HB Arnett's 801 372 - 0819 hbarnett@fiber.net 1391 West 800 South - Orem, Utah 84058 Vol. 33, Issue 39 - June 3, 2013 Click <http://cougarclicks.com/product/Order-Cougar-Sportsline?ID=3173> Here To Order Or Renew Your Subscriptions Larry Graham is the Football Model for Mendenhall Unless you are a hard core soul/funk music aficionado, you probably have never heard of Larry Graham, especially if you are under the age of 50. Here is a quick synopsis of who Graham is. Larry Graham, Jr. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Graham> (born August 14, 1946) is an American bass guitar player, both with the popular and influential psychedelic soul/funk band Sly and the Family Stone, and as the founder and front man of Graham Central Station. He is credited with the invention of the <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slapping> slapping technique, which radically expanded the tonal palette of the bass, although he himself refers to the technique as "Thumpin' and Pluckin'." Graham is relevant to BYU football because his music career parallels the history and future of Cougar football. Graham went from performing hard core soul/funk early in his career (click for video) <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itMvzYWbbxY> but then transitioned into becoming a love ballad singer (click for video) <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxCBu45HgjE> . He is now back performing and producing the music of his early career (click for video). <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eqn56qHROT8> His fans, of which I am one, appreciate the return to what made him good. BYU football started their own brand of hard core/funk football with the passing offenses years ago of LaVell Edwards and Doug Scovill. (watch video) <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_w44ohlvhE> It worked and was well received for years. Then came the transition of a few seasons ago from a "thumpin' and pluckin" unstoppable offense to a more subtle and stoppable love ballad/ feel good offense. (watch video) <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FXc6eYG6-E> It had its moments over the last two years, but was more feel good emotionally than foot on the throttle good. Now BYU football, and its offense in particular, appear to be headed back to its hard core passing offense of old. Insert "hard and fast" for pickin' and thumpin' and this coming season looks promising. (watch video) <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmMZTpa2sKk> BYU football fans, of which I am one, are appreciative of the apparent return to the offense that made BYU football good. To help ramp up that enthusiasm for a return to the offensive good old days, here's a note to stuff in your back pocket. The Cougars scored 50 touchdowns last season. Of those scores, 47 were produced offensively and 3 by the defense. Of those 50 touchdowns, only two had players participating in the score, either running or catching the ball that will not be back this coming season. James Lark and Riley Nelson both had a rushing touchdown apiece. The two touchdown machines for the Cougars last season were Jamaal Williams and Cody Hoffman. Both will be back on the field in the fall. Williams tallied 13 touchdowns. (12 rushing and 1 receiving). Hoffman accounted for 11 touchdowns, all receiving. His big output came against New Mexico State on the road when he caught five scores. Here is a video of all of BYU's touchdowns from last season. (click to watch) <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dFglajzyB0> MENDENHALL, MONEY AND HONEY Bronco Mendenhall and the BYU athletic department, (Tom Holmoe) are currently negotiating an extension of Mendenhall's current coaching contract which expires at the end of this calendar year. Mendenhall has changed his tune from his early days as BYU's head coach when he would always say that he wasn't sure that he wanted to coach a long time at BYU. Recently the message he is now promoting is that he has loftier and lengthier goals and wants to be at BYU as the coach for more than a few more years. I have a good idea why he has changed his tune. It has to do with money and honey. I personally have wanted to quit publishing this newsletter for at least the last 15 years. I wanted to pursue higher vocational goals that would be more beneficial to society in general. Instead of publishing this two-bit rag, I had loftier literary aspirations such as writing a new version of the driver's instruction manual for the Department of Motor Vehicles. My wife (she calls me Honey) brought me down from my lofty publishing perch to which I aspired