Will Bronco Mendenhall repeat the success of his second season at BYU in Year 3?

Anybody's guess, really. Perhaps. His detractors certainly hope he's a flash, headed for a fall now a hungry senior-laden team has evolved.

Getting 11 wins, like he did in 2006, is tough. Only nine teams in BYU history have reached 11 wins — including last year's MWC champs. Mendenhall could get nine wins. Seven or eight might be considered slightly above average, or even a step backward in light of a title and No. 15 ranking in 2006.

But according to a group of experts, Mendenhall has found solid ground to continue the success of BYU's football program.

Glen Tuckett, former athletic director at BYU and the man the University of Alabama hired to save the Crimson Tide program from NCAA imposed death penalty, is sold on Mendenhall's methods and philosophy.

Provo's Dave Ulrich and Alpine's Norm Smallwood, co-authors of "Leadership Brand," an article featured in the current edition of the Harvard Business Review, believe the third-year coach has struck a cord that will deliver.

Ulrich and Smallwood founded Results Based Leadership, an organizational behavior consulting firm.

"Mendenhall took over a troubled program and has created a leadership brand that honors traditions then uses them to create today's and tomorrow's successes," said Ulrich.

"By going back to BYU's winning traditions and his dedication to timeless principles, he created a renewed culture of winning. People in any organization perform at their best when they respect their past, have confidence in their leader, and know that their leader will guide them to reach their goals," said Smallwood.

Tuckett, who supervised LaVell Edwards during his championships from the '70s to the '90s, said Mendenhall "is the right man at the right place at the right time."

Tuckett said Mendenhall says everything he tried to say and thought long about as a coach and athletic director.

"I'm just 100 percent impressed with him. I'm on his bandwagon, I'll tell you that."

What Mendenhall has done, said Tuckett, is embraced the past — which includes work by Edwards and a train of players. "He's shown respect and reverence for not only the game but the school and what we're trying to do."

In Provo, the progress up to and through Edwards is a legacy of hits and misses, experiments and fixes. It was former Cougar coach Tommy Hudspeth who brought in the Marines, literally. Edwards found a system and stuck with it.

"I think you build on the Eddie Kimballs, Chick Atkinsons, Hal Kopps, Tally Stevens, Floyd Millet, Tommy Hudspeth and LaVell. I think he embraced all that instead of letting it get under his skin or fighting it. That's what Gene Stallings did the whole time he was at Alabama.