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Why doesn’t LaVell Edwards get any credit for the West Coast Offense?

In 1972, BYU promoted an assistant named LaVell Edwards to head coach.  In 1972, almost everyone was running a variation of the wishbone or veer option.    And most used the run to set up the pass.  An old adage of the day was that three things could happen when you passed and two were bad.

Edwards took over a team that hadn’t even won a conference championship.  He noticed that their most successful years were with an attack that featured a lot of passing.  He got together with Dewey Warren, who was very good with the Wing T formation, and they created an “drop-back passing offense” that featured passing the ball to set up the run.  This was unheard of at the time, and the opposite of what everyone else was doing.

 It also got results that were the opposite of what they expected.  In their first season of the new system, they produced the nation’s leading rusher in Pete Van Valkenberg.  Valkenberg ran for 1,386 yards, which was a lot back then.  The Cougars finished 5-6, and that would be Edwards’ last losing season in Provo.

In 1974, Edwards’ third year, the Cougars would win the Western Athletic Conference Championship for the first time in their history.  This, of course, was when Arizona State was still in the conference and had dominated it for years.  Once the floodgates opened, the Cougars were unstoppable.  They tied for the conference title in 1976 and 1977, and then had a streak of 8 consecutive titles, for a total of ten consecutive shared or outright titles between 1976 and 1985.

Starting with Gary Schiede, BYU would quickly get a reputation as “Quarterback University.”  In short order, Schiede was followed by quarterbacks such as Gifford Nielsen, Marc Wilson, Robbie Bosco, Jim McMahon, Steve Young, Ty Detmer, and Steve Sarkasian.  In 1984, with an injured Robbie Bosco at the helm, the Cougars won the National Championship with a victory over Michigan in the Holiday Bowl, capping a perfect 12-0-0 season.

The Cougars would continue to thrive under Edwards, winning or sharing a total of 18 WAC championships.  They would also finish 14-1 for the 1996 season with Sarkasian at QB.  And who can ever forget the Jim McMahon-inspired comeback from 20 points down with four minutes to play in the 1980 Holiday Bowl?

By the time Edwards retired, he was 257-101-3.  He coached for 28 years and there was never a sense that time had passed him or his offense by.  On the contrary, a lot of college and NFL teams started using variations of the pass-first, dropback offense.  By this time, though, it was called the West Coast Offense.

Amazingly, when the term “West Coast Offense” is used, the name “LaVell Edwards” never seems to come up.  Usually, either Bill Walsh or Don Coryell is given credit for having devised the system.  Even though the Cougars broke over 100 NCAA records for offense during his tenure, Edwards’ name is still a mere footnote in most discussions of the West Coast Offense.  There are only a few reasons for this.

First of all, when Edwards invented his offense, there was no cable TV.  In fact, on September 1, 1984, in Edwards’ 15th year, BYU and Pitt played the first game ever televised by ESPN.  Being in the WAC, BYU didn’t get a lot of network television time before then.  This really kept them from having as high a profile as they could have had in the nation’s consciousness.

So, while the teams in the bigger conferences and the NFL got on TV more weeks than not, the Cougars toiled in relative anonymity.  And even when cable started to telecast games, most BYU games were played at night in the Eastern half of the US, where most national media have their main offices.  Also, most of the newspaper coverage is from Eastern media,  who would seldom even watch the games, using AP feeds or just giving the scores the next day.

The popularity of the offense in the NFL is the other major factor.  Almost every proponent or teacher of the West Coast Offense in the NFL traces his lineage to either Bill Walsh or Don Coryell.  Even though Edwards’ use of the offense is probably superior to and definitely more creative than either the Walsh or Coryell versions, Walsh and Coryell are the coaches who are usually given the credit.

Walsh won three Super Bowls with the West Coast Offense, and was officially given “genius” status by the press.  He is now seen as the be-all and end-all of the West Coast Offense, and as someone who can do no wrong.  While his record is quite impressive, it is still intriguing that Walsh has never gone out of his way to deflect any of the accolades or credit thrown his way.

Walsh seems to revel in his status as the “Godfather of the West Coast Offense.”  He deserves some adulation, but it would be nice if he were to share some of the credit once in awhile.  When Walsh was at Stanford, there is no way he was operating in a vacuum.  He knew what was going on at BYU, as did most members of the coaching profession.  It is impossible for Walsh not to have been influenced at least somewhat by LaVell Edwards.  Besides, he didn’t really run a pass-first offense in college.

