Dick Harmon: Dick Harmon: New book uncovers BYU, Bronco Mendenhall secrets

Getting the motivation, the practice and the system to produce those few plays more perfectly is the theme of this book.

The five strategies Mendenhall is using are based on "Five Smooth Stones," a Gustavson agenda presented to corporations nationally and internationally. It is a metaphor based on the stones in the pouch carried by biblical David to slay Goliath.

These include obtaining a competitive advantage by doing things differently; recognizing that an organization is perfectly designed to get the results it gets; processes in organizations are not all created equal; knowledge is the purest form of competitive advantage; and the importance of a leader to capturing hearts and minds is critical.

These ideas drive BYU football and are how Mendenhall rolls.

This is a book coaches can benefit from. It's a book for fans of the program and members of the LDS faith. It is also an excellent lab-rat set of notes for business leaders to see firsthand how attempts to gain order and purpose in an organization can work within their own four walls via examining the BYU football engine.

But perhaps most important of all, for fans and critics of Mendenhall, this book sheds greatly needed light on what makes this introverted, sometimes hard-to-reach, Mitt Romney-like perceived persona tick.

It exposes Mendenhall and takes the reader closer to knowing him beyond his record.

And it explains the philosophy behind why Wilcox is walking along the sidelines looking at his players.

Email: dharmon@desnews.com, Twitter: Harmonwrites