There have been plenty of fresh faces and coaching assignment changes for the BYU football team as it prepares to open its first season as an independent on Saturday at Ole Miss.
Last year’s 7-6 season saw the departure of defensive coordinator Jaime Hill midseason and the postseason resignation of offensive coordinator Robert Anae. Wide receivers coach Patrick Higgins also left and took a similar position at Purdue. Head coach Bronco Mendenhall looked to retool his football staff during the offseason and said he feels the changes will help improve his squad.
“I was looking for just simply the best people; what I mean by that is those that will care for the young men in a manner that is not done anywhere else,” Mendenhall said. “They care for them so much, but then the professional competency and how they’re coached exceeds that of anywhere else. We’re looking for both.”
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Mendenhall’s new staff features former Cougar wide receiver Ben Cahoon and linebacker Kelly Poppinga. Cahoon is looking to take his experience as an all-pro wide receiver in the Canadian Football League to help BYU’s current group of receivers, while Poppinga looks to strengthen the defense in his role as the outside linebackers coach.
Brandon Doman, who is entering his seventh season as the quarterbacks coach at BYU, was promoted to the offensive coordinator position. Doman said his new position is a natural fit, both coaching the quarterbacks and calling the plays, and won’t be too difficult a transition.
“The difficult thing that we’re trying to figure out right now, is who are the guys that are going to make the plays,” Doman said. “I would like to see us go back to very traditional style BYU offense. The positive note to our offense and the positive component to our offense right now is that I believe we have a handful of receivers that are pretty talented. If we can create that core fundamental offense of run and play action and stout physical football inside the BYU pass game, gosh, I think we have a chance to be pretty good, if we can pull that off.”
Doman said he will not reveal the specifics of the traditional BYU offense he is looking to redevelop until the start of the season, but he said he looks to improve the offense’s play on first down and is focused on achieving manageable third-down situations for quarterback Jake Heaps.
“We’ll spend a lot of time on first down and that’s basically what spring practice was focused on — running play action and quick gain. I don’t want the defense to ever, ever have a tip on first and second down,” Doman said. “We should be very unpredictable — our formations and sets, and alignments and movements that we do, should allow us to run, drop back, play action, screen, all the different things that you do should come from all those different sets on first down.”
Joe DuPaix is entering his first season as the running backs coach and recruiting coordinator. He spent the past three seasons as the slotbacks coach at the U.S. Naval Academy, helping Navy finish the last three seasons ranked nationally in the top six in rushing yards.
DuPaix said he expects big things from his entire running back group this season. Last season, running backs JJ Di Luigi, Bryan Kariya and Joshua Quezada combined to rush for 1,972 yards and 19 touchdowns. Di Luigi is the clear-cut starter heading into the season, but Kariya and Quezada will look to make a significant impact on the offense with their unique running styles.
“As they compete for those spots to get on the field, I see them all contributing quite a bit,” DuPaix said. “There are certain strengths that each one of them have and I intend to place those guys in the best situation to have success. One of my philosophies that I’m talking to my guys about all the time is we need to go out and play as a group and as a unit and be dominant regardless, and be best friends, and we’ll go out there and we’ll compete with each other to try and earn playing time, but when it really comes right down to it we’re a team.”
Mendenhall, who in July announced his three-year contract extension, will ultimately be looked to as the leader for this season and into the upcoming years of independence. He said he feels his coaching staff will establish a positive environment among the players and hopes they will contribute to the success of the team this season.
“A lot of fun can happen when you find people that are not only caring individuals and really, really care about those that they’re stewards over, but are also super capable and all of a sudden it just is a fun environment to be in,” Mendenhall said. “It’s not to say that our former coaches weren’t like that, and we had a lot of success. I’m looking to improve everything that we’re doing and not stay the same. I hope the choices that have been made will reflect that.”
