Bronco inherited a mess from Crowton, but BYU had a strong fanbase, a history, and more built-in recruiting base than LaVell did.
LaVell built this place out of literally nothing.
I think the statement that LaVell >>>>> Bronco is accurate. And the two are not very similar.
It is valid to point out LaVell, as awesome as he was and with a string of NFL QB's, had a winning percentage of just over 70%. ALSO: BYU, even with all that talent at the coaching level, isn't going to have a winning record against the top-tier CFB teams.
So anyone who wants to fire a coach for having in the neighborhood of 80% winning record against regional teams and winning 30% or so of "big games" doesn't understand the limitations of BYU.
Because LaVell and his staffs did peg the ceiling of BYU.