coordinator and AHC was a weak hire. Should they open it up more? Yes. But it's still BYU. They will RARELY be able to hire a guy who was already an FBS head coach. Other G5's can't really do it. Why would BYU be able to, and likely for not that much money?
Purely on resume, you have no way to back that up as a weak hire. Heck, the guy I wanted was much weaker on paper, and I've now realized that it likely wouldn't have been going so well because institutional knowledge is unfortunately very important at BYU (it's their own fault).
On paper Anae would obviously look better, but I disagree about having "more HC potential." Usually when guys have been in the industry for decades and they're still not a HC, it's for good reason. You don't get your first HC job when you're that old.