I'm tired of getting paid to lose....

[cougarfurr]

I wanna WIN!!!

All this talk on Bronco's comments, attitude, whatever, it's all non-sense. I don't care if he flips me the bird every time he runs out on the field. All I want is to WIN!

And enough of this "Oh I'd rather sacrafice a few games if it means we have a spiritual leader like Bronco" bull crap. What a ridiculous attitude. I can't stand you people with that "I can't, I'm Mormon" attitude or in this case "I'm not a winner, I'm a loser...and I'm Mormon". What weaklings you are!

Football should absolutely be priority #1 and until it is, we won't be winners on the field. When I go to work, work is my # 1 priority. I don't read scriptures at work, I don't say prayers at my desk, I don't work on my calling. I work. While I do my work I still live by the standards of the church and I try to be an example to others.

Likewise, when it's time to play football, football is #1. Enough of this, coaches be home by 6pm crap and enough of this football is priority #5 crap. Bronco is a coach, nothing more! By the way some people talk you'd think he held some held some kind of sacred stewardship over his players. Well guess what, he doesnt. I'm fine with firesides, I'm fine with service projects, I'm fine with a prayer in the lockeroom. But this weak mentality of footbally being #5 is bull yewt and I'm sick of it. I want a craving to win, I want a winning mentality. I don't care to hear anything religious from Bronco, that's what prophets are for. I want to see him work those boys, work those coaches, work their assess of for some winning results!

BYU is underachieving. There is NO excuse for not reaching a BCS bowl by now, NONE! So I don't want to see or hear ANY thing else EXCEPT FOOTBALL and WINNING

Winning, winning, winning! The players will get their spiritual food at church and at school and from each other or whatever. Bronco spreads himself too thin by trying to be a Bishop. Coach, dammit! Work those boyz and bring us the freiking bacon, brother!

This is not an endorsement to fire Bronco. This is a call for Bronco to light a fire under himself, know his role, and do what he's freiking paid to do, which is win.

And no, 10-2 seasons don't make me happy. I don't settle for beating a bunch of cupcakes. I want to win the important games. And when Boise St and Utah have comparable schedules and just as much talent or less and yet they make it to the BCS, it says nothing but UNDERACHIEVEMENT to me.

Now come on Cougs! Let's buck up and Win!

I need me some Catholic Matt attitude up in here, where the heck did he go??

[mizzoucoug]

I agree with all of this. Although I have to think that Bronco would resign before changing his coaching philosophy this much. If this attitude becomes prevalent among the powerful at BYU then we'll see a new HC by 2014.

[stuckinbig10country]

Football should be number no higher than 4 for anyone. I can't think of any reason why it should be higher than Faith, Family, or Education for these people. Just because football comes 5th in priority for Bronco isn't necessarily a bad thing. I don't think he wants his players to be thinking about faith, family, school and whatever is number 4 during the 20 hours he has them a week.

I think he's probably preaching the same thing you said in your analogy. When you're at work, you focus on work. When the team is at practice or in meetings, he wants his players to be focused on football. When his team isn't at practice or in meetings, they should be focusing on those other things. For goodness sake, 50% of the team is married. Not one of those husbands should be putting football ahead of their spouse, just like when you're home, you should be focused on your family and not on work.

If they have a calling or church assignment, that should come before football. In order to remain eligible, they better be focusing on their education more than football. They should also focus there because out of the 105 players on the team, maybe 5 or 6 of them will actually make a career in the pros.

Coaches leaving by 6? They had a staff meeting at 6 this morning. That's at least a 12 hour day, and I'm pretty sure not many of them are leaving at 6, and I'm pretty damn sure they were at work before most of us even thought about getting up this morning.

I have no problem with football comes fifth if you actually interpret it correctly. Too many people in the football coaching profession have lost their families and other things that should be more important than football because they put their jobs at a higher priority, just like the rest of us everyday slobs who put things of lesser importance above our families.

[Dcr36]

I think in our frustration we're targeting anything that even hypothetically could be a problem. I've got my problems with Bronco, but his "life philosophy" or whatever isn't one of them.

