Did Bronco want Beck?

[Roy Rangum]

While Beck clearly wasn’t our first choice, I’ve been thinking recently about why it is Beck would come to us. The fact that he’s reportedly friends with Scalley and clearly has ties to Utah are certainly big draws. Going from New Mexico to Utah is also a big jump up in program prestige and I’m sure he is grateful to be playing for a team with defense. However, he almost certainly knows about Whitt’s track record with offensive coordinators and realized there is real risk in taking this position too (OC’s don’t tend to flourish with Whitt at the helm).

To me, this raises the question, did Beck know that Bronco was already headed to Utah State (or likely to head to Utah State), and if so, did Bronco want to take Beck with him? I assume Bronco would have been interested in bringing Beck with him, but if he was, wouldn’t it be a safer path back to Utah for Beck to stick with Bronco? Has anything been said about this?

I realize this is a question that maybe doesn’t have a public answer and only Bronco knows. But thought it was worth at least asking the group.

[RedRocks]

I won’t pretend to know, but most people in this ‘industry’ are looking to advance their careers and get paid more.
Sometimes people bite off more than they can chew, or leave success to find failure (Scott Frost, Brian Harsin, Chip Kelly, etc).
I guess you can’t fault them for shooting their shot. Many people have succeeded following this approach as well.

Utah is a clear step up over UNM and USU for career/money chasers. If you want to coach in Utah, I assume most would choose Utah over USU as well.

[EagleMountainUte]

Considering how we complain about the lack of transparency on the hill I am always amazed how people know things “clearly”.
I don’t think it is clear at all what took place over the last month or so.
Truth be told I don’t know a thing about the Lobos season until I looked it over. Everyone told me Bronco was doing ok. I would disagree with that. Defensively they sucked really bad. I always felt that he was a weirdo but coached a fairly balanced disciplined team.

Beck should try to leave that imo. Going to Whitt seems like more of the same though. I think it was more like Scalley wanted Beck.

[Holladay Ute]

I’d be surprised if Bronco didn’t want to keep Beck. They had a very successful offense and Bronco didn’t change conferences. So if it worked at UNM, it’s highly probably that it would’ve worked at USU too. They mostly lost games b/c of their defense. And, who could Bronco have gotten at USU that’s better than Beck? Beck was the best that Utah could do. There’s no way USU could’ve done better than Beck (at least on paper). Therefore, Beck for sure chose to come to Utah over USU.

For Beck: 1) He’s making more money at Utah than USU. 2) He’s in the B12 versus the MWC. 3) He’s at one of the more prestigious programs in the B12 (in terms of national recognition / winning over the past decade). 4) He knows Whitt’s track record of OCs, but it looks like Whitt is letting him do his thing (bring his QB, bring his WR coach, change the RB coach). At least so far. Also, this is just my opinion, but I think this is most likely Whitt’s last season (whether he wants it to be or not). The only way I can see Whitt as the HC after this season is if we have an incredible year (i.e. win the B12 and make the playoff). If we win 9 games or less, then I would guess (and hope) that Harlan hands it over to Scalley.

[pedro]

Bronco wanted him and knew at that point he was going to USU (were working out details), but Utah made a much larger offer. It was a no brainer.

[Utah]

Honestly…I think this is more a Scalley hire than a Whitt hire. And that is a good thing. Whitt has always gone for a big name at OC, someone, in Whitt’s mind, to take care of the offense while he takes care of the defense.

Dennis Erickson, Norm Chow, Christensen was a hot name from Missouri, Troy Taylor and his iPhone offense.

Beck is a friend of Scalley’s AND the fact that they fired some offensive coaches.

I think this is much more a Scalley hire than a Whitt hire. And I like that.

[Author]

Posts