I sent this letter late Saturday night
after the SF basketball victory. I normally send the letters on Monday
mornings.
Experience has taught me that when I send
the letter earlier than expected, I will get emails today wanting to know where
the letter is.
Consequently, I am resending it again on
Monday morning to keep up the regular routine.
To justify resending the letter, here is an
update. Robert Anae has already made his first bad call.
The high temperature in Provo for today is
forecast to be 23.
HB Arnett’s
801
372 - 0819
1391
West 800 South –
Vol. 33,
Issue 23 – January 7, 2013
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Here To Order Or Renew Your Subscriptions
ANAE IS
ADEQUATE…THAT’S ALL BYU NEEDS FOR NOW
Get real. You didn’t
really think that BYU was going to get an offensive coordinator like the ones
running the
You didn’t really
think BYU was going to persuade a highly paid LDS guy like current Seattle
Seahawk offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell to move to
Doug Scovil is dead. The
days of a high flying offense at BYU that puts up 50 a game are gone and not
likely to return.
What BYU needed
offensively is a coordinator that was adequate. If he somehow morphs into something
more than adequate, that is a bonus.
When BYU was putting up
big numbers in the old days, it was necessary to score gobs of points. In case
you forgot, as good as BYU was offensively, they were as bad defensively.
Look, you can say what
you want about Tom Holmoe and Bronco Mendenhall, but they are legitimate
football guys. They know football and they know the current BYU football scene.
Adequate
Enough
As long as Mendenhall is
here, BYU is going to be good to great defensively. That means that they just
need an offense that is adequate to good enough to produce 10 plus wins a
season, regardless of the perceived nature of future schedules.
Robert Anae gives BYU
adequate. That is a big step up from the inadequate status of BYU’s
offense the past two seasons.
All Anae has to do is
produce 4 touchdowns a game for BYU. He can do that.
Twenty eight points last
season offensively for BYU would have resulted in
BYU doesn’t need
the Johnny Football offense of the Aggies. They don’t need the pinball
production of the Oregon Ducks.
They just need a
consistent 4 touchdowns a game from the offense to match the spectacular
defense of Mendenhall. Get that and BYU is right back in the mix and talk of a
BCS bowl.
BYU couldn’t afford
a proven high octane coordinator. They couldn’t take a chance on hiring
another very young LDS offensive coordinator like Steve Clark of SUU and Kevin
McGiven, the offensive coordinator of Montana State who was just hired as the
OC and QB coach at Utah State. Both guys were former graduate assistants at
BYU.
Role
Reversal
The roles have reversed with
Cougar football. It used to be that offense was king and defense just needed to
be adequate. Now it is the defense that is king and the offense that needs to
be adequate.
It will be with Anae.
Anything better will be an unexpected bonus.
An adequate offense the
next couple of years will be good enough to get BYU back in the national
spotlight mix in football.
The other rationale for
hiring Anae beyond experience is the high praise from his two years at
Cougars
want back in business
BYU wants to get back in
the premier Polynesian recruiting business. Your head has been in the sand if
you think BYU has been anything but an also ran when it came to signing the
best LDS Polynesian football players over the last decade.
There is a reason that
Tom Holmoe rescued Mark Atuaia from a desk job with the general BYU administration
and put him on hold in a manufactured job in the athletic department.
That’s my opinion of course, and not official doctrine from the BYU
public relation machine.
He was put on hold until
he can be added to the football staff and help BYU get more aggressive in their
pursuit of Polynesian football players.
Look for Atuaia to be a
full time coach next season.
Polynesian
Points
Anae is not known as a
big time recruiter, but if he can produce points at BYU, it will score points
in the Polynesian community. He is part of the Tom Holmoe plan.
Meanwhile, I am more than
happy with Anae and his adequacy. In my opinion, it will immediately move BYU
up the rung to respectability on the national scene. And anything more than
adequate will be just fine.
And whether by accident
or over aggressive adequacy, I still think a 50-plus point game is not out of
the question, even next season. Write that down and be sure and email me in
October if it doesn’t happen. Wait, most of you already do that.
I am not waiting until
October, however. I think Robert Anae will pay immediate dividends for BYU
football. And all he has to be is adequate.
PRAISE
THE POLICY…VAN NOY IS BACK FOR HIS SENIOR SEASON
Forget the current BYU football
recruiting season. Bronco Mendenhall just landed the biggest unexpected recruit
of his eight year career.
Kyle Van Noy announced
that he is returning to BYU for his senior season. That means that BYU is
getting a proven player that far supersedes any 5-star recruit that the Cougars
could possibly land this coming February.
In Bronco
Mendenhall’s surfing context, this is the biggest off season wave he has
caught since he took up the sport. In surfing jargon, Van Noy coming back could
be considered “Mondo” for BYU’s defense next year.
“Mondo”
doesn’t come without money.
Van Noy is certainly a
good football player and a good guy, but his altruism towards BYU football
stops when it comes to injury and a future payday in the NFL.
That’s why, in my opinion,
I would bet big bucks that Van Noy now has an insurance policy to indemnify
against any and all injuries that could preclude him from a career in the NFL.
That’s what
sure-fire NFL prospects do when they postpone a pro career to return for
another shot at the college game.
Here’s my personal
thanks to Lloyds of London and whoever loaned the money for the policy. The
return of Van Noy for his senior season should be good for my business.
It certainly is also a
boost for Bronco Mendenhall and BYU football fans. As they say in surfing and
sacking of quarterbacks, it’s “Mondo”.
And don’t forget
Marriage. It could be “Mondo” on the mind of Van Noy.
This is just guessing on
my part, but it wouldn’t be a surprise to me to see Van Noy thinking that
a wife would provide him with more stability at the NFL level. Currently Van
Noy is still single.
