Utah can find a way to beat them that year, how do you not?

The Utah game - As disappointing for me the as the TCU game was, the kicker for me was the Utah game. And still is. At risk of this being a two page post, I will sum it up to say the game was very close late, and we were driving. Max had 6 overall turnovers in that game (5 interceptions, and one fumble). Harvey was averaging 8 yards a carry up the middle. Anyone that watched that game can tell you that he was absolutely punishing, and Utah had NO answer for it. I mean, Fui and a healthy Harvey coming straight at you, behind a line that had something over 100 starts combined… it doesn’t matter how many people you put into that box. You can put 13 guys on the field and 11 in the box, and we are still getting 5 yards a carry. Anae decides to throw late - instead of going with what is working - making Max’s 4th and 5th turnovers of the night. (He did the same thing against Wyoming this year. We score 16 points in the first quarter, driving at will and then we go away from it… giving them a chance to win.) So he is throwing so much; giving the defense a chance to pin their ears back on throwing downs. All this by not making manageable "2nd and mediums" and "third and shorts" by just running the ball. We lost that game on playcalling too. We lost by 24 points, allowing Utah to go to a BCS game (instead of us) giving them an undefeated season, and eventually enabling a Pac – 10 invite.

A loss to the Arizona Wildcats in the Vegas Bowl– only scoring 21, with some of that being late scores - topped off what could have been one of our best seasons ever.

If we were consistently getting better recruits than TCU and Utah – and we were – than this sort of thing shouldn’t be happening.

2009
The Florida State mssacre - I will pin this loss on the defense, and not Robert Anae. We were never in that game… The only thing I can point out, is that we only scored 28 points on them, most of that in scrub minutes as their 2nd and “3rd teamers” where in. (I know that you only travel ¾ your team, but there were guys coming in there in the 3rd that were special teamers that you know had never seen game time – they would come in with both arms raised.) Against a 7-6 FSU team, other teams scored about the same as we did, but against the first teamers. Miami scored 38; Wake Forest scored 28; Clemson scored 40; Maryland scored 26; North Carolina State scored 42; North Carolina scored 27; Boston College scored 28; Georgia Tech scored 49; and Florida scored 37. Only Jacksonville State and USF scored under 17 points against FSU. Again the defense lost us this game, but the offense did nothing to keep us in it, or look remotely put together.

The TCU game Again we looked completely outmatched. Outplayed, outcoached, out prepared, out "everythinged" scoring yet again 7 points in a 38-7 blowout loss. The offense had no answer for a quick and physical TCU defense. The best thing you could say about this game was that it ended. However, we were in the game at different points, unlike the FSU game, and we had a chance to make adjustements, but didn’t.

2010
Anae fully supports an INJURED Riley nelson as quarterback, and doesn’t back down – all so he can be more “creative” with an offense that should be focusing on the basics. To the best of my knowledge and from what I have read, Bronco and Doman (Doman especially) were impressed with Heaps and felt he had earned the majority of the snaps based on ON-FIELD performance. Anae disagreed, and pushed back to the extent that the coaching staff collectively, with Anae pushing the pile from behind, made one of the stupidest coaching mistakes I have seen at any school, let alone BYU. They padded Rileys stats putting him against the 3's creating an illusion of competition. The after effects of this decision have yet to stop happening, but to current date this is some of what that poor decision has caused:
- 88 passing yards and 300 total in a loss against Air Force
- 115 passing yards, and 190 total yards of offense in a loss to FSU
- 229 passing yards, and only 320 yards of total offense in a loss against Nevada
- 270 passing yards, but only 335 total offensive yards in a loss to Utah State
- 91 passing yards, and 147 total yards of offense in a 3-31 loss to TCU. We only had 12 net yards at the half, and poor clock management (and playcalling, but that is in the eye of the beholder) allowed TCU2 touchdowns in the final two minutes of the first half – after BYU had stopped them to only 3 points all half.
As a side note, scoring 7 points, 7 points and 3 points in successive years is an average of 1.4 points a quarter. 17 points in 12 quarters against a conference rival isn’t what I would call good or elite – but that is just speculation.
- Almost losing the Wyoming game on poor game management, and going away from what was working. In one quarter we put up 16 points, then go completely away from that to score only 9 points the rest of the game. Then we do a huge sweep on 3rd and medium to give them the ball with 2 minutes to go and a chance to win the game. Yet another game the defense has won for us this year.

