Bye Funk. Why Clark? What About Unga? IS ANYONE THINKING ABOUT THE CHILDREN?!

The offseason is here and it's more exciting and fast-pace than the actual season. So let's f**ching go!

Housekeeping Items...

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Secondly, I've been asked a lot about the return of The Daily Dose. Please allow me to answer all of you with the best Ryan Rehkow punt that you can imagine: I don't know what I'm going to do regarding The Daily Dose.

It was growing - went from 0 subscribers to nearly 4000 in just a few months. My views were growing every week. My monthly revenue had gone up for four consecutive months. The Daily Dose was a success and it was just getting started.

And yet, I'm so much happier not doing it.

I'm not a journalist. I run BYU's 247Sports site for burrito money. I add the extra guac with the money from GEHB. My real career isn't this. My real priorities aren't these. The Daily Dose was successful and on its way to being great - but it all started to feel like a job, and frankly, I never intended for that to happen.

The second all of this BYU content stops being fun is the second I quit. The Daily Dose stopped being fun.

So, maybe it will come back. Maybe it won't. I really don't know right now. But this newsletter exists and I have SO MUCH fun writing it. So here we are.

Bye Darrell Funk

I got it wrong, folks. I defended D-Funky coming out of last year when people were clamoring for his job. Frankly, I still think retaining him was the right call. That isn't what I got wrong. His group played well enough that they weren't the problem.

What I got wrong was his ability to rebound. Last year wasn't 2021, no doubt about it, but I couldn't help but remember 2021. I thought Funk could get his group back to that level.

He could not. 2023 was an abject failure. I severely overestimated his ability to rebound. He could not re-direct the ship once it got off course. I thought he could. I was wrong.

Was he just riding the success of Jeff Grimes and Eric Mateos in 2021? Maybe. But he deserves credit for what he did. Good job, 2021 Funk. Here is your credit.

Just because I was young and in shape when I was 18 years old doesn't mean that I'm not an out of shape blob of mayonnaise and bread today. Good job being in shape, 18-year old Jeff. But get a hold of yourself, 34-year old Jeff. Gross.

2023 D-Funky? Bad, bad, bad.

Funk's departure will, in my opinion, result in a more experienced offensive line in 2024. With Funk, Connor Pay is gone-zo. Without Funk? Pay might be back for one more season. Caleb Etienne will be back and maybe a new OL Coach will get more out of him and his enormous potential. Weylin Lapuaho will be back. Brayden Keim, in my opinion, probably comes back in a Funkless world. BYU has to make the right hire, of course, but this dismissal will result in immediate dividends.

I also don't believe it will impact recruiting. At all. That's based on a combination of conversation with OL recruits, some conversations with some folks I trust, and a whole lot of just being alive and looking at the landscape of things on my own.

Bye Darrell Funk. We had some times together. HAGS.

Why Steve Clark?

I love Steve Clark. I REALLY love Steve Clark. I have been on record saying he's BYU's best recruiter on offense - and I still believe that to be true. Clark was not the reason that BYU's offesne was so poopy this year.

Clark's tight ends also didn't do much to make the offense less poopy this year - and that's important in all of this.

Isaac Rex was great. If you break down his numbers, he really wasn't far off from his breakout 2020 season. He caught fewer touchdowns and more midfield passes, but he was pretty close otherwise.

Behind Rex?

Mata'ava Ta'ase wasn't very good. Rey Paulo wasn't very good. Ethan Erickson wasn't very good. Jackson Bowers was a true freshman who played some special teams, but he didn't elevate the tight end spot in 2023.

While I personally would have kept Steve Clark on the coaching staff, I don't know that he necessarily deserves a spot more than anyone else does. I don't think anything he did this year made it super clear to me that he ABSOLUTELY should have been on staff.

Now, one could argue that Fesi Sitake should be fired too. Wide receivers were up and down and the offensive sideline was a mess.

The running backs were bad too - Harvey Unga maybe should be fired too.

Play calling was terrible and ultimately everything runs uphill, so why isn't A-Rod the one packing his bags?

