| The Salt Lake Tribune

Long after news broke Friday morning that BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall was replacing offensive coordinator Brandon Doman with former OC Robert Anae -- when most folks were wrapping up their work days -- the school finally made the announcement official, saying in a lengthy (for them) news release that Anae "has been hired as the program's offensive coordinator."

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In case you haven't seen it, you can read the full release below, or by going to byucougars.com.

Interestingly, the release makes mention of Doman only once -- near the end -- and doesn't spell out why the former BYU quarterback was released after just two years in the position.

"One of Anae's first duties will be to work with Mendenhall to make coaching evaluations and any related offensive staff position assignments," it says.

The most-asked question now becomes: Will Doman accept his demotion and stay on as quarterbacks coach, or leave?

Most of the day, some good sources were telling me that Doman was leaning toward staying. Tonight, though, I am hearing that it is 50-50.

A couple hours before BYU made the official announcement, Mendenhall sent an email to his players which sheds some light on why he made the change. I have obtained a copy of that email. Here it is:

First, congratulations on an outstanding win in the Poinsettia Bowl. Your preparation for the game made the difference and it was the right way to end the season for our seniors. I hope you have all have had a good holiday break and are anxious to begin classes Monday and to start working to prepare for the 2013 season. There is a team meeting on Monday at 2:10 p.m. that you should plan on attending.

Some changes in our coaching staff will be officially announced shortly and I felt you deserved to hear them directly from me before they were released publicly. After much consideration, I have made the decision to release Coach Brandon Doman from his responsibilities as offensive coordinator. I am very appreciative of his hard work, loyalty and enthusiasm for BYU. It was clear, however, that a change in leadership was needed for us to truly achieve what we are capable of as a team.

Today were are announcing that Coach Robert Anae is returning to take over the offensive coordinator responsibilities. Many of you already know Coach Anae. For those who don’t, he has spent the last two seasons at the University of Arizona in Tucson where he coaches the offensive line and serves as running game coordinator. Those who have played for Coach Anae in the past know that he is passionate about BYU and he’ll do his very best to help each of our players reach their potential.

We are fortunate to have Coach Anae back in the BYU family and are confident that our offense will regain the national prominence that it deserves. During the six seasons that Coach Anae was here, our offense was ranked in the Top 25 nationally five times. We also ranked in various Top 25 offensive statistical categories 28 times. Our offense was ranked as one of the top 6 passing offenses three of the six years he served as coordinator. At Arizona during the past two years, Coach Anae helped lead offenses that were ranked 16th in 2011 and 7th this season.

I ask you to trust that the decisions that I have made—and will be making—are for the improvement of the program and will be done to provide you with the best opportunity to reach your personal goals while you are at BYU.