BYU football: Top candidates to replace Ty Detmer as OC

BYU football fired offensive coordinator Ty Detmer on Monday morning, just after the Cougars wrapped up their putrid 4-9 2017 season. Who will replace him?

BYU football’s message earlier this week rang loud and clear: It doesn’t matter what you’ve done, it matters what you’re doing.

Ty Detmer was a legend in every sense of the word. The 1990 Heisman Trophy winner is BYU football royalty.

But it doesn’t matter. That was 20 years ago.

And the fact is that that current-day Cougars, with Ty Detmer at the helm of the offense, are terrible.

So a change had to happen. And it isn’t easy to fire Detmer. That’s a move that takes guts. And what it tells me is that Kalani Sitake didn’t think things were going to get better under Detmer. That it would only get harder to let him go, so he ripped the Band-Aid off now.

For as much as Sitake deserved criticism for the horrible season that was 2017, he now deserves the praise for making this move. He’s showing that, despite being a new head coach, he won’t accept poor play.

He’s got a program to build, after all.

Now the search begins for a new offensive coordinator. While Detmer and the rest of the offensive coaches remain under contract, the new OC will have control over who stays and who leaves. A safe assumption would be that Mike Empey and Steve Clark are safe. Reno Mahe’s seat is lukewarm. Ben Cahoon is likely gone. Perhaps Detmer stays as QB coach – but at this point it seems more likely he’ll be going back to Texas.

So where does BYU football turn now? There are a few names out there that fit the bill.