BYU football Op Ed: The entire program needs a united goal and vision

BYU football put together a terrible season in 2017. The worst season for the Cougars in nearly 60 years. But the trouble goes beyond the roster and staff.

No BYU football fans were happy with the Cougars’ season. It was painful. Hard to watch. Embarrassing, really.

Thankfully, it’s over now. In theory, things can only go up from here.

But here’s the thing. It won’t get better. Not unless everyone gets on board. Everyone needs to buy in to a united plan and vision – from top to bottom. And by “everyone,” I mean everyone.

The LDS Church leaders that sign off on anything the university does, athletic director Tom Holmoe, university president Kevin J Worthen, the BYU football coaching staff, the players, the donors, the fanatics and the recruits.

Everyone.

Has that been happening in Provo?

From, say, 2011 or so through today.

Do you feel like everyone is on the same page?

I certainly don’t.

Decide what BYU football is.

Truly, this goes far and beyond BYU football. This is true for the entirety of BYU athletics. But it’s an issue that affects football more than anything.

The BYU Board of Trustees need to make a decision. The landscape of college football has changed drastically. Yet BYU isn’t doing anything.

This isn’t the 1980’s anymore. Funding discrepancies mean more than ever before. The wealth gap between P5 institutions and G5 ones is only going to grow and grow. That gap keeps getting bigger in the bank and so does the talent gap on the field.

So the issue seems like an easy thing to fix, right? Put more money into BYU football, see better results on the field. Bada-bing, bada-boom. Done.

Not so fast. This is where things get dicey.

BYU’s mission isn’t to be a football powerhouse. And that’s totally fine – there are only a handful of universities who have that goal. And to be quite honest, BYU’s mission is one that’s more noble than athletics to begin with.

The trouble is, for years, BYU acted like it wanted to be a powerhouse. Sort of had its cake and ate it too. And in the Mountain West, before conferences expanded, before the Utes became the No. 1 in the state, before the Polynesian pipeline largely dried up – the Cougars could do that.

But for the last six seasons, BYU football hasn’t been what it once was. The Cougars weren’t bad at all, but growing frustrations about plateauing certainly played into Bronco Mendenhall’s departure.

I was in that camp – and still think it was true, the Cougars had plateaued. And I still believe that Kalani Sitake can get to the next level.

If BYU let’s him.

What does that mean? It means more money. The football program generates a lion’s share of the athletic revenue for the Cougars – but it doesn’t get that back. So, in theory, the program turns to donors.

Firstly, BYU athletics doesn’t have the donor power that big-time schools do. Secondly, there’s a huge debate raging on about what BYU should be.