The Next BYU Football Coach: Analyzing Risk, Reward in Candidates

Nov 28, 2015; Logan, UT, USA; Brigham Young Cougars head coach Bronco Mendenhall calls time-out during the third quarter against the Utah State Aggies at Romney Stadium. Brigham Young Cougars won the game 51-28. Mandatory Credit: Chris Nicoll-USA TODAY Sports

It’s been over a week since Coach Bronco Mendenhall left BYU, and no official statement regarding the selection of new head coach is likely to be made until next week.

At this point the big names for BYU’s coaching job have been brought to the forefront and the candidate pool is slowly narrowing down. Coach Robert Anae has announced he is going to be joining Bronco Mendenhall at Virginia, and the Seattle Seahawk’s head coach Pete Carol came out saying that his offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell “isn’t available.”

The remaining big names for the next BYU Football coach include Kyle Whittingham, Ken Niumatalolo, Kalani Sitake, Lance Anderson and perhaps a wildcard option in former BYU quarterback Steve Young.

When looking into risk and reward, a couple main factors need to be accounted for: The cost of the coach and the likelihood of the hire paying off. A cheap contract and a high chance of success would yield ideal returns for the program. At the same time, risk would deal with whether or not spending a specific quantity of money for a coach will safely lead to the positive results desired.

More from BYU Cougars

• BYU Football: Comparing the new and old schedules
• BYU Football: Have the Cougars hit an all time low?
• BYU Football needs to fix issues before Notre Dame
• BYU Football: Why fans shouldn’t be so worried about USF
• BYU Sports: Is a Big 12 announcement finally coming?

For instance, although hiring a man on the street with little knowledge about football would be a cheap hire, it would surely be a disaster on multiple accounts.

It would also be risky to hire a talented coach for an unreasonably high sum of money since expectations would be through the roof.

Due to the huge task of taking over the BYU Football team before the rigorous 2016 schedule, it’s a given that whoever is next will be taking a big risk, and thus BYU will likely end up taking somewhat of a risk itself if it tries to hire somebody good.

Here are five plausible candidates, along with some potential risks and potential rewards each has to offer. Coaches are ordered alphabetically by last name. Feel free to share your thoughts: You decide who would be the best choice.

Next: Lance Anderson