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Bronco Mendenhall has been BYU's defensive coordinator for a week since firing Jaime Hill and giving himself the job he had prior to the 2008 season. He said in today's Mountain West Conference football coaches teleconference that he's not sure how long he will remain the def. coordinator. "I am going to think very hard about it. I am not ready to commit to that answer yet, but I am going to think very hard about the role that I am currently playing. I am enjoying it. It certainly is a lot of work, and longevity could be an issue that way. But it is more fulfilling, currently," he said. Mendenhall repeated that he has thought about re-taking the reins to the defense almost from the time he let them go to Hill in 2008. "I had been thinking about it prior to that, probably from the minute I gave up coaching the defense a number of years ago, and the play calling just a year ago, I have struggled to find my place, particularly in how to help our team most, not only on a daily basis, but on a game day. And I finally just reached a point where i thought I could be more effective in helping our program and helping these young men to be involved. So it certainly wasn't just all of a sudden, a random decision. I had thought about it for quite some time," he said. More from Mendenall: On whether anything surprised him about last week's performance against SDSU: "No, I think they gave us exactly what we were hoping for as a starting point, as a reference place to move on from. That was, as you mentioned, heart and effort, and just BYU football. I am anxious to continue that path and help our team improve. I viewed it as a starting point, and not a completion point." On whether TCU is the toughest team he will have faced because it is speedy, athletic and has a great quarterback: "Hard to say, until we have played TCU. I think we have played some good football teams the past six years, but I have never predicted right how good anyone is. After we play, then I will have a better idea. So I would rather keep it at that." On whether he has talked to his team about the 2006 win over TCU in Fort Worth: "You know, I haven't. Most of these guys weren't around in 2006, so we have plenty to work on, without really looking in the past right now. I really don't plan to mention it, either."On how much more hands-on he was with team last week, as opposed to how it was in the past: "I would say it was 95 percent different than what I had been [doing] prior to last week. I spent every minute but a half hour, per day, in the defensive room coaching the defense and designing the schemes and strategies and building the culture. I spent a half hour a day in the head coach's office, which is the exact opposite percentages of what it had been prior to that. So from running practice, to running meetings, to designing schemes and strategies, and planning, I basically took on the role of an assistant coach, as well as a head coach, last week." On whether he enjoyed it: "Probably the most fun I have had in six years. It was very invigorating. I just loved being with the players again. Sometimes as a head coach, you get removed. It was by choice, and I have no one to blame but myself [for getting away from that]. But I just love being with the players and having more impact on their lives and how they performed on Saturday than what I had prior." On how it helps a quarterback when a team can run the ball: "It is a benefit. First and foremost, it gives him a chance to make relatively easy throws against run defenses, not pass defenses. That really became the way the game went." On whether they did something different to stop SDSU: "I think just mindset, and then the culture building and expectations, and truly a passion for playing the game. Those are all things we are trying to bring to the forefront of who these kids are, and what has given are program so much success. And so just trying to re-link them with those ideas, of how hard to practice, how physical to practice, how hard to run to the football. Just things like that. It wasn't necessarily drastic scheme or strategic changes. It was more culture. And that's something that I enjoy doing."