BYU fans all in on Ryan Pugh, mixed reviews for Fesi Sitake and Aaron Roderick

New BYU assistant coach Ryan Pugh (Courtesy BYUCougars.com)

Two weeks after the BYU Cougars hired Jeff Grimes as the new offensive coordinator, three new assistant coaches were hired: Aaron Roderick, Fesi Sitake, and Ryan Pugh. Roderick and Sitake weren't a surprise. They had been rumored to be candidates for the offensive coordinator position. Pugh was unknown to Cougar fans, but he has a long history with Grimes.

Yet, when fans were surveyed, Pugh got the best response. Over the past week, Blue Cougar Football asked site visitors, "Which new assistant coaches do you consider to be a good hire for BYU?" Respondents were allowed to select one, two, or all three of the new hires.

Typically, Blue Cougar Football will pose the same question to fans on Twitter. This time, however, three separate questions had to be asked. Twitter does not allow more than two options to a poll question, nor does that social media platform allow respondents to select more than one answer. The way the question was posed on Twitter was: "Do you consider ________ a good hire for BYU?" "Yes" and "No" were the two possible answers.

Since the results from both sources can't be easily combined, they will be broken down by assistant coach.

Ryan Pugh 
As stated, Pugh was popular with respondents, most of whom are, presumably, Cougar fans. Here is a breakdown of the results from each voting location.

Twitter: 83 percent "Yes," and 17 percent "No." 18 total votes (15 Yes, 3 No).
Blue Cougar Football: 50 of 69 respondents (72%) said they considered Pugh a good hire.

Fesi Sitake
Sitake had the second most favorable response. Here is a breakdown of his results.

Twitter: 81 percent "Yes," and 19 percent "No." 48 total votes (39 Yes, 9 No).
Blue Cougar Football: 33 of 69 respondents (47%) said they consider Sitake a good hire.

Aaron Roderick 
Roderick came in with the least favorable response. Here is a breakdown of his results.

Twitter: 79 percent "Yes," and 21 percent "No." 56 total votes (56 Yes, 15 No).
Blue Cougar Football: 28 of 69 respondents (40%) said they consider Roderick a good hire.

There isn't much difference in the Twitter results. Each new assistant coach was considered a good hire by the vast majority of voters. Usually the Twitter results aren't far off from the results obtained through the poll question on the site. The difference in the way the polls were set up could explain that. However, Blue Cougar Football did point out a week ago that Roderick and Sitake were polarizing hires. It could be that more of the fans who are polarized by those two hires visit the site, but don't follow @BlueCougarFball on Twitter.

I think all three are "good" hires for BYU. I was really sour on Roderick for a long time after he didn't come to BYU five years ago, but I have worked through that. He has a lot of experience backed by results. Many BYU fans like to disparage the Utah offense, but Utah won 29 games in the three seasons that he was Co-Offensive Coordinator. That tells me he couldn't have been that bad. I would say Roderick is the best of the three hires.

I would rather have Paul Peterson than Fesi Sitake, but that doesn't make Sitake a bad hire. He has a solid foundation of coaching tenure and success. Weber State has come a long way since BYU stomped the Wildcats in 2012. Sitake has been part of that steady improvement. He was at Weber State from 2014-16.

Pugh comes in last on my list due to his inexperience. He is a Grimes disciple having played under him at Auburn, and then did graduate assistant work under him at Auburn, Virginia Tech, and LSU. I really like how connected he has been with Grimes. Like many others, I think Grimes is going to move on from BYU after two or three seasons, but BYU might be able to get Pugh to stick around longer. BYU will be well served to have a Grimes-like offensive line coach for as long as possible.

Thank you to everyone who participated in this poll. Please cast your vote in the new poll: "Which former BYU Cougar had the best season in the NFL?" If you need it, you can click here for each players' stats from this season.

The Editor appreciates all feedback. He can be reached via email at bluecougarfootball@gmail.com