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Provo » Let's say BYU football coach Bronco Mendenhall steps away from the position in five or six years.
Who's next?
Many insiders say the man being groomed to be BYU's fourth head football coach since 1972 is already on Mendenhall's staff: quarterbacks coach Brandon Doman.
Why?
Because Doman is as close to the highly successful Mendenhall's makeup as any coach on the staff in terms of drive, media relations skills and youthful exuberance. And the former Cougar quarterback is Mormon, one of the unwritten prerequisites for being a head coach of a major sport at the LDS Church-operated school.
Doman is 32, and will probably need a few years of experience as an offensive coordinator to be considered for the position. Mendenhall was 38 and had been a defensive coordinator at Oregon State, New Mexico and BYU when he was picked to replace Gary Crowton.
The irony is that Doman might have to leave BYU to gain that experience as current offensive coordinator Robert Anae seems entrenched in the position in Provo.
Doman acknowledged interest when asked about the possibility of succeeding Mendenhall last December, but then added that is a "long, long way" down the road. He said the next step is for him to become an offensive coordinator, and he hinted that some "opportunities" were starting to open up at other schools.
"I have goals and one of them would be to be
Asked recently if any current BYU assistant coaches are on his list of possible replacements for Mendenhall, athletic director Tom Holmoe was noncommittal.
"I am sure all the coaches want to be [a head coach]. It is hard to say," Holmoe said. "They all think about it. They all consider what it would be like to lead a program. I think you have guys on that staff that are very capable of being head coaches."
Whoever gets the job will come from a small pool of candidates -- because of the LDS restriction -- although Holmoe did not say that "requirement" is set in stone.
"So much of that is timing, and being at the right place at the right time. And being willing to take a real chance," he said. "So, I would say I couldn't rank who on our staff would be the next person to get a head job, but I think we have a number of coaches on our staff who would be very capable of being head coaches."