As for Coryell, his version with the Chargers actually came from Sid Gillman in the 1960′s.  The only thing it has in common with Edwards and Walsh is a lot of passing.

If you ask Lavell where the passing game came from, he will tell you that he isn’t sure.  Dewey Warren, Doug Scovil, Ted Tolner, Mike Holmgren, Norm Chow, etc., each added their influences and twists on the game.  When Holmgren went to the Niners from BYU, heintroduced them to utilizing their Tight Ends more in their passing game, So what we now know as the West Coast Offense is not the creation of just one man.

At any rate, Do Coryell and Walsh deserve credit for the West Coast Offense? Probably. But it can be said that LaVell Edwards changed the college game in 1972.  It took a few years, but a lot more teams play “pass first” football than when he started.  Were Edwards and company intrumental in the development of the game?  Absolutely. It would be nice of football  to publicly acknowledge his contributions.

Bronco Mendenhall: Succeeding with Honor

BYU is not the easiest place to be the head football coach.  While its standing as “THE” LDS University helps recruiting within the LDS community, it also hinders bringing in recruits from outside.

As we’ve seen lately, “successful” teams such as USC, OSU, Alabama, and Auburn bend the rules sometimes and just cheat at other times.  This does not happen at BYU.  While other schools are giving “golden handshakes,” “hostesses” recruited from local “dance” clubs, and unrealistic “prices” on cars, making “charitable donations” of $250,000, the coach at BYU has to do exactly the opposite.

At BYU, there is no cheating.  Not only is there no cheating, but recruits are told that they will have to adhere to an honor code that probably appears draconian at best to outsiders.  Recruiting competitively at BYU is like playing golf with 1960′s clubs while everyone else has a new set of Callaway’s best equipment.

Somehow, though, the Cougars have been able to recruit enough football players to be successful on an ongoing basis.  In the final analysis, though, BYU doesn’t win by getting heralded recruiting classes.  It wins by turning 3-star and unranked players into a great football team.  And the person currently entrusted with that job is Bronco Mendenhall.

When Mendenhall took over the BYU job in 2005, they had just had three straight losing seasons.  Since then, they have been to a bowl every year.  While a lot of fans may have been disappointed over last year’s 7-6 record, it was done while playing 19 freshmen.  Most teams that play that many freshmen, even if many of them are 4-star recruits, lose more games than they win.

After a a 6-6 record in his first year, the next four records were 11-2, 11-2, 10-3, and 11-2 for a stellar 43-9 mark, and a 29-3 record in Mountain West Conference play.  Even counting last year’s 7-6 record, the Cougars have the ninth-best record in the FBS over the last five years.

While Mendenhall has gotten more attention for his offense, good or bad, at BYU, his background is on defense.  He was a two-year starter at safety for Oregon State in 1986 and 1987 after two years of starting at cornerback at Snow College.  At Snow College, he was named to the second JC All-America team and the JC  All-Academic team.  At OSU, is versatility was evident at LB and both safety positions, and he was named the team’s captain as a senior.  He won their “most inspirational player” award as a senior.

From 1989-2004, all of his coaching duties were on the defensive side of the ball.    Now, Mendenhall is the Defensive Coordinator again.  The old adage is that “offense fills seats but defense wins championships.”  The reality is that both are needed nowadays because a lot of teams are really good.  After delegating the offense to Brandon Doman, Mendenhall can fully concentrate on bringing the defense back to the forefront.

Bronco Mendenhall was very accomplished before he came to Provo.  In 1993, he coached the DB’s at NAU, and their defense was ranked top in their conference.  In 1996, he became the youngest defensive coordinator in Pac Ten history when his alma mater Oregon State promoted him to that position.

Sometime during his tenure at New Mexico, he, along with Rocky Long, developed the 3-3-5 defense and helped develop Brian Urlacher into an NFL player.  While at NMU, Urlacher played the old “wolfback” hybrid safety/linebacker position, customized as “Loboback” for the Lobos.  That defense led the MWC in rushing defense for three consecutive seasons.

Taking back the defensive coordinator spot can only help the Cougars.  Sometimes, one of the biggest problems a head coach faces is trying to find a coordinator on “his” side of the ball who is either as good as he is or can take instructions and be like an extension of the head coach.  When you can’t find the right fit, it is often easier and a lot better for the team to simply take the job back and work both positions yourself.

Great offenses are usually made by recruiting or developing a great QB and putting a good supporting cast around him.  There are exceptions, but offenses are usually dependent upon the QB to execute what the coach needs.  During a year when there isn’t a very good QB, the entire team suffers.

