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"I don't feel that young," Mendenhall said during fall camp. "But maybe on the outside."

On the outside, it's hard to imagine life could be much better for the Cougars as they approach 2008. The team has gone 11-2 the past two seasons and ended each on 10-game winning streaks. The Cougars are 28-10 under their coach and will start with a rare, expectation-filled national ranking.

They appear to be the national-media darlings when it comes to the building-hype question of whose turn is it to break into the BCS -- something Mendenhall neither discusses often nor shies away from.

No question that all of the responsibilities that go with his job have changed him. However, there appears to be a noticeable difference from Day One to now in how he's reacted in everything from recruiting to media to fall-camp schedule to not driving himself insane with the job to ...

"He still commands a lot of respect," said junior defensive end Jan Jorgensen. "When he came in, everyone was just scared to death of Coach Mendenhall. But now he's very stern, very disciplined, but he can lighten up enough that he'll joke around with you. But if you don't take care of business, he'll put the hammer down."

Mendenhall is even telling jokes, showing a clever side that players have gotten to know a little longer.

After practice one August day, sitting by himself in the shade, Mendenhall voluntarily chatted up a couple of Daily Herald reporters -- wondered whether they were going to go squeeze in 18 holes, or what.

Mendenhall grinned as he said it. It's a relaxed side that is both a matter of survival and a sense that he's confident in the program's direction.

"I think you're seeing what we finally saw last year," Jorgensen said.

Mendenhall is regarded for his quick wit and ability to get the last laugh. A couple of years ago the team decided to dress like him for Halloween. Shirts tucked in, papers hanging out of the shorts, hat on.

The coach saw every player walk past him into the team meeting room. He rebuked the gentle mocking by quickly making himself look like all of them -- pants sagged, hat sideways.

"Coach is definitely all about business," said linebacker David Nixon, who arrived at BYU in 2003 with Mendenhall. "But he's lightened up a lot. I think he understands the balance of being the head coach and interacting with the players. We step on that field, he's 100 percent business. But off it, he's fun to be around."

Mendenhall feels more at ease about a variety of topics concerning his program, like:

• The start of fall camp: "This has been an amazing experience, getting ready for this camp. It hasn't felt like fall camp. It has just felt like a continuation of the last three years. The players came in, knew exactly what to do, where to go, what's expected. They've told the younger players before I even told them, and we have had very few issues already. It's a sign of progress."

• Not taking the job home with him: "It's easier to leave things here (compared to) the first three years. I'm not totally saying I can separate from it, but when I go home I'm not agonizing as much over things that are happening (in football)...Before it would linger and kind of tear away at me and I'd wonder if it was the best way to handle it. But there's been enough consistency and precedence set, and principles established, where I can't say everything -- but about everything -- different situations have happened. And I've learned enough to have confidence."

• Tempering fall camp practice with prudence: "The more that I have been a head coach, and I don't know what you would call it -- maturity, maybe. But I hate seeing these kids get hurt and I understand the importance of 13 games, and it being a long season. To be injured before you get to those games doesn't make a lot of sense."

Russell Tialavea has had a rocky relationship with Mendenhall. The defensive lineman, who missed last season with a knee injury, has struggled in the past with everything from grades to Mendenhall's necessary level of work ethic.

But the player is still around, and Mendenhall called him one of the brightest spots of the preseason workouts.

"He's very consistent, doesn't change a lot," Tialavea said. "I look at him being the same as the guy I met the first day."

Mendenhall can be a polarizing figure with a strong personality. Even fans of private school BYU will debate how much the coach should use church-related themes in public settings.

But Internet chatboards like Cougarblue.com, and radio call-in shows, have lit up as Mendenhall as made some other choices.

He gave his team a commemorative coin the first day of 2008 camp, and demanded players keep it on them at all times aside from the practice field. When a random check occurred, and about a half-dozen players were empty, Mendenhall made the whole team do extra calisthenics after practice.

Then there's this year's slogan: Quest for Perfection. Mendenhall has said he means it more about personal accountability and striving for excellence in various areas of life -- not merely about trying to win 12 consecutive games and get a BCS bid.

Whatever, fans of rival Mountain West Conference teams are taking notice on this and a couple of other topics.

Mendenhall announced at fall camp that he wouldn't just automatically redshirt a freshman because he fears the majority don't keep working after that announcement.

And he understands the absurdity some Cougar fans and skeptics have when he explains that high school recruits should come after him, not the other way around. It's the safest way to recruit to such a stringent school and also get the players who will work the hardest, Mendenhall believes. Even the mostly highly sought-after kids must chase him, not vice versa.

Mendenhall will always have some sort of pet phrase: position mastery, higher level, raise the bar.

But now he's good for a memorable laugh, too, even in public. He quipped at the team's annual Women's Clinic in July that he's not good at talking to the opposite sex.

When Matt Bauman was hurt in a scooter accident, Mendenhall couldn't begrudge his linebacker: "Speaking as someone who is riding a motorcycle now, I don't have much leverage."

Is this really Year 4 already?

"I'm not sure what it's supposed to feel like, but it feels more like Year 20," Mendenhall said.

Is that good or bad?

"I'm not sure," the wry, close-lipped smile stretched on his face.