The point is that there wasn't a single redeeming thing on offense this year. So, there were no sacred cows.

When Kalani made the decision to keep A-Rod, he didn't do it based on what he saw in 2023, he did it based on what he thinks A-Rod can do in 2024. He used the past to form that opinion, of course, but he's investing in the future - not rewarding the present.

With A-Rod in place, it was Roderick's turn to decide what to do next. Nobody on his staff earned next year based on what they did this year. Every position was disappointing. So, A-Rod got to choose who he keeps. It's preference, not fairness. It's a gut-feeling, not an earned reward.

His decision to fire Funk seems obvious.

But Clark? It's head-scratching.

And there would be people scratching their heads if it were Fesi Sitake who was dismissed - I mean, Dax Milne and Puka Nacua still existed. Cody Hagen and Dom McKenzie are still in the pipeline.

Some would criticize Unga too. Tyler Allgeier is in the NFL because of Unga. Aidan Robbins and LJ Martin are in Provo because of Unga. Fire him? Come on!

At the end of the day, it's A-Rod's call. You could argue one way or the other for every offensive coach this season. At the end of the day, the boss chooses what's important to them. It ain't about scapegoats. It ain't about earned. It's about the boss' preference.

And if the boss gets it wrong, it'll be the boss fired in 2024.

What about Harvey Unga tho?

Those BYU SID folks can be pretty sneaky. Brett Pyne confirmed to Jay Drew that 'no other coaches have been dismissed at this time."

Does it count as being dismissed if you end up in the Athletic Department? Or if you're reassigned to a different role on the coaching staff?

Does your job feel secure today if 'at this time' is nothing but a snapshot of a moment?

I don't know what happens with Unga, but I wouldn't get complacent if I was him. There are still lots of new assignments and lots of 'at this times' that can change his job status. It's still November for crying out loud. Unga is far from safe.

BUT WHAT ABOUT THE CHILDREN JEFF?! IS NOBODY WORRIED ABOUT RECRUITING?!

Everyone is worried about recruiting.

That's why Aaron Roderick will be on the phone and texts and Xs and Snaps with Ryner Swanson all day long until he signs. That's why there will be interim coaches designated to recruit the Ikinasio Tupous of the world until a permanent coach is named. All of these things will happen because of the children.

Recruiting is the priority now. The transfer portal. The high school children. All of them. That's the priority.

And that's why I'm more worried about the future than I am the current. What will the next guy bring to the table?

Funk was fine. He did the work and moved along. I can't criticize that much of his recruiting strategy (provided there aren't any seating arrangements that have to be decided). Some dudes hated it - like really hated it. Some dudes - like Ethan Thomason, for example - really liked it. That is recruiting. Funk was fine.

But BYU needs more than fine. They need "really damn good" on the recruiting trail for offensive linemen. Fine might work at other schools, but for BYU, the OL has to be the strength and really damn good has to be the barometer of OL recruiting. Funk wasn't that. If the next guy is that then it will be worth whatever temporary pain happens during the transition period. (Something about one man perishing and saving an entire nation or something idk.)

Clark was a really good tight end recruiter - one of the best. Players loved him. He worked hard. He was great.

BYU can replace that. If they don't, then we're all going to REALLY miss Clark. But they can replace 'really good tight end recruiter.'

They can also add more to that plate. Like 'really good tight end recruiter who also is involved with every offensive lineman.' Or 'really good tight end recruiter who also recruits the state of Texas as well as anyone.'

Clark was good - one of BYU's best. But, BYU's recruiting as a whole isn't that great.

Who has more influence in the end? The mayor of New York City or the president of Mozambique? (Does Mozambique have a president? A king? I don't know.)

Clark was the best recruiter of BYU, but BYU isn't among the schools who recruits the best. They can absolutely do worse than Clark, but they can also do better. And as long as they don't screw that up, then all of today's complaints might be happy smiles next month.

But yes, they are thinking of the children. And we all pray to the heavens that they think about them even more going forward.