On defense, it’s different.  Eleven decent players can be molded into a great defense by the right coach.  Defense is more a question of desire and discipline than talent.  Of course, a player needs to be fast enough and/or big enough to play his position, but teamwork, dedication, and a clever scheme can make a much bigger impact on defense than they can on offense.  And it all starts with stopping the run.

Last year, the Cougars allowed 1,296 yards rushing with 13 scores the first five games.  For the last eight games, they allowed 506 yards rushing and one score.  This year, hope for more of the latter than the former.

Unless something extraordinary happens during the summer break, they should run the 3-4.  The DL is looking good, with no superstars but at least six solid players to man three spots.  The LB positions are well-stocked with the starting four, but the depth players will need to develop.  The hybrid pass-rushing LB position will be manned by two players whose total weight is only 446 pounds, which should work out very well against some teams, but could hurt against bigger competition.

Only one starter returns among the DB’s, but DB’s are Mendenhall’s specialty.  You can rest assured that Nick Howell will get plenty of help from Mendenhall if he needs it.

No matter how the season turns out, you can probably count on two things: the Cougars will win and they will win with honor.  That is the best you can expect out of any head coach.

Back to the Future, Starring Brandon Doman

As we all know, coach Bronco Mendenhall decided to shake up his coaching staff in the offseason.  Doman now gets to prove he was ready to be promoted.  He promises a return to “old school BYU football.”  The irony in this statement was that there was nothing old school about what is now called the West Coast Offense when being run by LaVell Edwards and, among others, Norm Chow.

The shootouts, year after year, especially in the Holiday Bowl are what most people think of when they hear “old school BYU.”  Visions of Steve Young, Ty Detmer, Gifford Neilson, and Jim McMahon dance in their heads.  A return to the “old school” mentality, at least, of attacking on offense and never letting the defense rest for a second, will be a welcome change.

But can the old West Coast Offense work anymore? Many will point to Norm Chow’s recent success as proof that it can, but Chow had players that USC cheated to get to campus, and had so much talent there that his second string offense was better than a lot of BCS teams’ first string.

Deposed OC Robert Anae ran the modern spread attack out of the shotgun.  Though it didn’t work out at BYU as well as expected, the spread is the way the game is going.   Spreading the field takes a lot of pressure off of the offense and puts it squarely on the defense.  But teams are beginning to “decode” the spread option a bit.

The future of college football is a hybrid offense. It will combine pro set principles while spreading the field.  In the NFL, and on college teams that use pro set attacks, this is known as the “two minute offense.”  It is no mistake that teams often score more when trying to come from behind in the closing minutes than they did the entire game up to then.

Teams play conservatively for most of the game and then spread the field out when they are desperate.  The run and shoot, which didn’t quite make it in the NFL despite turning the laughingstock Detroit Lions into a playoff team for a few years, was a great illustration that spreading the field opens up the offense.

The spread option was created by Rich Rodriguez, and is really the triple option run out of the run and shoot formation.  Urban Meyer (thankfully away from the U of U) won two national championships with it, and Auburn won one with a variant of it this year.  The problem is, you have to recruit a different kind of player for the spread option.

It only works with a very mobile quarterback, and it is preferred that you have a lot of “waterbug” types to play the slot.  In addition, most teams play it out of the shotgun, which means that players with NFL aspirations are leery of attending a spread school.

The solution to this is not, as some schools are trying, the pistol, but a hybrid approach.  The QB can line up behind center in a base offense with formations like two WR’s and two slots with one running back, or trips to one side and one WR on the other.

This is a great way to run the ball, because once you get through the line, the outside linebackers and safeties are busy covering wideouts and slots.  That usually leaves the RB one on one with the MLB.  The RB should win that race ten times out of ten in the open field.

Ironically enough, the old school BYU West Coast offense used a fair amount of three and four wideout formations.  The run was more of a change of pace, but they did it quite well.  And it looked idiosyncratic to the rest of the football world at the time.  Really, though, the West Coast Offense is very “tweakable” for adding spread principles.

So, what is my point here?  Simply that the old school BYU West Coast Offense could become a modern, pioneering offense with a few minor tweaks.  Across the college landscape, the spread is influencing the pro set, while spread coaches are putting pro set plays into their playbooks for goal line plays or situations where they want to run time off the clock.

