Rise and Shout!

We had a great ward activity last night. Bronco Mendenhall, the head football coach for BYU, was the main event. The activity was for families, so Packer, Holland & Cannon all got to meet him and get his autograph. We had a nice dinner and then Bronco spoke to us. He is a very impressive guy -- and very humble as well. Here are some thoughts and statistics that he shared with us.

• This will be Bronco's 3rd year as head coach at BYU. He was given the job at age 38. When he took over as head coach for the 2005 season, the team had not had a winning season since 2001 and had not been to a bowl game for 3 years.
  
• Elder Eyring interviewed him for the job. Bronco spent alot of time preparing for the interview by rehearsing in his mind what he would say when asked how he would turn the football team around, how he would deal with honor code violations (which were at a record high), what his recruiting tactics would be, etc. The first question Elder Eyring asked him was "Is the church true?" It was then that Bronco realized that this wasn't just about football. Although this is not a church calling, he asked Elder Eyring to give him a blessing. He said the blessing was "amazing" and gave very specific instruction & promises.


• He was booed by his own fans at his very first home game. The team lost 3 of their first 4 games.


• Bronco decided that there needed to be a change in focus. He decided to require a higher level of commitment on AND off the field.


• He decided that his team would start presenting firesides while on the road before each away game. His first attempt to do this was in San Diego. The stake president in San Diego said "No thanks" and said he didn't think people would be interested. His 2nd attempt was in New Mexico, where he was given permission to do the fireside, but only 15 people attended.


• He attended a high profile press conference where the only playbook he brought with him was the Book of Mormon. He shared two stories at the press conference, without mentioning any names, first about a great leader and his commitment to greatness (Captain Moroni & the Title of Liberty), second about a group of 2000 impressive young men (the stripling warriors).


• He took a page from his father's playbook -- his dad was mission president in Auckland, New Zealand. He decided that much like a mission, he would require every player to be apart of a "companionship." The idea is that this would help keep the players out of trouble. He also required each player to send him a letter every week to report how the player and his companion is doing. He held players accountable for attending all 3 hours of church, fulfilling their church callings, and doing their home teaching. He also implemented strict guidelines for academics.


• After the team started doing the firesides and the companionships, the team went on to win 5 of the next 6 games. They finished the season with more wins then losses, placed 2nd in the conference and went to their first bowl game in 3 years.


• During his second season, they went 10-2, won every home game, had the 3rd longest winning streak in the country, outscored their competition by an average of 21 points per game, ranked in the top 20 in all the polls, won the MWC title, and won their bowl game against Oregon. Bronco also won several national prestigious "Coach of the Year" awards.


• Today, the BYU football team has the highest average GPA in the country. 71 out of 105 players are returned missionaries and only 14 are non members. He has not had to kick a single player off the team. He has had 15 guys quit because the expectations are too high.


• He now has the team captains assign companionships. It was also his team captains that insisted that the team do 2 firesides in Las Vegas at their last bowl game. The captains also insisted that they perform service while in Vegas -- they are required by the NCAA to have 5 players perform 2 hours of service each. BYU had 50 players participate in service for 4+ hours while in Vegas.

It was a great evening. Packer, Holland & Cannon had Bronco sign their BYU t-shirts (as shown below). We also got a little momento for Nick, Powell, Travis & Westin -- we'll get these to you soon.