Besides the factual elements, there are many rumors and confirmed instances of the team not being together (If you have two quarterbacks you have none) and of continued player mismanagement and unhappiness. For a team that puts such a priority in a "all for one" "Miracle hockey team" sort of mentality it is hard to underestimate the importance of this decision or the effects it has had. You have a qb not used to his receivers, and vice versa. There are so many things wrong with this that you could create 10 different threads of negative effects. And if you ask Anae if he would change it, he tells you he would "do it all over again."



As a closing statement: In all of this, Anae has mismanaged players, has not played to any of BYU’s strengths (running short third downs outside of the tackles against faster defenses with slower players?) year after year, and doesn’t seem to have a good grasp of his team skills, or how to exploit opposing defenses with his team. He has been saved by the dregs of the Mountain West Conference and good NFL talent to make up the difference; giving him respectable numbers and overall job security.

I ask you if you think he is going to get any better than he already is after 5 seasons here?

If he is as good as his numbers indicate, then why aren’t there bigger and better teams – with deeper pockets – knocking on the door to offer head coaching and offensive coordinator positions?

The answer is clear: there is no interest on a national level. Robert Anae has taken us as far as he can go, and his overall stubbornness and pride has done more harm than good pertaining to player development as of late. He beats lesser teams with better players, and can offer us little more from a playcalling standpoint. If BYU wants to continue to stand by mediocrity, it can expect mediocre attendance, mediocre donorship, and uncaring fans.

EDIT: to name sources. Any stats I didn't know I used byucougars.com and in some cases players' wikipedia pages.

All the ccolades for each player are from the byucougars.com website, under each players respect page.

[BroncoBot]

Wow, I was expecting something short like "12 yards".

Maybe I'll read that novel sometime, but since the fate of anae is way beyond my control, I don't really care what happens to the guy. He's been good. He's struggled sometimes. I'm not sure he could have done much better with what he was working with.

after reading a bit of it, I'm going to add -totally TIC of course- BROKEN RECORD!!

[Schmoe]

I already thought he should be fired, I don't need to read a novel to know it (but I'm sure it was well done with tons of evidence, so, kudos).

[snoscythe]

With all the good stuff on tv tonight--Community, The Office, 30 Rock, Outsourced, The Apprentice, Fringe--and a Tivo full of Hawaii Five-O and Chase, I might not get around to reading this tome any time soon, but I commend your furious fingers for churning that bad-boy out, whatever it says.

[ Post made via Mobile Device ]

[Brayden Green]

hahaha, maybe I should have done it in installments...

[BroncoBot]

hahaha, maybe I should have done it in installments...

too bad all of it's out there now. Installments at a local newspaper could have made you some money.

[runbyu1]

Read the whole thing---well thought out and the best case overall I've heard. Nothing we haven't heard, just better documented/detailed, etc. I agree with what is written.

[runbyu1]

The Robert Anae quote of the day, and yes, it pisses me off:

Why haven’t the Cougars thrown to their tight ends more?

“Well, sometimes the tight end is the first read, and if it is not there, the ball goes elsewhere. Sometimes he is the second read, and the ball goes to the first read,” Anae said. “With all those guys rotating in, it may look like we don’t throw that much to them. But we haven’t thrown the ball to the level that we have here in the past. So I don’t want to compare this group with some other group we have had here.”

[Mingjai]

With all the good stuff on tv tonight--Community, The Office, 30 Rock, Outsourced, The Apprentice, Fringe--and a Tivo full of Hawaii Five-O and Chase, I might not get around to reading this tome any time soon, but I commend your furious fingers for churning that bad-boy out, whatever it says.

I miss Parks and Rec...

[Gunk]

Ever since 2008 I've been saying Anae needs to go. There is no excuse. With a team chalk full of NFL talent we should have ran the table.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. If BYU is content with putting together a string of 10-win seasons than Anae ought to do just fine. But if BYU wants to crack the BCS and be a national contender, Anae needs to go.

If Boise, Utah and TCU can do it, why can't we? I'll tell you why. Because all we have is a "good" offensive coordinator, not a "great" one.

P.S. I read the whole thing. TV is boring.