I can't say with any degree of confidence that Bronco spending extra hours studying film necessarily equals more wins, or that some of those 10 and 11 win seasons would have been converted into BCS appearances. Nor do I really believe that Bronco advocating a "football comes fifth" philosophy really dictates what any of the players actually put into practice. Competitors are going to compete, and pushovers are going to get pushed over.

Additionally, I've never understood why that "football comes fifth" thing bothers so many people here. My work/school is not my highest priority, but that hardly means I'm making a half-hearted effort. I think at a certain level, a hyperfocus on performance in one specific area leads to second-guessing, nerves, under-performance and eventually burnout. There's a reason Urban Meyer isn't coaching anymore.

[Brayden Green]

When BYU takes faith out of it's approach (faith in God, not in a religion even) then that is the day that they become like 98% of the other universities and I stop following them.

I am fine with losing a game here and there, as long as our players aren't out robbing and raping people. The day we become a team with type players, is the day I stop caring about BYU sports.

I understand where the OP is coming from, I want to win, too. But there is so much more to life than winning a football game.

And nice post by Dcr, I agree 100%.

[SpiffCoug]

HB Arnett, some of you may get his newsletter, has been writing about BYU sports for almost as long as Dick Harmon. In his newsletter this week, he wrote this:

Nobody expected BYU to turn the ball over 7 times last Saturday against Utah.

Maybe we should have seen it coming when Bronco Mendenhall set the tone for turnovers in his Friday night fireside remarks before the game.

Mendenhall may have started the ball rolling loose on the field with his own personal fumble and faux pas.

You don't complain about paying customers to their faces. It is no secret that Mendenhall doesn't like BYU fans. It is no secret because he is more than willing to say so.

A couple of years ago, BYU made Max Hall apologize to Utah fans for calling them classless, among other things.

According to the Deseret News in a story last Saturday morning, here is what Mendenhall said about the Cougar Club at Friday's fireside.

"As I stood in front of the Cougar Club (Thursday), it felt like I was in front of the Pharisees and the Sadducees," he said. "Sometimes what play is called on third-and-20 is more important (to them) than what we're trying to do here. My hope is that you support us with your heart as you try to find what's most important in life and see the bigger picture, and join us in that purpose."

Maybe I'm the only one with the new Max Hall translation app for my iPhone, but in my opinion, that sounds a lot like calling Cougar Club members and BYU football fans in general classless and clueless".

Hey, that's not news to me. I take no offense. I graduated from BYU Magna Cum Clueless and Classless.

I can't comment on how Cougar Clubbers and BYU fans respond to what Mendenhall said. What I can comment on is what came first, the chicken or the egg or the pulpit or the product?

As mentioned before, Mendenhall certainly thinks and acts outside of the box when it comes to being a BYU coach. He has been mostly competitive on the field and very active in establishing a brand and roster that is totally unique to college football.

His pre-game firesides certainly indicate that.

Mendenhall's message about football being fifth on the list of priorities for his players and program is certainly unique. It is also well received by most Cougar fans from the pulpit and the position from which Mendenhall speaks as a successful BYU coach.

How well would that message be received if given by Mendenhall when he was the defensive coordinator at New Mexico and the Lobos were constantly churning out 5-7 records?

Let's be real. Mendenhall currently has a popular pulpit from which to preach not because he was called to preach, but because of the product he has consistently put on the field as a Cougar coach.

Whether or not you buy what Mendenhall is preaching from his pulpit is up to each of us, but it is obvious to me that he wouldn't have that pulpit if not for the product of successful BYU football on the field.

It is not my place to tell anyone else what to do, but I will refer to a talk given by an LDS General Authority a few years back about all of us becoming one-note piano players and electing to pound one favorite key over using the entire keyboard in a balanced approach.

Just a thought, is Mendenhall guilty of one-note nagging when it comes to his paying constituents?

It is my opinion that the product precedes the pulpit when it comes to BYU athletics. If you don't have a good product, you don't get the exposure you crave and a chance to get your unique message out to those living beyond the Wasatch Mountain range.

The reality of sports and BYU’s message getting disseminated the way they want it is that very few will be listening if you are turning out 5-7 seasons and 54-10 drubbings at the hands of Utah.

