HB Arnett's 801 372 0819 hbarnett@fiber.net 1391 West 800 South - Orem, Utah 84058 Vol. 32, Issue 40 - July 5, 2012 Click <http://www.cougarstreet.com/products/index.php?type=450&PCID=450:0:0:0:0> Here To Order Or Renew Your Subscriptions SUMMER CAMP.BRONCO HAD HIS AND I HAD MINE! Summer is for camps. There are Boy Scout camps, Young Women camps and BYU sports camps. Bronco Mendenhall and Dave Rose host their annual camps on campus. Both are one-stop recruiting malls for Mendenhall and Rose. More on that subject later. The world is full of camps. Bronco Mendenhall went to surfing camp a few years back. My best friend growing up used to annually go to Magic Johnson's fantasy camp in Hawaii until he moved on to bigger and better things. I am speaking both of my friend and Magic. I didn't bother to Google it, but if I did, I'm sure I could find summer camps for wake boarding, welding and weddings. You name it and there is probably a camp for it. I personally just got back earlier this week from a five-day estrogen camp in Boston. I was the only male enrolled in this exclusive camp and was surrounded by my wife and four of my daughters for five days while attending one of the daughter's graduation in the MFA Program in Creative Writing at Lesley University in Cambridge. I was voted camp MVPPPPP. That's because I was the official Porter of everyone's luggage, the official Payer of all the tabs for meals, taxis and treats. I also was the official Purchaser all feminine products when needed, (by them, not me). I was on a first-name basis with the clerk at the Rite-Aid across the street and down the block from our bed and breakfast. His name was Chutakawa. I just called him the Playtex guy. I was the official Paddler of the kayak we took on the Concord River. And last, but not least, I was the most Puzzled as to why the estrogen entourage all wanted to visit the homes of Henry Longfellow and Louisa May Alcott? Didn't they know that both were dead and didn't live there anymore? They told me we were going to hear Nicky read some poetry at the graduation ceremony. I thought it would be great to hear Nick Saban, the coach of Alabama, recite some Crimson Tide verses. Instead, it turned out to be Nicky Finney, an award winning poet of national acclaim. I am willing to bet that Bronco didn't have to do any of that at surfing camp. What he did do in June, however, was hold several football camps on campus. Some were by invitation and others were open to all. The camps, by most accounts, are great experiences for the participants. For Bronco, they are much more. He can evaluate in person prospects that he and his staff identified during the spring evaluation period (where they did leave the office and make visits at high school and junior college campuses around the country). It allows him to get an up close and personal look at them. It also allows BYU's program to get these guys on campus to get a feel for the school and environment. Not all are LDS, but those that aren't resemble me at estrogen camp. They are in the minority. The bread and butter and backbone of BYU's football recruiting is still the LDS athlete. These camps are no exception. They are LDS dominated. At the conclusion of this June, here is what the BYU football camps have coughed up in commitments to Bronco and his program. Almost all of these guys, with the exception of a few jucos came through the BYU football camp program. 2013 Verbal Football Commitments Maataua Brown.DL, 6-5, 290, Cerritos JC, CA Nathan DeBeikes.LB, 6-2, 195, Thousand Oaks HS, CA Garrett England.DB, 6-3, 180, Skyline HS, UT Billy Green.QB, 6-2, 195, King HS, WA Keegan Hicks.OL, 6-2, 270, Bingham HS, UT Brayden Kearlsey.OL, 6-4, 300, Aloha HS, OR Dallin Leavitt.DB, 6-0, 200, Central Catholic HS, OR Kalolo Manumaleuna.LB/DL, 6-2, 250, Compton JC, CA Kai Nacua.DB, 6-2, 200, Liberty HS, NV Patrick Palau.LB/FB, 5-11, 240, East HS, UT JonRyheem Peoples.OL, 6-6, 300, Rigby HS, ID Trajan Pili.LB, 6-2, 215, Centennial HS, NV Addison Pulsipher.DL, 6-4, 240, Temecula Valley HS, CA Moroni Laulu-Pututau.TE, 6-4, 190, Mountain Crest HS, UT Tanner Shipley.WR, 6-2, 185, Wilsonville HS, OR Talon Shumway.WR, 6-3, 190, Lone Peak HS, UT Merrill Taliauli.DL, 6-2, 305, East HS, UT Johnny Tapusoa.DB, 5-10, 190, Kahuku HS, HI Hayden Weichers.WR, 6-0, 170, Bingham HS, UT 2014 BYU Football Commits Isaiah Nacua.DL, 6-2, 255, Bishop Gorman HS, NV Neil Pau'u.QB, 6-3, 190, Servite HS, CA Polynesian Pipeline Now Open Again for BYU Business We mentioned in our last newsletter that Bronco and his staff were making a concentrated effort to re-establish the Polynesian recruiting pipeline in football. Of the 21 players already committed to play football at BYU from the 2013 and 2014 classes, ten are Polynesian. How do you spell pipeline? Also, it is worth mentioning that Tom Holmoe recently hired Mark Atuaia as an assistant athletic director with responsibilities in community relations and student services. Just a guess, but we expect Atuaia to be speaking