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Provo

Nothing that happens in next Monday's Miami Beach Bowl vs. Memphis will affect BYU defensive coordinator Nick Howell's employment status.

His job description? That's worth discussing.

If the Cougars get shelled by Memphis' offense, BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall's only choice may be to reinsert himself into the primary defensive coaching role during the offseason. He would rather give Howell more opportunity to develop, and that's sound management strategy — unless the bowl game turns into a complete disaster.

In that sense, Memphis is a good test for Howell and his defense. The Tigers operate the well-balanced TCU scheme, with coach Justin Fuente having faced BYU as the Horned Frogs' former co-offensive coordinator. Memphis is a top-50 offensive team, but should not be good enough to overwhelm BYU.

This year has been tough for Howell, amid injuries and inconsistency. Asked to describe the defense's season, he said, "A battle. A fight."

When I asked him to elaborate, he said, "Nothing was easy. It was a fight the whole year to get guys, young guys, to do their jobs, to get guys to learn the scheme, to get guys to play hard all the time, to overcome losses and loss of teammates."

To me, that's not a case of blaming the players or making excuses. It just reflects the challenges of the profession and the confessions of a coach who was assigned to call the game-day defensive schemes at age 34. Actually, the best thing that happened to Howell all season came when Mendenhall called the game at Boise State and the Broncos produced 55 points and 637 total yards.

Back to you, Nick.

That performance was not all Mendenhall's fault, obviously, and those statistics reflect on Howell's body of work. The Cougars rank 55th in the country in total defense, allowing 384.2 yards per game. That's respectable, although the figure is skewed by Savannah State's 63 yards vs. BYU. Otherwise, the Cougars would rank roughly 80th.

Yet the weird thing about Howell's season is that the defense should take the blame for only one of the Cougars' four defeats, as Nevada scored 29 straight points in the second half. There were other lapses, but the BYU offense either overcame the defense's troubles in victories or failed to do its part in losses.

Even in the regular-season finale at California, where the Cougars allowed 566 yards to a very good Pac-12 offense, the defense gets some credit for not giving up 575 yards. BYU denied Cal on four plays from the 9-yard line in the last minute, preserving a 42-35 win.

That's worth celebrating, under the circumstances.

Summarizing Howell's new role, Mendenhall cited "the scrutiny, the pressures, the criticisms, the successes and the ownership, and I think he's handled it really well, as a starting point."

Asked how he's grown this season, Howell said, "Shoot, we coach good defense here. I'm a better coach today than I was in 2012 when we were really good … just because you learn as you go. That's life. I can coach technique better, I can coach scheme better. Next year, I'll be a better coach."

Howell's demanding style has worn down some players. But the defense rallied after the Boise State debacle. Thanks to some combination of an easier schedule and Howell's reminding his players of their early season success to keep them going, they responded well to him in November.

"I love the dude," said senior safety Skye PoVey. "He's one of the most passionate people I've ever met about football. I mean, that guy loves the game and loves his players, and it's been really fun playing for him. Obviously, there's times when you're unhappy with your coach and you disagree with something, but … he wants his guys to succeed."

So does Mendenhall, when it comes to staff development. The Miami Beach Bowl will offer a meaningful evaluation of Howell. In 2010, not even a 52-point showing against Texas-El Paso in the New Mexico Bowl kept Mendenhall from shaking up his offensive staff, based on the overall season review. In this case, though, a good ending would enable Howell to follow through on his rough start.

Twitter: @tribkurt —

Miami Beach Bowl

O BYU vs. Memphis, Monday, noon MST

TV • ESPN