Dallin H. Oaks hired LaVell Edwards as BYU's football coach, forever elevating athletics at the Lord's university'

As BYU fans, we are currently living in the greatest timeline for BYU sports.

The Cougars joined the Big 12 conference in 2023 and are thriving in their Power Four status, finally settling in the promised land after decades of wandering through the wilderness of college sports. Those of us who are loyal, strong, and true supporters of BYU owe our present-day bliss to two hiring decisions that were made over a half century ago.

First, in 1971 BYU hired Dallin H. Oaks as university president.
Second, in 1972 Dallin H. Oaks hired LaVell Edwards as the school's football coach.

Those two hiring decisions back in the funky, groovy 1970s were the first dominoes to fall in a 50-plus year chain of events that leads us to where we are today with Kalani Sitake's football program on the verge of earning a spot in the College Football Playoffs and Kevin Young's basketball team with legitimate aspirations of a Final Four appearance.

The hiring of BYU President Dallin H. Oaks

In 1971, Dallin H. Oaks succeeded Ernest L. Wilkinson, who had presided over BYU for the previous 20 years. Oaks would be at the university's helm from 1971-1980 and would eventually pass the baton to President Jeffrey R. Holland. Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints understand the deeper significance of the appointments of those two incredible leaders.

Last month President Oaks was named the 18th President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. President Holland has served as Acting President of the church's Quorum of the Twelve Apostles for the last two years.

President Dallin H. Oaks is sustained by members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as a prophet, seer, and revelator, and has been since his call to the Apostleship in 1984 (Side note: In a joyful coincidence, BYU football also won the national championship in 1984.)

Presidents Oaks and Holland recently shared their deep love for BYU with President Oaks going so far as to refer to the school as "the Lord's university."

As president of BYU, Oaks was credited with making a number of advancements to the university, including increased enrollments, the completion of the Law School, a new library, and raising funds to construct a modern graduate school of management.

But from a sports perspective, the most inspired decision made by President Oaks was the 1972 hiring of a new football coach, LaVell Edwards.

The inspired hiring and long-term impact of LaVell Edwards

When Dallin H. Oaks hired LaVell Edwards as BYU football coach in 1972, the job was not a desirable one. In the previous 49 seasons preceding Edwards' hiring the Cougars had never been to a bowl game. BYU was a member of the second-tier Western Athletic Conference and had struggled to a 16-26 record in the four seasons before Edwards was hired.

Coach Edwards went 12-10 in his first two seasons, then never looked back. Despite the WAC affiliation, Edwards built his program in Provo into a national powerhouse. Under his leadership the Cougars won the WAC title 19 times in 29 seasons and appeared in 22 bowl games.

In seven seasons between1979 and 1985 BYU went 77-12, including the undefeated and consensus 1984 national championship season.

LaVell Edwards retired after the 2000 season with BYU now a member of the Mountain West Conference. At the time he stepped down, BYU football had as much credibility as any team outside of a "Power" conference could have at the time. The respect and visibility Edwards brough to Provo would change the course of BYU athletics forever.

The brand equity BYU established under LaVell Edwards paved the way for the Cougars to become a football independent in 2011 after a crippling shake-up of teams in the Mountain West Conference. While the 12-year trek through the wilderness of football independence and the lowly West Coast Conference for other sports was an arduous, difficult slog, the sacrifice was worth it with BYU ultimately entering the football version of its land of promise in the Big 12. Today, every program within BYU athletics has been elevated due to BYU's standing as a member of a Power Four conference.

BYU doesn't get the Big 12 invitation without the strength, success, and value of its football program. BYU football doesn't have that strength, success, and value without coach LaVell Edwards. And LaVell Edwards wouldn't have been BYU's football coach without President Dallin H. Oaks. Today we are living in the greatest timeline of BYU sports, and the future only looks brighter.

The long and ultimately fulfilling journey to our present-day joy began with two hiring decisions that happened over half a century ago.