at more luaus than luncheons with the Rotary Club. Here is BYU's official release on the hire on June 13. PROVO, Utah - BYU director of athletics Tom Holmoe <http://byucougars.com/staff/athletics/tom-holmoe> today announced the hiring of Mark Atuaia as an assistant to the athletic director for student services. Prior to joining the athletics department, Atuaia had been serving as the assistant to the dean of Student Life at BYU. "We are excited to have Mark join our staff. He has a lot of passion for BYU and will be a great asset to our program," Holmoe said. "He will work closely with me to increase our community outreach, mentor our student-athletes and champion several internal projects." In his new role in athletics, Atuaia will serve as a mentor and liaison for student-athletes and coaches. He will also assist as an internal and external liaison, serving actively in the community to build relationships and strengthening ties to BYU Athletics. "I'm very excited for this new opportunity to work closely with the student-athletes and coaches at BYU. I have a real love for BYU and the athletic program," Atuaia said. "I appreciate the opportunity I've had to be mentored by Vern Heperi in Student Life and look forward to working closely with Tom Holmoe <http://byucougars.com/staff/athletics/tom-holmoe> ." Atuaia played football at BYU in 1991 and 1994-96. From 1992-93 he served a fulltime church mission to Tucson, Arizona. Atuaia earned a bachelors degree from BYU-Hawaii in 2003 and later went on to earn a masters degree in public administration from BYU in 2009 and a doctor of jurisprudence from the BYU J. Reuben Clark Law School in 2011. Atuaia brings a wealth of diversified work experience to the job. He is also an accomplished recording artist, with a No. 1 selling CD in Hawaii. Atuaia currently resides in Provo, Utah, with his wife, Elizabeth, who is also an accomplished recording artist and was the lead singer for the 1980s pop group The Jets. The Atuaias have six children. LITTLEWOOD HOPING TO GET GOOD WOOD ON BYU BASEBALL PROGRAM It's no secret that the BYU baseball program was more soft line drives, infield pop ups and shaky pitching for the past decade or more. Tom Holmoe is now hoping that with his recent hire of Mike Littlewood, he is able to drive the ball deep off the wall in the right field gap and score some runs and rapport with BYU baseball fans. Littlewood, the former BYU baseball player, has a nice resume but it remains to be seen if it will resonate into a resurgence of a mediocre program. Only time will tell. Meanwhile here is BYU's version of their hire. June 28 PROVO, Utah - BYU director of athletics Tom Holmoe today announced the hiring of Mike Littlewood as the new head baseball coach of the Cougars. Littlewood comes to BYU from Dixie State College in St. George, Utah, where he has been the head baseball coach since 1996. In 16 seasons, Littlewood compiled the most wins in Dixie State history (563-238; .702), while capturing eight league titles. His teams made four appearances in the National Junior College World Series, winning the national championship in 2004 and finishing runner-up in 2001. Littlewood was named National JUCO Coach of the Year in 2004. "We are pleased to announce Mike as the new BYU head baseball coach," said Holmoe. "He is passionate about baseball and his enthusiasm is contagious. Mike has been very successful at every level of coaching and we look forward to having him guide our baseball program." Littlewood played third base for BYU from 1985-88. He was named All-Western Athletic Conference as a junior and All-WAC and All-Region 9 as a senior. Following his senior season, Littlewood was selected in the 27th round of the 1988 Major League Baseball Draft and spent a season in the Milwaukee Brewers organization. In addition to Dixie State, Littlewood has coached baseball at Alta High School in Salt Lake City and guided the Zion Pioneerzz - a minor league baseball in St. George, Utah - to the 2001 Western Baseball League championship. Littlewood has also officiated NCAA basketball for 16 years, including three NCAA Sweet 16 and two Elite 8 appearances. "I am very excited to return to BYU and coach the baseball program. I love teaching the game of baseball and have been preparing for this opportunity for a long time," Littlewood said. "As a former player I realize the unique opportunities BYU has to offer. I look forward to recruiting quality student-athletes, engaging former players in the program, and returning BYU baseball to national prominence." Littlewood has a bachelor's degree from BYU in secondary education/physical education. He and his wife Dani are the parents of four children: Tyson, Nathan, Marcus and Mica. Marcus was drafted in the second round of the 2010 MLB Draft by the Seattle Mariners. Respecting Rose Give Dave Rose some credit. He knows what he is doing, especially when it comes to recruiting. He has already assembled a great class for this coming November with Nick Emery, Eric