BYU football: Mendenhall tweaks things in quest for perfection

Back in 2005, on the first day of rookie BYU football coach Bronco Mendenhall's spring football practice, Cougar recruiting coordinator Paul Tidwell made a prediction.

Asked how BYU football would fare under the new coach, Tidwell said he didn't know what the record would be that season. "But I know one thing, these players will play hard for him."

Three seasons later, Mendenhall's teams have won 22 of their last 26 after going 6-6 that first year. Mendenhall's 28-10 record as a head coach leads the other rookie coaches of 2005, a class that includes Utah's Kyle Whittingham and Notre Dame's Charlie Weis.

Mendenhall officially opens his fourth BYU fall camp on Saturday. Riding a 16-0 conference win streak, it is expected the Cougars will be ranked in the Top 15. If Mendenhall's BYU team finishes with 10 victories, he'll have averaged 9.5 wins in his first four seasons following BYU's worst consecutive losing streak in four decades.

A turnaround? It's a 180-degree twirl on roller skates. On November 17, 2007, Mendenhall led the Cougars to a 35-10 victory at Wyoming to record his 25th career win. With the victory, Mendenhall became the only coach in BYU football history to win 25 games in his first 35 attempts.

What can be expected of Mendenhall in his fourth year at the Cougar reins? Much will be the same. But Mendenhall is a different coach than he was in 2005. He's humbled. He's wiser. And he's concluded his best formula for x's and o's can only come after challenging BYU players to be complete men before touching a football.

In 2005, Mendenhall may be more confident in some aspects of his unique job, yet he says he will yield some control and share more leadership with his staff and his players.

While he won't reveal details, Mendenhall said he will instigate a more broad and sophisticated leadership model on his team, starting with him and his assistants, trickling down to athletes. He says if 75 of his players were trusted to be full-time LDS missionaries for two years, he might as well load them up with more responsibility than before.

How will that translate into wins and losses? One must wait and see, but the past two seasons his business plan produced big dividends.

New Mexico head coach Rocky Long hired Mendenhall in 1998 before Mendenhall left Albuquerque for BYU.

Long understands what makes Mendenhall tick.

"He relates well to his players," said Long. "He knows his x's and o's. There are some great head coaches in this world who aren't very good x and o guys. As a head coach, you don't have to be. But Bronco understands his x's and o's, and he relates very well to his players."

How so?