2016 BYU Coaching Staff

[Fido]

While it's not a done deal yet, twitter buzzing that Mike Empey joining as OL coach?

[SkystheLimit]

These kind of hires scare me. Crowtons teams the last few years of his tenure weren't exactly stellar. I don't remember if Empey was good or not, but geez, he's been out of coaching for 12 years. That doesn't speak well of him, in my opinion. Of course, my opinion doesn't necessarily mean a whole lot.

[frdbtr]

These kind of hires scare me. Crowtons teams the last few years of his tenure weren't exactly stellar. I don't remember if Empey was good or not, but geez, he's been out of coaching for 12 years. That doesn't speak well of him, in my opinion. Of course, my opinion doesn't necessarily mean a whole lot.

I've said this before (and been down voted for it) but I have the feeling that the AD dept and new coaching staff are much more interested in bringing back a bunch of lavell players that they are overlooking more qualified candidates.

[snoscythe]

These kind of hires scare me. Crowtons teams the last few years of his tenure weren't exactly stellar. I don't remember if Empey was good or not, but geez, he's been out of coaching for 12 years. That doesn't speak well of him, in my opinion. Of course, my opinion doesn't necessarily mean a whole lot.

I've said this before (and been down voted for it) but I have the feeling that the AD dept and new coaching staff are much more interested in bringing back a bunch of lavell players that they are overlooking more qualified candidates.

There seems to be a lot of concern about rebuilding ties to the Lavell era--are they bothering with building/maintaining ties with the Crowton/Mendenhall eras? That's 15 years of football and a lot of good athletes and alums.

[Fido]

These kind of hires scare me. Crowtons teams the last few years of his tenure weren't exactly stellar. I don't remember if Empey was good or not, but geez, he's been out of coaching for 12 years. That doesn't speak well of him, in my opinion. Of course, my opinion doesn't necessarily mean a whole lot.

I've said this before (and been down voted for it) but I have the feeling that the AD dept and new coaching staff are much more interested in bringing back a bunch of lavell players that they are overlooking more qualified candidates.

Another probably unrelated factor is that the Empey kid who committed to Utah is on a mission--speculation is that perhaps he transfers when he comes home.

[Ddawg]

These kind of hires scare me. Crowtons teams the last few years of his tenure weren't exactly stellar. I don't remember if Empey was good or not, but geez, he's been out of coaching for 12 years. That doesn't speak well of him, in my opinion. Of course, my opinion doesn't necessarily mean a whole lot.

I've said this before (and been down voted for it) but I have the feeling that the AD dept and new coaching staff are much more interested in bringing back a bunch of lavell players that they are overlooking more qualified candidates.

Another probably unrelated factor is that the Empey kid who committed to Utah is on a mission--speculation is that perhaps he transfers when he comes home.

Hope that is true. James Empey is a tremendous talent - big impact player. It was painful losing him to the evil big red up north.

[Fido]

http://www.vanquishthefoe.com/2016/1/7/ ... hing-staff" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Empey played at BYU in 1987 and from 1991 to 1993, blocking for Ty Detmer in games against Florida State, UCLA and Penn State in 1991. He was a first-team All-WAC player in 1993.

Prior to coaching at BYU, Empey was the head coach at Snow College in 1998 and 1999 after two seasons coaching tight ends at UNLV. He also had two years of graduate assistant work under his belt at BYU.

Empey appears to have been relatively quiet since not being retained with the coaching change of 2005, with indications that he worked as a personal trainer of some kind outside of his day job (sales and managing sales teams at Stryker Orthopedics). He also helped coach his son -- James Empey, a Utah signee -- in some capacity at American Fork High School.

[Fido]

http://www.suutbirds.com/ViewArticle.db ... =209609557" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Jenaro Gilford is under consideration for the DBs coach.

[E-Zone15]

These kind of hires scare me. Crowtons teams the last few years of his tenure weren't exactly stellar. I don't remember if Empey was good or not, but geez, he's been out of coaching for 12 years. That doesn't speak well of him, in my opinion. Of course, my opinion doesn't necessarily mean a whole lot.

A few things I would like to point out. Mike Empey was let go, because BYU had to make room for Dr Bob and it's not like he could not have got another coaching job some where else. I remember feeling really bad for him at the time. Because the fact was BYU had Coach Jeff Grimes coaching the OL and I have no problem saying Grimes is one of the better OL coaches BYU has ever had. But Coach Empey could be very good, like I said he could have chased around the country find other coaching jobs, but BYU was kind of his dream job. He went from the Head Coach at Snow College to BYU for Coach Edwards the TE and OT.
1994-95 BYU GA LB, DL, & OL
1996 West Texas A&M University- LB Coach
1997-98 UNLV- TE Coach
1999 Snow College- Head Coach (7-3 record)
2000-04 BYU- TE & OT

After BYU let him go after Bronco took over to make room for Dr Bob (who coached the TEs while being the OC), he decide to not move his family anymore. Also did you ever notice how the TE play slowly stopped being so very strong. What TEs did Coach Empey coach?
2000-
Tevita Ofahengaue 22-305 yards
Doug Jolley 14-213 yards, 1 TD
Gabriel Reid 4-50 yards
Totals 40-568 yards, 1 TD

2001-
Doug Jolley 32-492 yards, 7 TD's
Spencer Nead 22-266 yards, 5 TD's
Gabriel Reid 5-79 yards, 3 TD's
Aissac Aiono 1-23 yards
Totals 60-860 yards, 15 TD's

2002-
Spencer Nead 40-449 yards, 1 TD
Gabriel Reid 18-192 yards, 5 TD's
Aissac Aiono 3-33 yards
Totals 61-674 yards, 6 TD's

2003-
Daniel Coats 30-378 yards, 4 TD's
Justin Jory 17-213 yards, 1 TD
Philip Niu 8-152 yards, 2 TD's
Aissac Aiono 1-3 yards
Totals 56-746 yards, 7 TD's

2004 (Collie & Watkins Show)-
Dennis Pitta 17-176 yards, 2 TD's
Daniel Coats 13-160 yards
Jeremy Gillespie 1-4 yards
Totals 31-340 yards, 2 TD's
Also coached Jonny Harline in 2004

I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure Spencer Nead made an NFL scout team, I do know all the others in bold collected NFL monies.

Back to OL coaching, so while coaching TE and OT (that's what Coach Edwards hired him to Coach/both), he coached the 2000 season with Rodger French, then the 2001-03 seasons with Lance Reynolds, and the 2004 season with Jeff Grimes. So he coached along side of two of BYU's best OL coaches ever (French & Grimes) and the other one coached a long time at BYU and was a bad OL coach (just not great or there wouldn't have need to bring in Coach Grimes). Coach Empey is known for being very good at teaching technique and his son James was praised for his blocking technique (one the most ready OL technique wise for D1 level football/most recruiting services said he could play as a true freshman if he was not going a mission). So it sounds like his dad (OC at Lone Peak) must have taught him something while coaching him.

[SkystheLimit]

Just a little more info from the Tribune, maybe not really new, but helps to solidify what we have been hearing:

http://www.sltrib.com/sports/3406706-15 ... retain-one" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Sorry, I somehow got the wrong link in here before.