I had my final twice-weekly morning interview with BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall this morning on KSL Newsradio in the "Coach's Corner." You can hear the entire interview by clicking the audio link in the "Cougar Cuts" box to the lower right.
Roughly a minute into the interview, I ask the coach about Max Hall's postgame comments and ensuing apology. Among the things Bronco said:
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"Anytime the rivalry becomes personal...you certainly have a tendency to view the opponent in a much different light."
"I don't think... the venue (Max) chose to express those thoughts was appropriate, but I think he spoke from his heart and he said what he believed."
"(Max) has done his best through an apology very specific to certain elements of what he said to make it clearer."
"(Max) is a great leader, he's a great kid, and he has my support."
Asked if he respected Max for the way he handled the situation, Bronco said "Absolutely."
"The apology he issued (came) from him and no one else... if anyone thinks they've influenced his apology, that's a mistake; he woke up, did all of that on his own... I haven't talked to Max yet, nor has anyone else from our coaching staff. Max has done this completely on his own."
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Asked about potential postseason destinations, Mendenhall said "basically it would just be hard for anyone to pass us up at this point."
Seeing as the Las Vegas Bowl has first crack at available MWC bowl teams, I take his comment to mean that he fully expects Vegas to roll the dice on BYU for a fifth straight year.
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As a personal post-script to the Max Hall story...
I don't know him well, but I know that Max Hall is genuine. He's competitive, and he's sensitive. He always wants to do well, for more people than just himself. When he succeeds, he has no problem sharing the glory. Yet when he fails, he has no problem shouldering the blame alone.
Max Hall picked a highly visible moment to give us a glimpse into the heart of a wounded champion. A champion on that day, but wounded just the same.
What he said wasn't bluster and bravado, it wasn't manufactured "trash talk"...it was his vindication, it was his pain, it was his pride, and it was real.
Max Hall allowed percolating and coagulating emotions to blur the line between guilty parties and guilt by association. He attempted to rectify that mistake by apologizing, and I'm glad he did, once the light of the next day illuminated that particular mistake.
But it was not a mistake that his heart led him to say what he did on Saturday night. For it was "heart" that represented his three years as a starting quarterback, and it was "heart" that inspired teammates and coaches alike.
He was bruised and battered, on and off the field, but he never missed a game. BYU fans are sure going to miss him.
Rumors that put Utah coach Kyle Whittingham's family in the middle of a melee after Saturday's game aren't accurate, police said, although a picture showed his wife and daughter close to an incident that broke out in the stands.
ReplyDeleteLt. Arnold Lemmon with the BYU Police Department said they received two related complaints on Saturday. A BYU fan told police he was taking pictures with his cell phone when a member of the Utes' sideline staff grabbed the phone, and a cameraman was on the field taking pictures of the team when the same person demanded that he stop taking pictures. "Who that person is, we don't know right now," Lemmon said.
The department has a name and is investigating the two incidents, he said. No one involved Whittingham's family in any way, even though online message boards and sports talk radio have thrown the allegations into the public arena.
Liz Abel, the sports information director for the University of Utah, said the department had no response to any of the incidents that happened at the game.
According to the police report, BYU student Brent Wirig called police at about 9 p.m. Saturday to report that a Utah fan had stolen his $500 Blackberry after the game. The man came up to him as he was taking pictures with his phone, grabbed it and made a motion as if to throw it, but Wirig never saw the phone leave the man's hand.
He then grabbed the man and called for an officer, according to the report; a fight ensued, and Wirig was hit in the jaw, though he was not sure who hit him. A cameraman had recorded the entire incident. The cameraman told police that the same man had punched his video camera and broken it as well as stolen his hat and injured his face. Both men identified the same man, who was affiliated with the team, as attacking them, and said they reported the incident to a nearby University of Utah police officer who did not search or detain the man.
There were a few other scuffles, which was bound to happen with the 20,000 fans who rushed the field after the game, Lemmon said. No one was arrested, and with more than 30 BYU and Utah police officers on the sidelines controlling the teams, it went well, he said.
"We were just trying to maintain some order," he said.