Just my opinion, but a
good guy, which Van Noy is, needs a good wife to survive the NFL lifestyle. He
has a better chance of finding a good wife during another year at BYU than he
would stuck in
Plus a guy without a wife
would have a hard time spending all the “Mondo” signing bonus
money.
BYU
Hoping to Get Some Gas Pumped Their Way in
In 1993, Lenny Gomes, a BYU
defensive lineman, became a permanent fixture in the lore of BYU vs.
Gomes, who now uses the
surname Gregory, is still loyal to BYU and is still trying to pump some players
to the football program.
Gregory is the defensive
line coach at Grayson HS in
Now Gregory is trying to
get one of his star players to consider BYU and it looks like the Cougars may
be in the hunt.
Zach Barnes is a 6-3, 225
pound defensive end/outside linebacker that committed to
Zach
Barnes
When
Barnes will be making a
visit to
BYU is working very hard
on trying to land Barnes. They are even going to bring back former Cougar
defensive back Corby Eason to talk to Barnes.
Many recruiters try to
sell players the notion that BYU not being friendly to Blacks. Eason, who is
black and also from
BYU also used Eason with
Trent Trammell, the juco cornerback from
Don’t know if Eason’s
rebuttal was the deal clincher, but he certainly didn’t hurt in the
process.
TJ Haws
is still the little brother…and I can prove it
There has been some
discussion on just how tall TJ Haws, the high school junior at Lone Peak HS in
I can settle that
argument once and for all. TJ is at least 18 inches shorter than his older
brother. Here is the picture to prove it.
I found this photo on the
twitter page of former Cougar basketball player Jeff Chatman. It’s from a
BYU fathers and sons camp a few years back.
.
From left to right on the
back row is Andy Toolson, unknown, Chatman and Marty Haws. In front row from
left to right is TJ Haws, unknown, Jordan Chatman (signed with BYU last year
and currently serving LDS mission in
Last year I wrote that I
thought TJ would be a better college player than his older brother Tyler. That
sounds kind of absurd after
Regardless, I am sticking
with my projection, barring injury. To ameliorate the comparisons, I will also
say that both Haws brothers will be special, special players for Dave Rose
during their respective careers.
Most of you get to see
For the rest of you, you
might enjoy this glimpse of the future of BYU basketball. Click here to see it.
Fluff
and Stuff
The word is that Bronco
Mendenhall and new offensive coordinator have invited Brandon Doman to stay on
the staff. Most likely it would be as quarterback coach.
If Doman does decide to
go elsewhere, many think that Max Hall would be hired as the new QB coach. Hall
is currently a volunteer coach who was back in school to get his degree.
If he is to be
considered, he will have to have that degree. BYU will hire nobody as a coach
unless they have at least a bachelor’s degree.
A few weeks ago when
there were stories floating about BYU and conference expansion, a writer
claimed that he had ESPN sources that said BYU was getting $4 million dollars a
year from the national network.
From what I hear and
know, that is not correct. My understanding is that BYU is guaranteed a minimum
of $4 million per annum.
That is based on the
contract stating that a minimum of 4 football games are to be broadcast per
year. Of course, if you are counting, in the first two years of the contract, there
have been many more than 4 games a year broadcast on the ESPN platform. That
means that there has been more than the reported $4 million minimum per year
earned by BYU.
BYU made the announcement
that Lance Reynolds was retiring after the Poinsettia Bowl. Since then, he has
received some nice kudos for his 30 year service as a BYU football coach.
It was BYU’s choice
and not Reynolds choice to retire. That is coming from one of my good sources.
The fact that Reynolds has been considering taking a job with
Carlino
Carries Cougars with 2 Wins
Tony Bennett left his
heart in
Matt Carlino has left his
two best games as a Cougar in the same place.
Last season it was
Carlino’s 30 points that gave Dave Rose his first win over
Tonight it was Carlino
and his 22 points that secured another 80-76 come from behind win on the road
against the Dons.
BYU played like the
famous fog for the first half and look like just another low level team on the
road.
They picked up play
significantly in the second half, when BYU compensated for Brandon
Davies’ foul plagued performance.
Besides Carlino, the much
maligned, especially by me, Brock Zylstra, actually was instrumental in keeping
BYU in the hunt until Carlino could seal the deal.
The win moves BYU to 12-4
on the year and 2-0 in league play.
BYU defeated Loyola
Marymount on Thursday while running away and hiding from the Lions. The final
was 92-51. Carlino had 21 points in another outstanding effort from the BYU
point guard.
Next up for the Cougars
is Pepperdine. The Waves will be in
Television
Timetable
BYU vs.
Pepperdine
Thursday, Jan 10 at
Tipoff: 7:00 pm Mountain
Time
TV: BYUtv
BYU vs.
Lewis (Men’s Volleyball)
Friday, Jan 11 at
Start: 7:00 pm Mountain
Time
TV: BYUtv
BYU vs.
Saturday, Jan 12 at
Tipoff: 2:30 pm Mountain
Time
TV: Time Warner Cable
(feed likely picked up by BYUtv)
BYU vs.
Lewis (Men’s Volleyball)
Saturday, Jan 12 at
Start: 7:00 pm Mountain
Time
TV: BYUtv
BYU vs.
Saint Mary’s
Wednesday, Jan 16 at
Tipoff: 9:00 pm Mountain
Time
TV: ESPNU
BYU vs.
UC Irvine (Men’s Volleyball)
Friday, Jan 18 at
Start: 7:00 pm Mountain
Time
TV: BYUtv
BYU vs.
Saturday, Jan 19 at
Tipoff:7:00 pm Mountain
Time
TV: BYUtv