Mika, Jakob Hartsock and Braiden Shaw. It will be a phenomenal class if he somehow lands Jabari Parker. We have been practicing spelling the word phenomenal The following year is also loaded with LDS players. Rose has already secured a commitment from T.J. Haws. We do find it interesting that there are those who think Rose should jump all over a couple of other LDS prospects who are looking to be major players in the class of 2014. We refer to Payton Dastrup and Jake Toolson, both of Arizona. Both will be juniors this coming season. Both have offers on the table from some solid to big time programs. While Rose and BYU have been on the recruiting trail of these two guys, he has not yet pulled the trigger and extended an offer. Both prospects have had good spring showings, but Rose is a due diligence kind of guy when it comes to recruiting, especially the LDS prospect. He will wait until after this month and several opportunities to see both in July showcase events before deciding what to do. Unlike other local programs whose only hope of landing the top ranked LDS recruits is to offer them just out of junior high school, Rose has the established track record to not have his timing or credibility questioned when it comes to recruiting. Trust us, if he wants an LDS player, he will find a way and a scholarship to make it happen. July should tell the tale on BYU, Dastrup and Toolson. Meanwhile, we suggest you join us in learning to spell phenomenal. Obsolescence is Built into Cars, Technology and now Football Conferences and Schedules If you are looking for tradition in college football, ask TCU, Boise State, Utah, San Diego State, Pitt and Syracuse how they spell it. They don't spell it phonetically or with collegiality. They spell it with dollar signs. Quite frankly, BYU used the same model when it elected to forsake the MWC for independence. Money is the new power in college football. Conferences are just the newest bank for that money. As soon as another bank or conference or independent broadcast rights and fees can offer a better rate of return, the musical chairs will continue. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that cable television will die on the vine when it comes to televising college athletics. Live streaming is the future. College football is on the verge of becoming a cafeteria. You can pick and choose what you eat and view. We may be off the wall, but we also think conferences won't last much longer. Money will eventually dictate that those who have the fan bases and ratings will not be willing to share what they earn with those who have much lesser earning power. Money motivates and moves all. It will totally trump tradition before too long. That is why we aren't crying about the possible end to the BYU-Utah football rivalry. If it happens, we don't care. It will be replaced by some other game or games. Five years ago, you would be lying if you thought that BYU and San Diego State would be basketball rivals. It comes and goes. Let Utah go. They hit the mother lode with the Pac 12, but in our opinion, the mother lode of money will dry up as soon as USC, Oregon, UCLA etc figure out that they drive the money markets for broadcast rights. We reiterate, it won't be long until there may still be leagues, but individual institutions will eventually control their own broadcast rights and the money generated by those rights. Just think streaming. It was just a few years ago that no respectable sports fan would be caught dead watching a game streamed via the internet. Now it is commonplace with the upgrade in resolution and delivery methods directly to you home TV screen. It will get better and so will the money. When it happens, it will be a free for all with each school trying to find an escape clause in their conference contracts. Scheduling will take care of itself. Money will see to it. There might still be a need for some sort of affiliation among schools to accommodate Title IX and the rest of the non revenue sports as it pertains to schedules, but big money will dictate the future of independent broadcast rights for the schools in a position to demand it. It case you haven't noticed, BYU is already ahead of the curve in this regard. They lead the way in streaming of athletic contests. For many, Utah dropping BYU from their schedule, could be equivalent to receiving a Dear John letter while serving a mission. It may cause some consternation for a short time, but sooner or later you meet your new wife and future and all is forgotten. BYU has already met its wife and future with BYUtv, and she has a huge dowry and dossier to keep the Cougars in the money and media rights mix. As for Utah, USC, UCLA and Oregon hold the mortgage on the Ute's new found money. As broadcast rights money continues to escalate, we don't think it will be very long before that mortgage will be called in. SPEAKING OF CAMPS. We will begin publishing the newsletter again weekly with the start of BYU's fall football camp in August. Thanks, hb