Dick Harmon: Bronco Mendenhall plans to finalize coaching staff at own pace

Said Mendenhall, the boss of his current staff: "That process, as far as our staff evaluation is ongoing and there is no time frame or deadline, so any questions you would ask regarding that I won't answer because I don't have a time frame in my own mind. I'll continue to work to find the right formula to move our program forward."

Part of the "right formula" through LaVell Edwards, Gary Crowton and Mendenhall has been to add diversity to the staff. This means hiring a black assistant coach, having a continued Polynesian presence on staff, and hiring assistant coaches who are not LDS.

Currently, BYU does not have a black assistant football coach on staff after the firing of Hill. Receiver coach Pat Higgins and offensive line coach Mark Weber are not LDS.

There may be another "right formula" that may trump the diversity issue.

Mendenhall hinted at this after the last home game, a win on senior day, before the Utah game.

I asked Mendenhall what the greatest lesson the team learned from this past season was. It was a year he said was "daunting" at one point to even think of a bowl game, a season that was "remarkably consuming" in which he fired a coach, took back reins as coordinator, battled avoiding a losing season and dabbled with a quarterback controversy.

His answer to my inquiry? "Perhaps the one underlining lesson learned is that you can't play good football unless you trust each other as players and you trust your coaches.

If there are any divisive elements in your organization, you won't reach your potential. Maybe that's the best lesson I've taken from it and maybe, hopefully, the team has learned the same thing."

That is a quote from Nov. 20 in the New Mexico post-game presser.

On Dec. 20, an evolution of Mendenhall's offensive staff began.

e-mail: dharmon@desnews.com