BYU Head Coach Bronco Mendenhall Changes His Mind About New Tradition, Spirit, and Honor Jerseys

Recently BYU announced a change to their jerseys. In lieu of player names on the back of jerseys the team was going to have tradition, honor, or spirit on the back. The logic behind the change was okay. Head Coach Bronco Mendenhall wanted to promote what he said were the characteristics of the program.

Nothing wrong with that, right? As it turns out the players were not to crazy about it.

From Twitter Account @BYUCougars

From what I've seen no one said they hated the idea. They seemed to understand what Coach was trying to do. I don't think I saw anyone outright bash the notion, but some did say that if Coach decided to change his mind and go back to their names on the back they would not argue.

So I give credit to the kids for expressing their opinion in a respectful way, and in this case I have to credit the coach quite a bit as well. Not for the idea, but for listening to his team and knowing when to give them what they want.

Talked to my team tonite. They want to wear tradition spirit honor on jerseys for homecoming only. Last names for rest of the year. PERFECT!
— Coach Mendenhall (@BYU_Football) August 9, 2013

It was a good idea; there is nothing wrong with trying to promote the ideas of tradition, honor, and spirit. By changing his mind Mendenhall did more for the team than the jerseys ever could.

Players like to think that the coach listens and cares about their opinions. That is not to say that he should defer to them on many or any thing, but when they do offer an opinion in the appropriate way a coach should listen. If the request is reasonable--like this--it doesn't hurt to have a change of heart either.

Kudos to you Coach Mendenhall. Well done.