By simply using the West Coast Offense playbook with more emphasis on three and four wideouts, and remembering to run the ball enough to keep the defense honest, Doman and the Cougars could become THE team with THE hot offense.  The idea seems so simple that nobody wants to do it, but running West Coast plays with 4 wideouts is a perfect answer to a lot of questions.

It ensures that dropback QB’s with NFL potential still want to play, and the OL can block using standard techniques.  Also, kids from pro set offenses won’t have nearly as steep of a learning curve as they did with the spread.  It’s more like the run and shoot than the spread option, but still more like the typical West Coast Offense.  Especially the West Coast Offense in the last two minutes.

How will the offense look this fall? The Cougars weren’t enough of a spread team to have a difficult adjustment back to West Coast principles.  Doman wants to return to West Coast principles.  He wants to attack.  Basically, it is all going to depend on how quick Jake Heaps and the receivers get their timing and reads down.

With Mississippi, Texas, and Utah right out of the gate, the Cougars can’t afford to take a lot of time learning the “new” offense.  This team is as likely to be 1-2 after three games as it is 2-1 (and as we fans always hope for…3-0???).  After these games, it should be smooth sailing until the road game at Oregon State and the hype game at Cowboys Stadium against TCU three weeks later.

I don’t expect a hybrid approach yet, but you never know what is going to happen when a talented coach starts tweaking.

Bronco Mendenhall Press Conference After Washington Win

BYU vs CSU Video

The Stars Have It

The Value of Stars

Every year, about this time, grown men spend long hours in Internet chat rooms, hoping, predicting, praying, and cursing because of one thing, recruiting stars.

Recruiting sites such as Scout.com and Rivals.com, rate high school recruits by using a system of stars. Five stars is the highest ranking and, of course, one star is the lowest. But what do these stupid little pointy things really mean?

How Stars are Awarded

So what kind of things are recruiting services looking at when rewarding recruits with the cinco digit delights?

One of the first things that recruiters look at is current talent level. These are the kids that are the stars of the High School Football scene. They make the plays, and seem to have “it”. They are performing well at their current level. But not all high school stars have what they need for the next level.

They also look at how they think this kid will transfer to the next level. Is he fast enough? Is he too short? Does he have the body type and mentality for College football?

Third, they look at NFL potential.  Does the kid look to have the raw materials to develop into a contributor in Professional football?

So this produces a variety of kids who have stars for a variety of reasons.  Some may be playing at a high level, but tapped out their potential.  Others have tons of potential, but it is still raw and undeveloped.

What the Stars Don’t Measure

Work Ethic:  This is probably the single biggest reason that many a 2-star athlete has put in a 4-star career, and vice versa.  A kid may have a ton of potential, but if he is lazy and unwilling to develop that potential, it remains just unrealized potential.

Character and Attitude: Is the kid a primadonna or a team player.  Does he bring synergy to field, or discord.  Are his actions on and off the field an example or a distraction.  Character is huge, especially at a school like BYU.  If the kid can’t keep the honor code and stay in school, it doesn’t matter how much talent he has, we won’t get to see it.

Academics:  Many a talented athlete have had their careers derailed, or side tracked because they couldn’t either qualify for school, or remain qualified once they got into school.  Again, it seems that almost every year, there is a kid who committed in February, but couldn’t qualify in September.  Some are able to go the JC route, get a little maturity and help, and come back to contribute for 2 years at Division 1. There are also many who disappear, never to be heard from again.

So What Does it all Mean?

Ultimately, no matter how excited we get on Letter-of-Intent Day, the value of any recruiting class may not totally be known for a few years.  At BYU, this is delayed even longer by missionary service.  So we can debate and claim to have a better class than the rest of the MWC put together, but we won’t know if that is true till we match up at some future date.

Now that My Prozac has Kicked In

Now that the shear horror of Thursday night’s game has subsided a bit here are a few observations.

What We Know

We are not a top 10 team.  Our offense has become predictable, and is not executing like it did early in the season.  Our defense is so afraid to give up big plays that it will hand out small plays by the dozen.

Offensive Weaknesses

Our O-line got out maneuvered by pure speed and was allowing TCU to get pressure with few linemen rushing.  Our game plan did not utilize the running game effectively.  Our receivers were not able to get much separation.  Whether that was execution or a scheme I don’t know.  I suspect it was a combination of both. Hall also threw into a lot of coverage.  Often the man he threw to was actually double covered.  The defense seemed to know what he wanted to do and was ready when he did it.

Defense

The biggest disappointment for me was that TCU could move the ball pretty much at will.  I think our inside linebacker play is not what it has been the last few years, and our corners play too soft.  I understand that some coverage causes them to play off the receiver a bit, but when you are freely giving up third downs, you need to tighten things up a bit.

