PROVO — Bronco Mendenhall refused to discuss the specific case of a recruit from Hawaii, defensive end Kona Schwenke, who signed a National Letter of Intent with Notre Dame on Wednesday, a week after BYU withdrew his scholarship offer for taking a late recruiting trip.
Mendenhall said it would be unfair to the recruit and the current recruiting class to talk about names and specifics. Instead, he said he'd be more than happy to discuss the principle involved in his recruiting of high school players.
Ever since Mendenhall got his first head coaching job at BYU in 2005, he said he has been consistent in his approach with recruits and their parents.
When they come in his office and he takes visits to their homes, he tells all of them the same thing — don't commit to BYU and he won't commit to them if the recruiting process remains active.
"When I present a scholarship to a young man in my office or in writing and with his parents, I make it very clear," Mendenhall said. "I've only had three athletes commit to BYU and then go elsewhere and one of those has now decided to return.
"I make it very clear: Do not commit or accept this offer unless you do not want to be recruited any more. I usually used the Pittsburgh Steelers, because they were the Super Bowl champions at the time. I tell them even if the Pittsburgh Steelers come after you, you will tell them no, I am committed to BYU and I am not interested.
"That is verbatim what I tell them. And if they are not able to agree to that, then I tell them they should not commit to BYU," the Cougars' coach said. "Sometimes the recruit uses the verbal commitment like it is a game. I focus on the commitment part, not the verbal part. If I tell you I am going to do something, I think my honor and succinct honesty is being addressed to do what I say I'm going to do.
"And if, for some reason I don't, I'm going to give a great reason and I'm going to apologize profusely for any inconvenience I've caused. I try to prevent that at all costs. I try to teach that principle. The job I have is first and foremost to be a teacher to teach life skills to players and their parents.
"Sometimes parents get caught up thinking a verbal commitment is not a commitment when I told them specifically when at BYU a commitment is a commitment no matter how it comes to me, and I don't expect any other visits no any interest in any other school.
"I give them a chance — do not tell me you are coming, do not, unless you are ready to come down the hall and knock down the door and come in my office and put everyone else behind you. That's the way I've presented it to them," Mendenhall said. "And that's how I've explained it to anyone who considers another offer."
Mendenhall said this has been his policy from his first day here.
Some recruits have been secretive and taken trips, and Mendenhall said when and if he finds out about it, it isn't a good sign.
"Most of those athletes have failed at BYU and that is a failure on my part," he said. "It's better to discover any fit issues at BYU prior to them coming than after they've attended.
"It's been the policy for five years. Have I executed it perfectly? Probably not. But parents can tell you my speech verbatim because I tell all of them the same thing."
e-mail: dharmon@desnews.com