Running into the Wind: Bronco Mendenhall-5 Strategies for Building a Successful Team

Bronco Mendenhall is recognized as one of the best and most intriguing coaches in college football. When he took the helm of Brigham Young University football in 2005, he pulled a troubled team coming off three losing seasons into an era marked by 11 consecutive winning seasons. His teams averaged 9 wins a season and posted 5 top 25 finishes. He led the Cougars to a bowl game each year, winning more bowl games in that period of time than any other school but one. When the University of Virginia came knocking in 2015 offering Bronco the chance to revive its struggling program, he seized upon the challenge, and his move was one of the big surprise coaching appointments of the year.

How have Bronco s teams consistently recorded winning seasons? What methods has Bronco relied on to create such sustained success? Bronco s approach to coaching is described in Running into the Wind the title a reference to his philosophies and practices that at times seem counter-cultural in the world of college football. The book details his unorthodox style of mentoring, strengthening, teaching, and even recruiting his players. It tells how he designed the football program at BYU around a clear football strategy and a set of values that emphasized hard work, accountability, faith, and family in order to create a sustained competitive advantage. It is the same approach he has now tailored for the Cavaliers.

The first section of the book, "On the Field," discusses the challenges Bronco faced as a new head coach at BYU, the principles and practices he learned to face those challenges, and the on-field applications and results. The second section, "In the Football Offices," looks deeper into Bronco's system and the business principles and tools labeled "five smooth stones"--that help create and sustain high performing teams and organizations, which Bronco learned from co-author Paul Gustavson and adapted to a football environment. Whether you're a coach or a leader, the organization strategies and models that Bronco uses can be applied to any business or team. Simply, this section is where the coach of the coach will coach you, too.

Alyson Von Feldt is a consultant and writer who has guided major organization design initiatives at enterprises ranging from startups to Fortune 500 companies. As a writer, she has developed robust tools and training programs that showcase and simplify powerful design techniques, and she has put to paper the stories of intriguing high-performing organizations. She founded Crimson Corporation with her husband, Doug, to help leaders transform their enterprises. She is a passionate BYU football fan and serves on the board of the Kansas City chapter of the BYU Alumni Association.
Paul Gustavson, a former BYU football player, has for more than three decades made an in-depth study of the strategies and design of high-performance teams and organizations. He received the prestigious BYU Marriott School of Management's William G. Dyer Distinguished Alumni Award in 1999. Since founding his own company, Organization Planning and Design, Inc., Paul's consulting work has included national and international projects for Fortune 500 companies as well as over fifty startups, greenfield sites, and joint ventures. Paul's work has been featured in more than fifty books, company magazines, and periodicals.