Yup, it’s awkward, alright.
BYU (1-7) is off to one of its worst starts in program history and a lot of the blame has now shifted over to offensive coordinator Ty Detmer. The former Heisman Trophy winner has been one of Cougar fans’ most beloved players, and now just in his second year, a lot of them want to see him step down from his play-calling duties and either transition to being just the quarterbacks coach, or leave the program entirely.
This was Detmer’s worst fear when BYU head coach Kalani Sitake announced that the former star quarterback would be coming home to be the Cougars’ offensive coordinator on Christmas Eve two years ago.
Cougar fans were ecstatic as they reminisced about Detmer’s playing days. Even Sitake jokingly told the former Heisman Trophy winner that he was cheering for him as he watched the game from the stands as the Cougars knocked off then-No. 1 Miami at home.
The gunslinger captivated the nation in 1990 in which he threw for 5,188 yards and 41 touchdown under legendary head coach LaVell Edwards. During his career, Detmer amassed 15,031 passing yards and 121 career touchdown passes to finish among the best in NCAA history.
With stats like that, many BYU fans believed the Cougar offense would finally get back to its glory days and put up a lot of points. However, despite his 14-year NFL experience and being endorsed by the likes of Steve Young among many others notable players, I told family and friends not to get their hopes up.
Why? Because playing and coaching are two very different things.
Just ask former BYU star quarterback Brandon Doman as well as Utah’s Brian Johnson who guided the Utes to a perfect 13-0 season and capped it off with a dominating victory over Alabama in the 2009 Sugar Bowl. However, the two combined to last just three years at their respective programs with Doman now out of the business and Johnson continues to bounce around from program-to-program.
Other examples of former players who tried to be coaches include Magic Johnson, Wayne Gretzky and Ted Williams among others. However on the other side, Vince Lombardi, who is considered by many to be the greatest football head coach of all time, won a number of championships and Super Bowls, despite having never played football professionally.
These examples show that it takes more than just being a great athlete to be a great and successful coach and play-caller.
Detmer’s Decision
After spending 14 years in the NFL, the Heisman Trophy winner settled down in Austin, Texas with his family and enjoyed taking hunters out to his 1,300-acre ranch. The former BYU quarterback never really envisioned himself getting into the coaching ranks.
During a visit to Provo in 2006, Detmer and his family watched the Cougars smash Tulsa, 49-24, at LaVell Edwards Stadium. A year later, his jersey was retired during the season opener against Arizona.
“It was the first time I was able to go back and see a game. It stirred up a lot of old memories. But it wasn’t enough for me to say I want to coach,” he told reporters at the time.
However, just a few years later, Detmer found himself missing football and landed his first coaching job at a small private school with 400 students at St. Andrew’s Episcopal School. After not winning a game in 2009, prior to Detmer’s arrival, the Crusaders turned it around and even defeated its archrival, St. Stephen’s, 26-20, in overtime to win the Episcopal Cup for the first time.
“I was the first one on the dogpile,” Detmer said. “I’d won the Heisman. I’d had some big games. That was probably the most excited I’d ever been after a game.”
During this time, former BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall reached out to him as well as several other college coaches to see about getting him on their staffs. However, the soft-spoken Detmer declined as he wanted to stay out of the limelight as he always has.
However, after Mendenhall left for Virginia and Kalani Sitake was made head coach, Detmer decided to listen to what the former BYU player had to say. With pressure from his daughters and wife to take the job, Detmer was still hesitant as he understood that it was more than just a coordinator job… he was going home.
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“Those were things that kept me up at night and weighed on my mind. I still had a place (Provo) where people liked me,” said Detmer, smiling.
Knowing the big expectations that came with it, Detmer joked that he was having a Steve Harvey moment and read the card wrong. “After the announcement was made public, I started feeling the weight of it,” he said. “People are sending you messages, 50 text messages a day. Man, is this too big? Is it too much too soon? And at BYU of all places. I know the expectations there for an offense. Are we going to be that good off the bat?”
Unfortunately for Detmer, the offense has not been good off the bat and has been largely disappointing to say the least. After losing to ECU last week to push the losing streak to seven consecutive games, former BYU players sounded off on changes that needed to be made.
Factoring out FCS opponents as well as Massachusetts who plays like an FCS program, the Cougars are averaging a dismal 18 points per game under Detmer’s leadership and play-calling duties.
This year alone, the Cougars are averaging just 12.1 points per game and ranks near the bottom of every offensive statistical category. Unless the Cougars had Alabama’s defense, averaging 12 points a game is not going to help you win very many football games as this year has proven.
Even college football writers across the country have started poking fun at the Cougars of its lowly offense as evident by the tweet by national college football writer Stewart Mandel.
As a BYU fan, go with SJSU. I'm not sure we can actually score two TDs.
— Anonymous Anonymizer (@JonathanLingo) October 23, 2017
There’s no mistake about it, Detmer is one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet. He doesn’t like to upset anyone and is low-key as you’ll ever find. That’s why he was so hesitant about returning to Provo because he went out on top with his Heisman Trophy and there was no way he could come close to replicating that as an offensive coordinator.
While he has been pretty conservative in his play calls since his arrival, he has also put together some well designed plays that his quarterbacks have flat-out missed, or the receivers couldn’t hold onto the catch. The offensive woes are not simply because of Detmer’s play calls, but is a combination of everything at the moment. Whether it’s the offensive line misses blocks, penalties killing drives, turnovers and players not making plays, all of it has been on display this season at the exact same time.
At 1-7, it’s time for Detmer to show his smarts and make changes to the offense that so far has put Cougar fans to sleep. But with a bowl game likely out of reach — unless special circumstance permit — Detmer’s conservative play-calling must go out the window and bring back the fun he had more than 25 years ago at LaVell Edwards Stadium.
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