Remember when Ben Olson transferred to UCLA and Bronco and his band of brothers had a fit that UCLA contacted him while he was on his mission? Those were the good old days. Well, now Bronco finds himself in a hypocritical loop that he cannot escape.
Bronco, you cannot have it both ways. You cannot get angry when others contact your missionaries and then contact other team's missionaries while they are in the field. You cannot say that a mission should be a young man's sole focus and then interrupt a the middle of a young man's mission with your backwards recruiting tactics. You cannot expect others to not go after your missionaries, when you do the same to them. Karma's a real beast, Bronco, and it is going to come back to bight you. For a man that claims the moral superiority of his school, recruiting a kid on a mission through his father and his mission president is a real slimy thing to do.
Before you jump to Bronco's defense and say that it was Riley that contacted BYU first, this article should disprove that once and for all.
And if you are under the impression that Bronco never said that he would not recruit or contact guys on missions, this article should disprove that theory as well.
So, what should Bronco have done? This is exactly what he should have done. As one Ute fan posted:
Dear Elder Nelson,
Thank you for your recent letter and interest in BYU football. We commend you for your decision to serve a mission. It is our policy not to conduct business related to football while young men are serving missions. We feel that it is a time that should be focussed on your service in the mission field and how you should best serve your Heavenly Father and your fellow men. If upon completing your service as a missionary, you still have a desire to play for Brigham Young University and after you have discussed the situation with your previous coach, I would welcome the opportunity to meet with you then.
To think, all this fuss over a guy that they didn't want out of high school anyway. A guy that I heard many cougar fans say had a weak arm and a small body. All of this fuss for a Buddy, from Charles in Charge, lookalike. Well, Bronco, you can take your former Utah State QB. (Heck, take Southern Utah's and Idaho's QB too!) Utah will still destroy you for the next five years and we will do it with a mixture of our own missionaries and better non-LDS athletes to boot.
9 comments:
I agree completely. I feel really bad for coach Guy...he is not LDS and let his best player go on his mission, just to be betrayed. Don't you think that will leave a bad impression to him about missions. I wouldn't be suprised if he doesn't let his future players go on missions...(unless that is the only way he can get kids to come there, he is in a very dire, desperate situation) Regardless, nice missionary work Bronco! I hope that USU kicks your butt next year.
On a side note...I can't blame the kid for leaving a horrible situation / team. But, maybe it is better to be a big fish in a small pond, especially since he is only 6 feet tall and will probably be moved to safety at BYU....when it is all said and done. But maybe that is better for him too, if he really thinks he may have a chance at the NFL. But he needs to remember that BYU passed on him. They didn't want him and USU did....why be faithful to them?
I can't blame the kid..but I do blame Bronco for his horrible tact about how he went about the entire situation.
Jacob
Why is it okay when guys like Jordan Hill, Ben Olsen, Danny Southwick, Brock Stratton, Isley Filiaga, Jon Fanene, Mike Marquardt, and Bristol Oluama leave BYU (three of those guys ended up Utes). But if a player decides to come to BYU then Bronco is the devil? I guess it really goes to show the narrow mindedness of Ute fans. Something they have long accused BYU fans of, they are increasingly demonstrating by these melt downs. Yes BYU fans, myself included, lamented the loss of some of these players not only for their talent but the hole it leaves in the roster. BYU has a very small margin of error, and such losses could be devastating to a position, and effect results. Therefore as a BYU fan, I would consider it foolish if BYU did not at least offer the opportunity to players who want to transfer if not actively pursue them. I am sure this is where the base of the ute fans angst lies; BYU would be in a very rough spot at the QB position if not for the transfer of Max Hall. And maybe the same could be said for Nelson, we shall see. But the bottom line is all of these young men have choices to make. When they sign the LOI they make a choice and the school also has a choice at the end of each year to renew or not the scholarship. I have no problem with a player seeking a better situation for him/her self; even if it means another school benefits. It has happened, does happen, and will happen not only to BYU, but all schools. Guys transfer, and when they do one school is left behind and another receives a player. As you can see BYU has been left behind its fair share too. Last point: 4th and18!
Just kidding, I just pulled all of that crap off cooterboard. What a bunch of butt nuggets.
Thank you Tim for giving us the other point of view. BYU fans are always welcome on my blog (I got most of my information from Utefans.net anyway, where they clearly don't know what their talking about.)
Jacob, I agree with you. However, I do feel that Nelson owes USU. They were the ones that gave him his shot. He was able to showcase his talents and once he did so, he was out of there. Total BS! He owes USU, as they were the ones that gave him a scholarship out of high school and started him as a freshman. He never would have gotten that shot at BYU.
I agree, he owes USU and Coach Guy..the guy who actually gave him a shot and was true to him! I have a deal of respect for Coach Guy and actually think he could be a good coach somewhere else. Somewhere where he could recruit to. I think he has what it takes to be a good coach, he is just in one of the hardest situations and places in the entire country. I don't know how Coach Morrill does it...I guess he only has to find 15 players and gives a lot of guys a second chance..?? Where do you think would be harder place to recruit to...Laramie or Logan? Even though it is unrealistic, I will be cheering for USU to beat BYU.
Yes, Jake. I like coach Guy. He has been handed some crappy situations. First with Notre Dame and then with USU...but he knew full well what he was getting into at USU. I think that their only real option is to go D2 for a few years while Cache Valley grows. That is what I would do if I were them.
The reason people are upset is that Bronco has mentioned time after time that he DOES NOT Recruit athletes who are on an LDS mission, and this is what happened. That is why people are upset, Bronco and his staff are being hypocrites in this scenario.
Thanks MWCFootball...Are you for real? Oh...so that is why people are upset...Please help me, what part of this post did you not read that made you think that we all didn't get that?
The thing that bugs me more than Bronco is Dick Harmon in the Deseret News saying that Bronco never said he doesn't recruit Elders on missions. He says in his article something to the effect of "I checked all my notes and he never said that." Meanwhile, in the Tribune, they can dig up a story from a year ago where he specifically said that.
Dick Harmon is such a homer and an ignorant journalist if he's only willing to check his "personal notes" and discount articles written in the competing paper.
To read what I'm talking about go to perhaps Harmon's stupidest article yet "Bronco Quote a Mystery"go here.
Yep Ike, read the article this morning. What a joke. Someone found an article from 06 in the DESERET NEWS quoting him exactly as saying he would not recruit other's missionaries. I tried to email Dicky the article, but in the subject line I called him a "homer" and it came back as undeliverable because of "content". In other words, he blocked all email sent to him with the word "homer" in it. What a pansy!
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