Champion Boys Who are Forever Strong

It's a hot, sweaty evening.  I smell the aroma of roasted nuts and crunchy sweet caramel popcorn.  I feel the sun on my neck and the green painted grass under my feet.  I hear the trumpets and drums of the band playing behind me.  I see the stadium sprinkled full of blue and white as students and fans cheer.  I feel my pom poms rustle against my hands as I jump and dance to the music.  It is then that I realize, BYU football is not just a game, but is a culture. 

BYU football is a religion to BYU’s alma maters.  BYU is their team, and when the score at the end of the game is not pleasing, there has to be someone to blame.  Regrettably, the coach is often the one condemned.  Bronco Mendenhall, the head coach of BYU football is under constant scrutiny.  After the depressing loss at the Fight Hunger Bowl game last month, Coach Mendenhall was the one blamed.  In my Opinion Editorial Essay I will be answering the question, “What is good?”  Many people say that Bronco Mendenhall is not a good coach, but I say differently.  As a coach, he does not focus on building a winning team, but instead, building winning men.  As Coach Larry Gelwix of the Highland Rugby team once said, “…I’m more interested in turning out champion boys than champion teams.  I want you to be forever strong on the field so you’ll be forever strong off it.”  I believe BYU’s Coach Bronco Mendenhall leads his team by this philosophy, and that is what I will be arguing in my Opinion Editorial Essay.