by reminding me that as long as there were enough crazies out there continuing to send me checks for the newsletter, I should stay with the newsletter until the crazies found the right medication or I ran out of mine. I call it the "Honey and Money" syndrome. It's likely the same for Mendenhall. He is experiencing the same "Honey and Money" deal. His wife is likely telling him that he should stick with his current gig with its good salary until BYU either runs out of money or the Cougars go 5-7 two consecutive years. If that should happen, there won't be enough medicine on the market in which BYU football fans can wallow and swallow. The contract extension is a done deal. It will happen and when it does, it will be a feel good story for Mendenhall and BYU fans. BYU BASKETBALL IS CURRENTLY A REALITY REBUILD SHOW If you think you weren't happy with the outcome of last basketball season, neither was Dave Rose. Despite a nice little run in the NIT, BYU's final record and results screamed ordinary and mediocre. The adage of "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" certainly didn't apply to last season's BYU basketball team. Dave Rose's actions since the end of last season screams, "It was broke and I am going to fix it". Fixing it means that of all the roster spots from last season, only five of those players will be back for the new version of BYU Basketball in 2013-2014. Those five players are Tyler Haws, Matt Carlino, Josh Sharp, Nate Austin and Anson Winder. Bronson Kaufusi's BYU basketball career is still in limbo. That decision won't be made until Rose is finished recruiting for this year and Kaufusi is done playing football for the coming season. Even if he does play again, his scholarship is counted as a football grant in aid and not against the basketball allotment of 13 scholarships. Three players from last year were seniors and ran out of eligibility. That would be Brandon Davies, Craig Cusick and Brock Zylstra. In Rose's current engine rebuild project, the only guy he will miss from that trio is Davies. Mission service was also helpful in the rebuild. Gone are Cory Calvert and walkon Cooper Ainge. Shown the door, whether by injury, injustice or just inability to produce were Ian Harward, Agustin Ambrosino and Raul Delgado. That, ladies and gentlemen is more than a new paint job, it is a total overhaul of the engine and transmission. Motor makeovers require new parts. Here they are. You need horsepower up front. That will be supplied by two freshmen, both of whom will surprise Cougar fans with how good they are and how soon they will contribute. Eric Mika is the real deal. He can rebound, run the floor and score. With a summer of seasoning with big man coach Mark Pope, he should come up with the start of a post up back to the basket game. Meanwhile, BYU will be fine with his athleticism and open court game. Luke Worthington is a motor that Rose has been wishing for. Worthington's motor is always running. He will beat people up inside and can score from the low post with a deceptively good jump hook from either hand. Rose is still looking for one or two more front court players. We will detail that later. BYU's transmission was faulty last year on the guard line. There was no reverse or neutral option available to Rose when driving the BYU bus. Carlino was great at times in the open court, but in the half court game, he was spotty. Now Rose has some other options with the return of LDS missionary Kyle Collinsworth and newcomer and juco transfer Skylar Halford. Throw in new freshman prep school guard signee Frank Bartley and the options are much more plentiful for Rose and his coaching staff. Bartley is 6-3, 205 pounds and played last year at Future College Prep in Carson, Calif., last season. He is originally from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Last season he averaged 19.0 points, 8.5 rebounds, 6.7 assists and 3.3 steals per game and won his school's co-Most Outstanding Player award. With Collinsworth, Bartley, Halford, Mika and Worthington new in the fold, that gives Rose two more scholarships to give for this coming season. That's because Rose and BYU gave Chase Fischer, a 6-3 guard transfer from Wake Forest, a scholarship ride for this coming season. He will have to redshirt a year before being eligible to play. Rose has had Kentwan Smith, a 6-7, 200 pound juco forward on campus late last month for a recruiting visit. He is from Otero JC in Colorado and prepped in Mississippi. He hails from the Bahamas originally. He played Division I basketball for one season at Louisiana Lafayette before transferring to Otero. He has an offer on the table