September 1, 2006
Would BYU be Better with Lance Reynolds and Not Bronco Mendenhall?
Written by: John
If you are a rabid BYU fan like myself you can think back to Gary Crowton “quiting” as BYU’s head coach. You’ll remember the battle for Whittingham, who has now officially become a traitor to the cause as he chose red over blue.
After that Reynolds was the front runner for the job. Sure, names like Andy Reid, Norm Chow and the likes all swirled in the air. However, there’s no reason Andy Reid would come back to BYU from Philly and Norm shouldn’t come back after the way they treated him (even if NC State and USC turned out really well for Norm). That pretty much left Lance Reynolds as the left over candidate for the job.
Then, the stripling warrior Bronco Mendenhall brandished his sword and somehow convinced BYU adminsitration that he was the guy for the job.
Now that we’ve seen what Bronco for a year, I wonder if BYU football wouldn’t have been better with Reynolds at the helm.
I know it’s almost blasphemy to say this as a cougar fan. I’m happy with Bronco Mendenhall too, but think about this.
If Lance Reynolds were the BYU coach then maybe John Beck wouldn’t be the quarterback, but instead we’d be talking about Ben Olsen. Here’s a quote from Ben to show this possibility:
“If a couple of other coaching candidates would have worked out, [my] coming back to BYU would have been more likely,” he[Ben] said. “Guys like Andy Reid, Norm Chow, and Lance Reynolds. I’ve known Lance for a long time. He would have done a great job.”
Can you really tell me that you’d rather be talking about John Beck right now than thinking about the possibilities of what BYU could do with the arm of Ben Olsen? I don’t think so. I’ll take an account at the end of the year. Will Ben Olsen or John Beck have a better year? My bets on Ben Olsen despite playing against Pac 10 opponents all season. Transfer that skill to BYU and you’ll see why maybe BYU would be better to have chosen Lance Reynolds over Bronco Mendenhall.
That’s interesting conjecture, but I think Ben was blowing smoke. He had his mind made up before the coaching change happened. He looked awesome against Utah, and I can’t pretend I’m not jealous that he’s a Bruin and not a Cougar. BYU’s hurting next year at QB, but let’s enjoy John Beck’s senior season. Go Cougs!
I agree that Ben was blowing smoke about ever coming back to BYU. Although, I think if Andy Reid or Norm Chow would have come back to BYU to coach then Ben would HAVE to seriously consider that opportunity.
Next year should be interesting at quarterback. Let’s just hope John Beck has a huge season and makes whoever comes after him have to live up to his legacy too.
Watch for a post I’m working on talking about what will make this a successful season for Beck.