Kragthorpe: Brandon Doman moves on, from BYU to little league

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

American Fork

On a football field with barely visible markings and no scoreboard, Brandon Doman stood silently with his arms folded as the final seconds ticked off a clock that could be viewed only by the referee.

He'd shouted instructions to his Pleasant Grove fourth-graders prior to every play Saturday morning, and now Doman collected his thoughts for the postgame talk. The Vikings huddled in the shade of a small canopy as their coach, two seasons removed from calling BYU's plays in venues such as Notre Dame Stadium, reviewed the 18-13 loss to American Fork.

"Tell me three things we did good today," Doman began.

"Kick return," suggested Jace Doman, one of the coach's two 9-year-old sons, having run back a kickoff for a touchdown.

Later, Doman asked for three areas of improvement, then awarded the "G" flags — like the letter on the mountain above Pleasant Grove — to the game's outstanding players, including another son, Issac, a lineman who was adopted as an infant from American Samoa. And then he reminded them of this week's practice schedule, while warning that the upcoming opponent would be even tougher.

Yes, Lone Peak is next.

This is Doman's life, amid media work and business pursuits with two of his brothers, including the HomeSports nonprofit foundation. The fourth-graders tend to cry more than the Cougars and need more help buckling their chinstraps. Otherwise, football's football. "It still brings the same juices, the same nerves," Doman said.

Doman once was a rising star in the profession, hired to coach BYU's quarterbacks at age 28 and viewed a logical successor to Bronco Mendenhall, especially once he became the Cougars' offensive coordinator in 2011. It all came unwound during the ensuing two seasons, amid BYU's seemingly fictional sequence of quarterbacking adventures.

See if this sounds familiar: Riley Nelson replaces Jake Heaps, gets hurt, tries to play, is replaced by Taysom Hill, who gets hurt, bringing back Nelson, who's replaced by James Lark, who makes the coaches look bad by playing well.

The fallout was Mendenhall's turnover of the offensive staff, bringing back Robert Anae as the coordinator and hiring four other assistants.

Doman considered staying to coach the quarterbacks. Mendenhall cited "mutual agreement" for Doman's departure; Doman's version is that Mendenhall and Anae were the ones who agreed.

In any case, Doman moved on — and came home, as a father of five. "It's been an adjustment," said his wife, Alisha. "I've been so used to him not being around."

He's there now, doing all the stuff many parents do. He's just the one on the I-15 billboard, promoting HomeSports, designed to equip fathers to create a family legacy through sports, via skills, conditioning and nutrition.

The foundation's projects include media productions, such as a recent Steve Young documentary and another in the works with a former BYU athlete. Doman also works with a landscaping décor company launched by his family and stays busy, while experiencing less stress and fewer working hours than college coaches.

"I don't miss that part of it," he said.

Game day? That's another story, for all of the Domans. Coaching families bond through their teams. "He's more a part of our lives," Alisha Doman said, "but we're not a part of his work. We miss that."

Professionally, Doman was separated from the school where he's permanently part of football lore as a QB, having scored the winning touchdown against Utah in coach LaVell Edwards' last game and then won the first 12 games of Gary Crowton's initial season. He analyzes the Cougars in weekly segments for 1280 The Zone and closely follows Hill's progress, but has not attended any games. "Don't know when that'll be," he said.

Doman wants to come back to the program like other alumni, bringing his children to games. He loves coaching his sons and drawing up offensive schemes. During a practice last week, he installed plays that featured shifts, motion and eight-word calls — "Ace right, shift to empty right, double swing" — which the players handled nicely. "That's hard to defend in fourth grade," he told the offense.

In Saturday's game, Jace Doman's long run set up Branson Brinton's go-ahead touchdown in the third quarter, but American Fork rallied to win.

Afterward, Jace asked his father, "Do I get a cheeseburger?"

The reward is for a takeaway. His fumble recovery came during an extra-point attempt. This would require a ruling.

"We'll talk about it," Brandon Doman promised.

kkragthorpe@sltrib.com

Twitter: @tribkurt —

Brandon Doman file

Age • 37.

Residence • Pleasant Grove.

Family • Wife, Alisha; daughter, Sage, 12; sons Isaac, 9; Jace, 9; Myles, 6; Mikey, 3.

Businesses • HomeSports, nonprofit foundation, working with brother Kevin; Landecor, cement forms for landscaping, working with brother Bryce.

High school career • Skyline football, basketball and track and field.

College career • 14-2 record as BYU's starting QB, including last two games of 2000 and full 2001 season.

NFL career • 2002-04; drafted in fifth round by San Francisco in 2002, also spent time with Buffalo and Washington.

BYU coaching tenure • Quarterbacks, 2005-10; offensive coordinator, 2011-12. —

Moving on

BYU replaced all five offensive coaches after the 2012 season:

Coach Position Current job

Ben Cahoon Receivers Sales

Brandon Doman Coordinator Business

Joe DuPaix Running backs HC, Timpanogos HS

Lance Reynolds Tight ends Retired

Mark Weber Line OL, Utah State —