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AF_Puma | Wednesday, December 20, 2006, 11:06 am
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Transcribed by Jim Vallen
COUGARBLUE
BYU’s head coach, Bronco Mendenhall, and Oregon’s head coach, Mike Bellotti, spent a few moments with KFAN’s Alema Harrington this week.
Salt Lake City sports talk radio station KFAN, 1320 AM, has had a team of talk show hosts stationed at the ESPN Zone this week in preparation for the Pioneer PureVision Las Vegas Bowl game Thursday, December 21st. Alema Harrington, part of the KFAN coverage team, spent some time this week interviewing various coaches and players.
Here is his interview with BYU Head Coach, Bronco Mendenhall:
AH: “Coach, let’s talk about the experience. The team came down Sunday and you started off with a fireside. Talk about how this team is feeling right now.”
BM: “It feels like another game. While we are here in Las Vegas and we are here early, we come with the same purpose; we come with the same preparation; we come with the same mind set. There are just more things to manage this week than usual and it takes more time to manage them all, but our intent is to play.”
AH: “When you look at your bowl preparation, have you done anything different this year as opposed to last year?”
BM: “We’re not practicing as much actually. After going through twelve weeks in conference and out of conference game preparation, at this point it’s been a long season. We had some injuries along the end and we’ve used more time to recover than we did last year. We’ve been more focused, more specific to attempt to gain momentum in our practices than we did a year ago.”
AH: “Speaking of injuries, Ben Criddle, is he still a game time decision?”
BM: “He’ll be a game time decision. It won’t be a situation where his heart can be questioned or his desire to play. It’s simply that we know he’s going to need surgery after this game and whether the doctors will clear him or not will remain to be seen.”
AH: “Certainly much has been said about your relationship with Coach Gary Crowton, the Offensive Coordinator at Oregon and prior BYU Head Coach. Was this your first chance to get to see him face-to-face today?”
BM: “I haven’t had the chance to talk to Coach Crowton yet except on the phone on the day they announced we were playing Oregon, but I expect I’ll have a chance just as soon as you and I are finished to catch up to see how he and Maren [Gary Crowton’s wife] and the family are doing.”
AH: “As you get ready for this game, I know it’s been a long season at this point and you get on a winning streak and some coaches have a way to maybe change things up from week to week to get ready and to keep the team motivated. Do you have anything that you do specifically for each game as you try to keep a straight line?”
BM: “No, it’s been just the opposite. Consistency is what we’ve been doing. Our team is very familiar with and comfortable with our preparation and to change anything could possibly put our team at risk. Nothing has changed; it’s just a different city.”
Interview with the University of Oregon Head Coach, Mike Bellotti:
“He’s the Dean of the Pac-10, they call him. He’s been at Oregon a long time [eleven seasons having started on February 13, 1995]. He’s the all-time win leader [97-47 .674] as head coach of the Oregon Ducks.
AH: “Coach, just talk about the atmosphere of being in a bowl game; being here in Las Vegas and playing against the [BYU] Cougars.”
MB: “Well we’re excited to be in Las Vegas. One because of all of the fun things the kids can do and two, the bowl is before Christmas. So if you’re not in the Rose Bowl or in the national championship, I think this is the best bowl to be in because you get to play a game against a great opponent like BYU on national television and still get home for Christmas and enjoy the holidays at home with your family. BYU has done a tremendous job. I think Coach Mendenahall and his staff should be congratulated for John Beck and that offense with Cameron Jensen on the defense. They’re awesome. They’ve eliminated mistakes and found ways to win very close games. Sometime in improbable ways, but all that counts is the final score. We’re excited to get a chance to play them because they’re ranked; nationally ranked; and naturally we want to be.”
[Basic coach-speak and not really reflecting the actual situation as BYU was in three close games where the points scored between BYU and their opponent was less than 3 points and BYU lost two of those three games. I wouldn’t have called that finding “ways to win very close games.”]
AH: “Now Coach Mendenhall obviously an old compatriot with Coach Gary Crowton. It was nice to see them get reacquainted here face-to-face a few moments ago. I know they do speak on the phones at times. I know that Bronco has addressed his team about what it means to be playing against Coach Gary Crowton and those things involved. Has Gary said anything to the Oregon team about it?”
MB: “No. He’s just said that…no, he hasn’t said anything at all. To tell you the truth he’s kept very quiet. I think he’s got tremendous respect for Coach Mendenhall and what he’s accomplished there. I think he’s very pleased and proud for the BYU program that with the kids that he recruited, that they’re coming through now. Certainly there’s a part of him that laments that, but at the same time I know he’s totally an Oregon Duck now and would like nothing better to do than beat his old team.”
AH: “Speaking of Oregon Ducks, it’s not like you guys don’t do any recruiting out of the Salt Lake Valley. Haloti Ngata of course probably being the most infamous or famous of late and then you also have players on your roster right now that hail from the Salt Lake City and that area . Do you look at this as also a recruiting opportunity?”
[Actually looking at their roster, only one other player, #56 6-2, 290 senior DE Victor Filipe from Highland High in Salt Lake is from the Salt Lake area]
MB: “Absolutely. Any time we play in any bowl game it’s a recruiting opportunity simply because it’s the opportunity to play on national television against a nationally ranked opponent. It does everything for you in the sense of recruiting. Playing in it is good. To play well is better, but win is the best. It certainly helps recruiting because people are watching those games and making decisions sometimes on what they think the quality of the program is going to be. And again, it doesn’t come down to one game, but yes, we do recruit the Salt Lake area. I’ve had great success there and I hope to have more in the future.”
AH: “Coach, you started off very strong in the beginning of the season. How important would it be for you to finish strong here?”
[You have to ask yourself sometimes about the questions asked. What answer would you expect a coach to give in this situation? Do the interviewers do it because they feel they have to ask this particular question or do they really do it hoping that a Division 1-A coach would totally muff it and say something stupid like, ‘No, we don’t feel that it will have any affect whether we win or lose.’? When an interviewer asks this question, which is done often in the sports world, my mind almost shuts to the answer because it always comes out just as you would expect and I can’t remember of late, if ever, a coach that has really stumbled over a question like this.]
MB: “Well probably more important, we’ve talked a lot about how it’s not how you start as much as how you finish and we obviously need to finish well. Just for at least the psyche of our players to get them excited about the off season and especially for our seniors as I’d like to see them go out winners.”
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