The Pros and Cons of Bronco Mendenhall’s "Every Game the Same" Mantra

Wow, I was encouraged by all of the comments I have been reading. I love the fact that there are so many fans with their own opinions and that we can all read them objectively and then offer our own opinions.

The comments from the previous post are very informative. For me, it’s good to read what people are really watching during the game as it provides me with a new perspective on the game. Thanks!

A recurring theme of a lot of the comments was the Bronco-ism of treating every game/opponent the same.

As I took some time off this weekend, it gave me a chance to reflect on some of the gut-wrenching losses I have been a part of, and it helped me remember why Coach Mendenhall began preaching the importance of treating opponents the same.

I think it began very early on in his head coaching career—I think I read a comment about it, so he must've mentioned it to the media. He first introduced the idea in a team meeting after he had read a book about Coach John Wooden.

Coach Wooden said that instead of spending extra time during the week scouting his opponent, he would instead allocate that time to making his own players the best he could. Coach Wooden focused his coaching efforts in order to make a winning machine, a team that would be unstoppable simply because they were better than their opponent.

It wasn’t an attempt to quit scouting an opponent, but it was a philosophical coaching change that refocused the BYU coaching staff to allocate their time in a more efficient manner. By simplifying what BYU did, we could execute at a higher level and have more success with less fluff.

Coach Mendenhall didn’t just tweak his coaching philosophy—he changed numerous aspects of the program. One major change was we shortened practices and increased the intensity. This again returns to the concept of efficiency.

BYU’s players aren’t on the field simply to log their 20 hours a week. Each hour, minute, and second is maximized in order to produce the most productive practice in the time allotted the Coaching staff.

Just as John Wooden specialized his teams, Coach Mendenhall is trying to build the best position-specific players he can. He concentrates on position mastery, effort, and execution because those are the aspects of the game that can best be controlled in order to produce wins (again, please refer to an earlier post about the three pillars). Everything Coach Mendenhall has done has been planned out and implemented in an orderly fashion.

This program efficiency is where the “treat every opponent the same” phrase originated. Bronco truly believes that if we execute our game plan week in and week out better then our opponents, it doesn’t matter if the opponent knows what is coming. Our execution and will against their execution and will wins every time. He develops our will through offseason tests (lifting, super games, etc.).

What the phrase can entail is that we don’t scout our opponents, when in all actuality we work very hard in order to understand our opponent. What he means is that we put the same hard work into a “lesser” opponent as we would with a “better” opponent. It is the Coaching staff's job to stay consistent in their coaching so the players can stay consistent in their playing.

In my eyes there is one major flaw to this way of thinking. John Wooden had the best players in the world on his team. He didn’t have smart guys and good athletes—he had the premier athletes of their time. In this context, John Wooden’s philosophy makes perfect sense. If you make the best player even a little better, of course no one will be able to stop them.

Coach Mendenhall has good players, but not the premier athletes that Coach Wooden had. So while the concept is transparent and makes sense as an application, the philosophy loses some translation due to the players' natural abilities.

The concept works if your players are consistent at practice and in meetings. Also, the only way for the principle to work is if the Coaches pay extreme attention to every detail and if the players are capable of processing the information from their meetings and can apply the changes in a timely manner on the practice field. Honestly, I don’t know if the players are pulling their weight.

In the strict meaning of the phrase, yes, our Cougars should treat every team with the same preparation and effort—if they are able to provide the consistency needed to produce the win on the field. The past couple of weeks' inconsistency proves that this team might not be ready for the Wooden-esque responsibility.

They might be a year away from the efficiency that the coaching staff demands. They might need to return to more time being allocated to on the field team preparation and less work on their own in the film room. They might need a few extra sessions of pre-practice, and the Coaching staff will need to be more hands-on in explaining concepts and techniques.

There is no contesting John Wooden’s coaching genius, and his concepts and principles should be emulated, but everything should be done in moderation and at correct times. Each team is different, and what worked for last year's team might not work for this year's team.

I have complete trust in what Coach Mendenhall teaches on a monthly, weekly, and daily basis, and with the help of his assistants they will find the needed adjustments that will lead to on-field success.

Adversity is the coal of a refining fire.