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BYU Football: 4 Reasons to embrace Bronco Mendenhall’s return

By Adam Gibby

LAS VEGAS - DECEMBER 22: Head coach Bronco Mendenhall and quarterback Max Hall #15 of the Brigham Young University Cougars celebrate their 44-20 victory over the Oregon State Beavers in the MAACO Las Vegas Bowl at Sam Boyd Stadium December 22, 2009 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Hall was named the most valuable player of the game. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
LAS VEGAS - DECEMBER 22: Head coach Bronco Mendenhall and quarterback Max Hall #15 of the Brigham Young University Cougars celebrate their 44-20 victory over the Oregon State Beavers in the MAACO Las Vegas Bowl at Sam Boyd Stadium December 22, 2009 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Hall was named the most valuable player of the game. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images) /
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LAS VEGAS, NV – DECEMBER 19: Head coach Bronco Mendenhall of the Brigham Young Cougars calls to his team as they play the Utah Utes at the Royal Purple Las Vegas Bowl at Sam Boyd Stadium on December 19, 2015 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Utah won 35-28. (Photo by David J. Becker/Getty Images)
LAS VEGAS, NV – DECEMBER 19: Head coach Bronco Mendenhall of the Brigham Young Cougars calls to his team as they play the Utah Utes at the Royal Purple Las Vegas Bowl at Sam Boyd Stadium on December 19, 2015 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Utah won 35-28. (Photo by David J. Becker/Getty Images) /

Building a Legitimate Independent Program

What do UConn, UMass, New Mexico State, and Idaho all have in common? They have all recently tried to go the Independent route and have all failed miserably. The reality is, most teams who go Independent end up falling off a steep cliff, or at worst at least hurting their brand significantly. Liberty and BYU are really the only schools who have successfully continued to build a brand while being Independent.

Before even going Independent, Mendenhall built a program in the Mountain West Conference that was good enough and strong enough to even consider going Independent. Had the Cougars continued their four to five win seasons, there is very high probability that the Cougars never leave the Mountain West at all.

BYU Football needed Bronco Mendenhall and his consistency in the first few years of Independence. While it wasn’t always pretty, and the 11-2 Mountain West Conference days were over, Bronco’s consistent eight to nine win seasons kept BYU’s head above water and put them in a position to join a P5 conference. Had things gone the other way, we may be talking about BYU joining the CUSA conference today…Think about that.

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