But he does throw out a few chips.
"We work with our coaches," he says. "But most of them know they're not here to make it rich."
Although Brigham Young traditionally hasn't paid its coaches anywhere near the going rate, money is on the upswing. LaVell Edwards, at the end, made somewhere around $150,000 a year, relative grocery money compared to peers of his status at other schools.
Gary Crowton blew away BYU administrators when he hauled an agent into his negotiation as Edwards' replacement, and ended up making $350,000, give or take a few grand. That's still less than what coordinators were making at some of the schools the Cougars played.
And Bronco Mendenhall?
Don't believe the guesses you've seen in print, which have placed his remuneration at $1 million. Holmoe wouldn't be specific, but according to others, that's too high - by a long shot.
Holmoe says he's never seen an accurate published report of his football coach's salary, and he's not giving it up: "No one's gotten it right. No one can get it right because it's not coming from [Mendenhall]. I've seen it over- and underestimated."
Is it in the $1 million range? "[Laughter.] No one's gotten it right," he says.
"I'd say it's half that much," says another highly placed BYU source.
Another source puts the figure at $650,000.
Holmoe worries that Mendenhall might leave at some point, lured away by a fat program willing to make an already well-compensated man truly rich, or drawn by some other enticement. Speaking of both Bronco and basketball coach Dave Rose, he predicts: "They will be tempted. There are people out there who are all over those guys."
Asked if he had been contacted by any administrators at schools interested in talking to Mendenhall, after he's led the Cougars to two straight undefeated league seasons, and two top-20 rankings, and two bowl victories, Holmoe would not bite.
"I compliment [Mendenhall and Rose] for what they are doing here - as long as it lasts," he says. "We'll try to keep them happy."
Those attempts include side benefits of both temporal and spiritual value. Holmoe points to Edwards as an example, who was underpaid but vastly rewarded in other ways for staying at BYU. Edwards walked away from two large offers to coach the Miami Hurricanes and the Detroit Lions.
"I can't speak for him," Holmoe says,"but he turned it down. His influence for good was much bigger staying here." Although, he adds,"I can't hold that over somebody's head. Bronco's not LaVell, LaVell's not Bronco."
Edwards says staying at BYU was the "smartest decision" he ever made: "I would have been out of a job within a few years if I'd gone [to Detroit]."
He was the head coach at BYU for 29 seasons.
Mendenhall, though, has said he does not plan on staying in Provo in any LaVellian manner. He said there are other places to be, other things to do.
Holmoe gets all that, but he wants to use whatever's at his disposal to keep his effective coaches, especially a high-profile one like Mendenhall, to stay as long as he wants, as long as he wins.
"It's not so much that we're trying to measure up against anyone else," he says. "What I try to do is keep in communication with coaches to keep them coaching here. They are good coaches who could undoubtedly make more money elsewhere, and someday that might happen."
Former BYU athletic director Rondo Fehlberg, who says he has no clue how much Mendenhall makes, says there are three parts to the Cougar way of paying coaches:
"One, there's a notion that some portion of your time needs to be service. In that is implied some sacrifice relative to what you might get elsewhere. Second, they want to be fair, and give 'sufficient for your needs.' Third, something unique over the past four or five years, there's a willingness to entertain and discuss what the market is like out there."
After Mendenhall's and Rose's successful second years, Holmoe went to his bosses and asked to extend - and enhance - their contracts as a means of "paying respect." In turn, the head coaches made pushes for their assistants to also gain salary increases.
"As we talk, it's not 'me-me-me,' it's 'we-we-we,'" Holmoe says.
Moreover, Mendenhall, according to Holmoe, has never gone to the athletic director with evidence, scant or verifiable, that some other suitor is knocking on his door, as a means of cranking up his own financial bennies: "[He] doesn't come to me with every rumor."
With Holmoe running the athletics shop, BYU has kicked up its coaches' salaries, in sports beyond football. "In general, it has gone up," the AD says.
Still, the school pays nowhere near what high-profile coaches make at other programs, the ones the Cougars are both hoping and expected to beat. Even if Mendenhall's salary is creatively bolstered, Holmoe knows BYU will not match dollars with dollars.
"We're not going to keep up with the Joneses," says Holmoe. "With what we're doing here [at an LDS Church-owned school], it's probably not appropriate to pay a coach $2 million. But [BYU] President [Cecil] Samuelson has been supportive.
"The only way I can look at it is: Are coaches happy here? That's an ongoing thing. We keep talking."
And talk is - well, you know.
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* GORDON MONSON hosts "The Monson & Graham Show" weekdays 2-6 p.m. on 1280 AM The Zone. He can be reached at gmonson@sltrib.com.
2008 MWC salaries
Gary Patterson, TCU $1.4 million
Bronco Mendenhall, BYU $1 million
Steve Fairchild, Colorado State $800,000
Rocky Long, New Mexico $750,000
Chuck Long, San Diego State $705,862
Kyle Whittingham, Utah $681,120
Troy Calhoun, Air Force $560,000
Joe Glenn, Wyoming $472,349 (2007 salary)
Mike Sanford, UNLV $431,000
* TCU and BYU figures are based on published sources because the schools are private and don't have to make their finances public; Mendenhall's salary has been disputed by other sources. Whittingham's base salary doesn't reflect his retirement package and apparel deal with Under Armour because those are separate agreements. Some schools include those incentives in the base salary. Under Armour has refused to disclose its financial agreement with Whittingham, who receives the payment, not the school.
