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Brett Pyne
| Posted: 11 Dec 2014 | Updated: 8 Nov 2020
BYU, Memphis coaches & ADs meet in Miami for Miami Beach Bowl intro event
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BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall and athletics director Tom Holmoe were in Miami Thursday as part of the Miami Beach Bowl Team Announce Press Conference event at Marlins Park. Joining the Cougars in Miami were Memphis head coach Justin Fuente and athletics director Tom Bowen.
Hosting the event to introduce the two teams that will compete in the inaugural "Battle of the Beach" was Miami Beach Bowl executive director Carlos Padilla. Other key participants included Claude Delorme, Miami Marlins executive vice president, and Philip Levine, Miami Beach mayor.
Click to get ticket information.
Photos from the event are include to the right and a partial transcript of comments from the two head coaches is included below.
Miami Beach Bowl Team Announcement Press Conference
Thursday, December 11, 2014
Marlins Park, Miami, Florida
BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall
On the BYU travel party coming to the Miami Beach Bowl:
“I’ve been coaching BYU 10 years and usually our average of married players is 43 per year and 80 percent returned missionaries over the last three years so our age demographic is usually quite different. Our traveling party is usually 300 plus. We’re doing it different this year. We will come in on Wednesday and the players’ wives will come in on Friday so it gives us a better chance to get some work done before we have to manage everything else.”
Do they usually travel with you?
"They have the previous nine times, but we are trying something a little different this year."
You’ve had some ups and downs this season, what have you noticed about the last four games?
“Confidence and resiliency. A lot of that has come in direct perspective with our backup quarterback. We had Taysom Hill and we had two other quarterbacks transfer because the chance you play when Taysom Hill is the quarterback, there isn’t a chance that you are going to play. Christian Stewart came as a walk-on once, left to junior college, came back as a walk-on again, and in the Utah State game finds himself as BYU’s starting quarterback. I think that took him by surprise and took a while for him to figure out what that meant and it took our team a while to figure out what that meant and our coaching staff a while to design and help him do the things he’s capable of doing. Each and every week since that time we have gotten better. So our team has a clearer identity, Christian has a better identity and the confidence has risen as they’ve seen what he is capable of doing and how we’ve started to use him.”
As a coach being with a program for so long is that what makes this season perhaps one of the more gratifying?
"After our victory against Cal it was one of, if not the most gratifying victories since I’ve been the head coach and just because of that (coming back to finish with four straight wins). We rarely ever lose multiple games in a row and four is just unheard of. We were able to overcome that and put four wins together and now have a chance for a ninth win. That is a great opportunity."
Given you were scheduled to come to here if you did get the wins how much did it factor into the motivation to be able to play in Miami if you did get to a bowl?
“Being in the bowl game is absolutely expected at BYU. We’ve been to 10 games in 10 years. Miami, though, starts to add a little different motivation especially when you start hitting December in Utah. Our guys are really excited and then to play in this venue that adds more to it. You’re going to have a motivated and excited team to play and a team that values their opponent. Sometimes you get into a bowl game and there isn’t either respect or sometimes there’s an edge that comes off but in this particular case you have a really good team having won six straight, a really hot coach that is gaining momentum and so I think Miami Beach has a really good game and a good matchup.”
Have you ever coached in a baseball stadium before?
“Last year was our first in San Francisco. We actually in that game had both teams on the same sideline, which was surreal. Working substitutions was (different). Sometimes it seemed like they ran a half-mile to get from your end all the way down to the other end. So we’ve done it once and it was great and we are looking forward to it.”
Memphis head coach Justin Fuente
What has been the key for you guys down the stretch?
“We’ve got a great group of kids. We’ve got a really great group of seniors who have done a great job keeping this thing together, working hard throughout the season and really, genuinely, when we tried to put something in front of them they would listen and go out and do it. I think that was the key for us.”
Every successful season for a team has a turning point, what would you say was yours?
“I don’t know. We lost a really tough game against Houston at home. We had a lead, but it wasn’t like we had a team meeting and everything. We didn’t play poorly. We turned the ball over a few too many times and they beat us. But ever since then I think we’ve been able to avoid the distractions. We had a huge win against Cincinnati and everyone was talking about winning 10 games and some crazy stuff and we lost to Houston and had a bye week and then six straight. I think through that bye week our guys got dialed in to just focusing on one task at a time and try to find a way to go 1-0 each week and not worry about the big picture.”
About possibility of getting a 10th win?
“For us right now it’s about finding a way to win a championship, which for us is the bowl game. We won’t focus on the number 10, we’ll focus on the number 1—can we go 1-0 this week, that’s what we’ve talked about each week for the last six weeks. We will have an incredible challenge playing BYU and all the things that come with a group of kids in their first bowl game. There is one kid (Alabama transfer WR Keiwone Malone) on our entire roster that has been to a bowl game so there is going to be a little bit of that that we will have to get through in order to stay focused on the game.”
What do you expect or have to do regarding that (bowl) inexperience?
“We’ve got to set the tone as a coaching staff, but I think our leaders will handle it. We’ve got to do a great job of sending the message and our older kids have got to carry it out, which they have done all year so I feel good about that.”
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