from San Francisco. The spring signing period expired in the middle of May. Prospects can now only sign financial aid agreements between themselves and schools where they want to play. We keep hearing that Rose still has at least another big man on his radar for next season. I keep hearing it will be a current Division I player who has graduated and has a degree from his current school. That would allow that player to transfer and play immediately. Most other schools are finishing up their school year in the first week of June, so if this turns out to be something, we should know by the middle of the month. While Rose is rebuilding most of the parts of his Cougar car, he is keeping the same chassis on which to build. That would be the reliable and talented Tyler Haws. Rose isn't they only coach who thinks Haws is somebody to build around. The following is a release from BYU announcing that Haws has been selected to attend the training camp for the USA Basketball Men's World University Games team COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. - BYU junior guard Tyler Haws has been named to the roster for the 2013 USA Basketball Men's World University Games Team training camp, which will take place June 24-30 at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo. The USA Basketball Men's Junior National Team Committee issued the invitations. Haws is one of 29 collegiate athletes selected to the training camp roster. Twelve athletes from the training camp will be chosen to represent the United States at the 2013 World University games from July 6-17 in Kazan, Russia. "It's an awesome opportunity for any BYU athlete to wear a team USA jersey," Haws said. "I'm looking forward to working really hard this summer to give myself the opportunity to make the team and represent my country." A 2012-13 All-West Coast Conference selection, Haws finished the season ranked seventh in the nation in scoring at 21.7 points per game. Haws's scoring average and 780 total points are BYU sophomore records. The Alpine, Utah, native joined Danny Ainge as the only Cougars to 1,000 career points during their sophomore campaigns. Attending training camp will be: Eric Atkins (Notre Dame/Columbia, Md.); Markel Brown (Oklahoma State/Alexandria, La.); Deonte Burton (Nevada/Los Angeles, Calif.); Quinn Cook (Duke/Washington, D.C.); Bryce Cotton (Providence/Tucson, Ariz.); Spencer Dinwiddie (Colorado/Woodland Hills, Calif.); C.J. Fair (Syracuse/Baltimore, Md.); Yogi Ferrell (Indiana/Indianapolis, Ind.); Davante Gardner (Marquette/Suffolk, Va.); Treveon Graham (Virginia Commonwealth/Temple Hills, Md.); Jerian Grant (Notre Dame/Bowie, Md.); P.J. Hairston (North Carolina/Greensboro, N.C.); A.J. Hammons (Purdue/Gary, Ind.); Luke Hancock (Louisville/ Roanoke, Va.); Joe Harris (Virginia/Chelan, Wash.); Tyler Haws <http://byucougars.com/athlete/m-basketball/tyler-haws> (BYU/Alpine, Utah); Andre Hollins (Minnesota/ Memphis, Tenn.); Rodney Hood (Duke/Meridian, Miss.); Josh Huestis (Stanford/Great Falls, Mont.); Cory Jefferson (Baylor/Killeen, Texas); Sean Kilpatrick (Cincinnati/Yonkers, N.Y.); Alex Kirk (New Mexico/Los Alamos, N.M.); Devyn Marble (Iowa/Southfield, Mich.); Doug McDermott (Creighton/Ames, Iowa); Adreian Payne (Michigan State/Dayton, Ohio); Chasson Randle (Stanford/Rock Island, Ill.); Will Sheehey (Indiana/Stuart, Fla.); Aaron White (Iowa/Strongsville, Ohio); and Kendall Williams (New Mexico/Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.). Even in Softball IT'S ALL ABOUT PITCHING Take a look at the teams that have made it to the Women's College World Series in Oklahoma City this year. As a matter of fact, check out the teams that make it every year. They all have dominant pitching. BYU didn't have that luxury this past season. They very seldom do have it. Gordan Eakin, the women's softball coach has already inked two prominent high school pitchers for the coming season. They are Ashley Thompson of Connell, Washington and McKenna Bull from Ogden. Now he will also have the chance to hire a pitching coach that can help them reach their potential and BYU eventually reach the WCWS. (Click <http://byucougars.com/w-softball/byu-assistant-softball-coach-alvey-retire> here to see coaching change for softball) CONSOLIDATION TO EITHER SAVE CASH OR MAKE MORE CHAPIONSHIP APPEARANCES IN NCAA MEETS You can make up your own mind on they recent move by the BYU track programs to consolidate. Read <http://byucougars.com/m-track-field/byu-combine-mens-and-womens-track-progr ams> the story here. Also <http://byucougars.com/w-tennis/byu-boasts-top-15-recruiting-class> Check Out Top Fifteen Tennis Recruiting Class