BYU football: Kalani Sitake again proving you can recruit in Provo

BYU football is bringing in better athletes than it has in a long time. One only needs to look at head coach Kalani Sitake to see why.

I was never a fan of former BYU football head coach Bronco Mendenhall. I know that by opening this piece with that line, some of you have immediately decided this isn’t worth your time. That’s okay.

But I can clarify. I understand Mendenhall won football games. We could argue the impact of those victories, however you can’t deny that he won games. And I believe he loved the players he coached.

My gripe with Mendenhall sits largely on recruiting. He wasn’t a good recruiter, and by the end of his BYU football tenure, he didn’t really seem to care.

I’ve spoken with people close to the team that agree with my assessment.

But, regardless, things are changing for the Cougars. Kalani Sitake is changing things.

Obviously he’s creating a culture in Provo that players – whether they be LDS or not – want to be a part of. He’s creating a culture that Polynesian players want to be a part of.

For a long time, BYU football had gotten away from that.

Bronco Mendenhall: Recruits want us, not the other way around

In my opinion, this anecdote sums up the problem with BYU’s recruiting philosophy under Mendenhall.

At Mountain West media days in 2009, Mendenhall was asked about the recruiting of Manti Te’o. Te’o finished second in the Heisman Trohpy voting in 2012, and was the subject of the “catfishing” scandal involving a fake girlfriend.

Beyond the catfishing nonsense, he was an extremely talented linebacker. And LDS to boot. It seemed like BYU football should have a foot in the door.

Here’s what Bronco said, via Jeremy Mauss at Mountain West Connection:

“I’m going to try to stereotype as best I can, so I can protect (the recruit’s) family and BYU. Usually when a young man who is LDS – a member of our church – has things presented as clearly as he had it presented to him and chooses not to come, there usually is a reason they don’t want to come… and it is usually not football-related. And so Manti chose a private institution, with a religious background without truly the same semblance of rules, or an honor code, like BYU has… My guess is there was something that he didn’t want about BYU and chose elsewhere.”

Beyond suggesting that Te’o chickened out of BYU football because of the Honor Code, Mendenhall also hinted that Te’o was waffling on the idea of mission service. Mendenhall, in turn, reportedly hammered Te’o about that.

There are some obvious problems with this. Firstly, all Mendenhall needed to say when asked about Te’o was “We are so happy that Manti found a university that he feels he will be successful at, and we wish him luck.” Instead, he took the opportunity to throw the kid under the bus, and imply that BYU as an institution was above all others.

This, I feel, helps shed light on the recruiting philosophy.

The recruit wants BYU football, not the other way around.