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PROVO — With BYU holding its media day one month earlier than necessary, the spotlight in Utah turns to college football.
For the Cougars, that light shines the brightest on their new offensive coordinator. The pressure is on Robert Anae.
Acknowledging that the head coach always faces pressure, Anae enters the season as the most publicized offensive coordinator at BYU since Norm Chow dominated the program. Under the circumstances it could be argued that Anae is as important to BYU’s success as any player.
As part of hiring Anae for his second term as BYU's offensive coordinator, a position he previously held for six seasons (2005-10), BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall revamped the entire offensive staff. In what has to be unusual for any team, and particularly for the Provo school, BYU doesn’t return one coach on offense.
To facilitate Anae’s return from Arizona, where he had been the offensive line coach, Mendenhall fired several capable coaches. Anae replaced two of them — running backs coach Joe DuPaix and receivers coach Ben Cahoon — with two coaches that didn't have any full-time Division I coaching experience.
The point of such upheaval isn’t to settle for mediocrity. But will Anae and Co. make the desired difference?
History says the answer is yes, with one significant condition. Like most coaches, with Urban Meyer being a notable exception, Anae is only as good as his players.
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BYU Football: Three players the Cougars can't afford to lose
As we inch closer to the 2013 college football season, it's fun to look at BYU's roster and project what type of season we expect the team and individual players to have. What is impossible to predict however, is injuries.From 2006 through 2009, with Anae directing the offense, BYU won a total of 43 games. With John Beck and Max Hall serving as the starting quarterbacks, the play-calling was outstanding.
In 2010, with the same coach calling the plays, the BYU offense averaged a meager 12 points a game in six losses. Weeks after the Cougars beat a lousy UTEP team in the New Mexico Bowl, Anae quit and went to Arizona.
Here’s the lesson: BYU’s offense was great with two quarterbacks who went on to play in the NFL, even if neither had a great run at the game’s highest level. When Anae was forced to choose between Riley Nelson and Jake Heaps at quarterback, the offense fell grossly short of BYU's standards.
Sound familiar? It should.
When Anae’s successor, Brandon Doman, had to work with Nelson and Heaps, the offense was also awful against quality competition. According to Mendenhall’s own assessment, Doman was college football’s best quarterbacks coach, but the head coach fired him after only two years as the offensive coordinator.
Even when Doman wanted to accept a demotion and return to being the quarterbacks coach, Mendenhall and Anae said no. In fairness, Mendenhall has said it was a mutual decision for Doman not to return.
In essence, Doman got fired for doing the same thing that Anae did during his last season at BYU.
But none of this is meant to suggest the offensive coordinator has little impact on a team’s success. Nor does it say that Anae can’t make an immediate difference.
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It’s worth noting that BYU returns more talent at receiver and running back than it’s had in recent seasons. The biggest question mark is along the offensive line.
During his two years in the desert, Anae served under two head coaches — Mike Stoops and Rich Rodriguez — with varied offensive philosophies. He undoubtedly returns to BYU as a much better coach.
From his first public remarks on national signing day in February, Anae has impressed his constituents. Instead of going with the traditional canned comments, he spoke of having something to prove.
He also hammered home the theme that the offense would play hard and fast. Initial reports, which came during spring practice, were that the team was picking up his concepts.
For sure, as is the case throughout the country, BYU players and coaches will all say the right things during media day Wednesday. The great thing about sports is it will all play out in public during the season.
And this year it will come against potentially the toughest schedule in BYU history. All that matters is the final score, knowing Mendenhall didn’t go through what he called a painful transition to play well but still lose.
Ultimately, Anae will be a fine offensive coordinator. But just like with any coordinator, after the play is called it’s up to the guys in the uniforms to execute it.