Now the Good News

Actually, as bad as the game went, take away the turnovers and the Cougars are probably still in it.  My hope is that this loss will focus the team to correct whatever they need to get back to earlier season form.  It is hard to go undefeated, as can been seen each week as teams drop from the ranks of the X-0 stats.

I remember that during the run for the superbowl, Steve Young’s niner team lost a game to Philly 44-3.  It was a case of some early mistakes and turnovers, leading to players pressing too hard to make big plays and making bigger mistakes.  I think something similar is what happened to us last Thursday night.  But like that niner team, if the Cougs can right the ship to get back on track and “get their head in the game” or (insert your own trite saying here.).  Then they still have a chance to finish out the season strong, perhaps win a share of the conference title (with some help against TCU). BYU can still finish the year ranked, and begin next season with hopes like those we shared in September.

My New Mexico Report Card

Because I had to work Saturday, I initially missed much of the New Mexico game. Looking at the score, I had to wonder “What went wrong?” I read the Daily Herald’s grades for the game, http://www.heraldextra.com/content/view/284116/163/ and figured I had a good idea of what happened. Then I turned on my DVR and watched the Game.

What Was the Herald Guy Smoking?

I don’t know who writes that review for the Herald, but I don’t ever remember reading a game review that I thought was more off base. Here are a few examples:

Herald Grade: O-Line, C

Really? I mean, New Mexico is famous for coming after you with crazy stunts, lots of disquised coverage, and agressive play. they hardly touched Max all game, and though Harvey didn’t have his usual running lanes, still had enough seams to get 96 yrds rushing. How in heck did they merit a C? Maybe an A-, or I could have even understood a B+, But there was nothing average about their performance.

DH Running Backs, C+

The Lobo’s defense has limited opponent running games. Watching the game, they are quick to the ball and swarm. But Unga had one of the gutsiest performances I have watched. He was working hard and making the most of what was there. And Fui made some awesome lead blocks. I would grade the running backs at no worse than a B

DH Defensive Line C+

The reason given was “A tough game for the D-Line, which lost more battles than it won against New Mexico’s physical running game. When BYU did manage to stop the run, it was the linebackers shooting gaps” Do they not understand that in this defense, the lines job is to engage the O-line and let the linebackers fill the gaps and make the stops? (see Quinn Gooch http://deepshadesofblue.com/unm-post-game-wrap-up/#more-1591 ). They also made some big plays in the game, and ultimately only gave up 3 points. Again, D-line, a solid B

The rest of the Herald Grades were OK. But those three were way off.

Why did the offense Struggle?

I credit the Lobo Defense. Their Corners played tough and, out side of a couple of plays, limited the Cougars yards after the catch. Example, our offense attempted a couple of short throws with runs for yardage on third downs, but the lobos were there to deny the run part and stop those drives. The Lobo offense controlled the clock and limited our offensive opportunities. . But when they needed to, the offense was able to put together enough drives to win the game by 18 points. (Man are we getting spoiled to be upset about that.) Max Hall’s numbers were solid, and Austin Collie had a record setting day in total yardage. Andrew George also had two touchdown catches. It was also good to have Michael Reed back in the lineup with a couple of solid catches. I give the QB & Recievers a B+

Linebackers

I thought they did a good job of keeping the running game in front of them, and not giving up huge plays. Particularly in the second half when they started bringing an outside linebacker behind the line of scrimmage, and catching the back as he hesitated at the line. It did look like there were some times when they got caught over pursuing or trapped on the ends, and gave up some yards. Clawson has a motor (maybe even turbo-charged) and Nixon is always solid, and good for a couple of big plays. I loved the gang tackles an piles on plays. B+

Secondary

I thought the secondary played pretty solid. No big plays down the field. They did look soft and gave a lot of room, but not totally understanding assignments, I am guessing that this was the game plan to position themselves to help with the running game. Not sure if they executed up to Bronco’s expectations, but again, three points given up. Nice tip and pick by Fowler and Tafuna. B

Special Teams

Maybe the best outing for Santiago ever, or at least one of the better ones. Typically made the Lobos go the length of the field and helped us win the battle for field position. Outside of a missed field goal by Sorensen, good outing B+

Great Warm Up

I think this game helped them in their preparation for the TCU game this year. TCU is strong defensively, and likes to run the ball. BYU has liked Thursday night games with TCU. Hope this week’s is the same.

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