It is that simple. You have to fix the product if you expect to remain at the pulpit.

I get the big picture, but there is no picture to present without a good product. There is no ESPN, there are no firesides and there are no feel good stories to tell unless you are winning big.

Cougar fans and most Cougar Club members get that. They also get that first and foremost, they are paying first for entertainment with ecclesiastical enhancement as an ancillary spin off of that entertainment.

Without the first, there is no second.

Case in point. Jimmer Fredette was the best Mormon commercial and endorsement the LDS Church has had in years. His message and story reflected well on the LDS Church and was well received by the nation. It was a public relation bonanza for the Church.

Nick Martineau and Brock Zylstra, two seldom used reserves on the BYU basketball team last year, probably had some good stories to tell as well. I am sure that they would have reflected positively on the LDS Church.

They didn't have the same pulpit from which Fredette was telling his story because they didn't have the product on the court to warrant that pulpit.

In athletics in general and with BYU in particular, in getting their message out to the public, it is product first.

Just a thought. After Saturday's shellacking, maybe now is time for more focus on product and less on pulpit.

[cougarfurr]

What HB Arnett said is spot on. Thank you for posting that.

BlueisBetter- you fit the exact description of what I was talking about when you say...I'd rather lose a game here or there if we're not raping and robbing people. In other words "We can't win, We're Mormon". That's weak bro.

It's a ridiculous exagerration to suggest that we're saying we start letting anyone and everyone play football and turn a blind eye when they break the rules. We can uphold all the church standards and churn out good men but still keep our focus primarily on football. I just don't understand why Bronco has to go out of his way to preach and talk about football being less important. Dave Rose doesn't do that. Do you think our basketball team is producing robbbers and rapers? I don't think so.

I also agree with the poster who alluded to the fact that regardless of "priorities", the players likely practice and work just as hard. I agree with that. I think the "football as a 5th priority" thing is actually more of an issue with the Coaches--particularly Bronco--who I don't feel has prepared our team on numerous occasions and he has admitted as much. So again, I'll reiterate, I think Bronco spends too much energy on being a bishop--which is unecessary because the players already have an ORDAINED bishop to watch over them-- and more time an energy on preparing this team for FOOTBALL.

Finally, regarding priorities....there's a time for everything. There's time for gospel-related things like going to church, scriptures, prayer, etc. and when we do those things it should be with 100% devotion and dedication.

But there's a time also time for sports and fun. And I think it's 100% ok for football to be 100% about football. Again, that doesn't mean you can't say prayers to start practice or whatever and I absolutely agree that players should uphold the standards of the church and serve others and whatever. But beyond that, it's 100% football, plain and simple.

[cougarfurr]

Oh, and enough of the "Oh well I'd rather have it be like it is now than when CROWTON was here".

Look, nobody wants that, quit acting like it's either Bronco's way or Crowton's way. They are both extremes. All I'm calling for is more of a LaVell Edwards style.

Did LaVell talk about the mission of the church and the school on occasions? Absolutely. Did he emphasize these things with his players on many occassions? Of course. But it doesn't seem to be nearly how it is with Bronco and it wasn't nearly the chaos that it was with Crowton.

[cougarfurr]

I'll also say that I think the amount of preachy-ness versus about of sports dedication shown by the basketball team through Dave Rose and Jimmer is, in my opinion, the perfect example of balance.

Can anyone honestly say...Jimmer isn't 100% dedicated to basketball? Yet, is he "robbing and raping people" like it seems so many of you think has to be the case if you dedicate yourself 100% to something.

[Cougs_Rule]

Arnett is as far off as Furrball. Bronco doesnt want The Pulpit--thats the whole thing. Arnett is confusing means with ends. He's pissed and pandering to his pissed and pissy (insert Pharisee) fans. Taking things out of context and telling only half the story.
Lets see, other things Bronco has said.
"No one is more disappointed than I am [about the loss to Utah] (no rational, non-crazy, win-at-all-costs people, that is)."
"We want to win a NC." Or words to that effect.
Furr, if youre so tired of this approach, go cheer for the team to the North!! I'm sure Whit will be as attentive to your "tired" demands as Bronco is.