Wednesday, December 21, 2005

Contra Costa Times: BYU coach aims to bring back glory years

MENDENHALL VALUES TRADITION OF EDWARDS ERA -- AND OFFENSE

By Jay Heater

LAS VEGAS - Growing up in Alpine, Utah, Bronco Mendenhall didn't just watch his brother, Mat, play football for Brigham Young in 1975-79. He also took time to notice legendary coach Lavell Edwards on the sideline. ``That was BYU,'' Mendenhall said. ``That was stability and success.'' Mendenhall, in his first season as the Cougars' head coach after serving 16 years at various stops as an assistant, is the man in charge of leading the Cougars back to the glory days, to the stability and success that slipped away after Edwards retired following the 2000 season. In the Las Vegas Bowl on Thursday against Cal, BYU will make its 24th bowl appearance but its first since 2001. The Cougars went 26-23 under Gary Crowton in 2001-04, with losing records his final three seasons. Considering that Edwards won 20 conference titles in 29 seasons, BYU wanted something more. In came Mendenhall, who was the team's defensive coordinator the previous two seasons. He wanted to breathe fire into his offense, so he hired Robert Anae, an assistant to offensive guru Mike Leach at Texas Tech, as offensive coordinator. Like many of Edwards' teams, the current Cougars squad uses a wide-open passing attack to spread the field. But without a defense to match, BYU finished 6-5 overall and 5-3 in the Mountain West Conference. ``Coach Mendenhall wants to get this program back to where it was,'' quarterback John Beck said. ``I think this is a good first step.''

Among the other steps Mendenhall has taken since his arrival was to embrace BYU's past. That was another part of the reason behind the hiring of Anae, who had worked in the system taught by Leach -- a former Edwards assistant. ``Tradition is one of our key elements,'' Mendenhall said Tuesday. ``That's been our focus since the beginning.'' Perhaps the only true similarities so far are success and the love of the passing game.

``They are a lot different in their styles of coaching,'' said former Cal coach Tom Holmoe, a defensive back under Edwards who now is BYU's athletic director. ``Bronco has a lot more to do with the X's and O's. Coach Edwards was more into keeping the overall picture of the whole thing. ``Lavell also was much more gregarious. Bronco is a man of few words and when he speaks, he chooses his words very carefully.'' Cal Coach Jeff Tedford, who both played and was an assistant coach at Fresno State, remembers going up against Edwards when BYU was a member of the Western Athletic Conference. ``Those games were all shootouts,'' Tedford said. ``I see a lot of similarities with this team. They love to throw the ball.'' That's the kind of talk Mendenhall wants to hear. He knows that quarterbacks like Beck will do just about anything to join a program that has produced College Football Hall of Famers Steve Young, Jim McMahon, Marc Wilson and Gifford Nielsen. Beck hasn't shown he has quite that kind of ability yet, but did throw for 3,357 yards and 24 touchdowns this season. The days of the shootout appear to be back as well; one of the Cougars' losses was a 51-50 overtime thriller to Texas Christian. Beside lots of points, BYU fans are also seeing other similarities to the Edwards years. ``At the end of Lavell's era, the logo on the helmet was changed,'' Holmoe said. ``When Bronco came, he changed it back to Lavell's `Y.' I mean, that's the old days. I like it.''

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