ALBUQUERQUE — It has become a little deafening.
"It's Rocky's defense." "No, it's Bronco's defense." "No, you can call it whatever you want, but it's somebody else's defense, and those two guys just fine-tuned it." "No, he didn't." "Yes, he did." Blah, blah, blah.
No wonder BYU's new defensive coordinator Bronco Mendenhall felt the need to clear the air this week, telling the Albuquerque Tribune he totally gives his former New Mexico boss Rocky Long all the credit for the 3-3-5 defense now de-
ployed in Cougarville.
"The media coverage here has been ridiculous," Mendenhall said. "They're making me out to be the innovator of it, from the very beginning. The man (Long) deserves the credit. The defense is so unique and different, they've tied it to me like it's mine. People here don't care where I learned it, but it matters to me. I'm running it here, but I learned it from coach Long." OK, Bronco.
To set the record straight, I don't know how much the Utah media have credited Mendenhall at the expense of Long. It's just been a good story, and the 3-3-5 defense takes center stage this week as BYU and New Mexico open up MWC play today in Albuquerque. But Bronco did feel fan-urgency to prop up Rocky.
Sounds like a boxer movie.
Truth be known, Mendenhall's being modest. It doesn't matter right now if he was deploying somebody else's 3-3-5, Buddy Ryan's 1985 Chicago Bear Forty-six, Joe Lee Dunn's blitzing 8-3 or a 10-1 dropped down from little green men hovering from a flying saucer. Bronco's made his mark in Provo, and it happened before the Cougars ever kicked off the season against Georgia Tech.
There's a good reason Long hired Mendenhall away from Crowton while at Louisiana Tech and took him to Oregon State. There's a reason Long brought Mendenhall to UNM and made him defensive coordinator and assistant head coach. There's reason to Long fighting for Mendenhall to get a raise and extended contract in Albuquerque. Yeah, some of it has to do with knowing the scheme and keeping continuity.
Fact is, Mendenhall is a great teacher, motivator and football coach. He'd be the same valuable commodity if he were coaching special teams at St. Mary's of the Poor. He has a way of inspiring players to be better than they are. That's coaching.
It has everything to do with communication, motivation, intensity, consistency, expectation, effort levels and execution. The 3-3-5? It's just a scheme. Players make schemes work or fail. It's the job of a coach to pick and train the player to work the scheme — whatever it may be.
For his entire life, Mendenhall may not ever want any credit for Long's 3-3-5. That's OK … If he makes him feel better about leaving New Mexico so he could spend time with his parents, siblings and horses, all should be fine with that.
But you gotta look at the big picture.
Mendenhall's defense at BYU — and I will call it Mendenhall's defense — has Cougar players giving more effort, tackling crisper, swarming to the ball, training harder, running faster, hustling quicker. These are intangibles that are aside from the scheme deployed.
You could argue Long's angst over Mendenhall's departure is all about a scheme to the enemy, his knowledge of personnel at UNM that would enhance a Cougar game plan, or that some kind of advantage in philosophy got exchanged to BYU's benefit.
Fine, you could sell that.
But the bigger loss to UNM and larger gain for Crowton is that Mendenhall is one heck of a football coach. From his mind to his voice, from his competitive fire behind closed doors to being the first coach on the football field every day, the Mendenhall story is more about substance as a man than x's and o's and a scheme.
Tune in today and judge which defense is better — it's the same scheme.
E-mail: dharmon@desnews.com