This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

If you're a big BYU sports fan, you've probably heard by now that athletic director Tom Holmoe gave his annual Education Week address Wednesday morning on campus. Actually, it was more of a Q&A session with Ed Week attendees, and even more so this time around as Holmoe gave a brief introduction and jumped right into the questions.

The session lasted almost an hour, and Holmoe answered no fewer than 25 questions and also had some questions for the audience, mostly BYU sports-related trivia. Correct answers drew prizes.

You can read my recap here.

Obviously, I couldn't come close to relaying all that Holmoe said in that piece, and I won't be able to get to all of it in this blog, either.

Here's more on the first 15 minutes, covering Holmoe's intro and the first five questions. More will follow.

Holmoe opened with a story about the strength of "Cougar Nation" and how 11 people showed up wearing BYU attire in Rome last spring when BYU's women's soccer team played a team from Italy. More people were cheering for BYU than the home team.

"Our kids feel that support, they really do," he said.

Addressing the elephant in the room, BYU's chances of being invited to the Big 12, Holmoe noted that he couldn't say much about it, but acknowledged he is knee-deep in it.

"I am grateful for prayer. I have been praying a lot these days about athletics," he said, drawing laughter. "Seriously. Fervent prayer. I believe in prayer."

Naturally, the first question was about the letter LGBT advocacy groups sent to the Big 12. See the online story for how Holmoe handled this one. He also said: "We have had some hard-fought victories and some hard losses and the fans and competitors and coaches from other schools, everyone that has come, I think they really enjoy the experience. We have this incredible football stadium, against the Wasatch Mountains."

Then he told a story of how in old days teams would come day before game and during walkthrough he would see players in stands with camera because they had never seen mountains before..

He was asked whether there will be problems with scheduling as an independent, if BYU doesn't get in Big 12.

"That's a good question. … My answer would be, it changes. From year to year, it is changed. We are scheduled out for a long ways. We have games scheduled in 2022 as an independent. So, not a full schedule, but we are pretty full for 17, 18 and 19. In 20, half our schedule is contracted. I think will would be able to. With the football program, it depends on how we do. It depends on who wants to play for us. That's good and bad. If we have a great year, some people might not want to play us."

The third question was about BYU's relationship with Utah since the Utes announced last January that they wouldn't honor the contract and play basketball in Provo this coming December.

"Very good question," Holmoe said. "I think our relationship with Utah is very good. I think there was a period of time where it was tested and difficult and played out in public, where it wasn't positive for either Utah or BYU. And there have been discussions behind the scenes on it. Some people might have some hard feelings, still. But you ask me? My relationship is good. I have had great opportunities to talk with their athletic director at Utah and Kyle Whittingham, their head football coach, is a good friend of mine."

Holmoe then brought up the Beehive Classic, the basketball tournament to be held in Salt Lake City beginning in 2017.

"It was a good collaboration, not only with BYU and the U of U, but with Weber State and Utah State. Being able to come together and plan two games for a couple years. I think that was a good little compromise — not compromise — a good new entry into playing that will be good.

So, I think things are good. …. When it comes down to things that happen on the court, the players really have a good respect for each other. Every once in a while someone might say something that might not seem that way, but if you watch the game and watch the film, they are really hard-fought battles, and I don't see that changing. When we play them it is going to be a tough game."

Holmoe asked if anyone in audience had ever played in a BYU-Utah game, and one guy raised his hand.

"I have never talked to a player at Utah or BYU who has played in those games who wants to get rid of them. So, I think that's what it is about. We went through a hard patch and hopefully we can recover," Holmoe said.

Holmoe was asked whether BYU donors will "step up" and help bridge gap between P5 schools and non-P5s:

"Would we have the capacity to step up, with our donors? Our donors already have. And that's a beautiful thing. In a way that we have been able to compete, without duress. We have been able to compete with those schools and conferences — probably not as much as we could with some more resources. But I have no complaints. No complaints. It could be better, but no complaints."

Noting that most of those schools' revenues and expenses are made public, Holmoe quipped: "It is public. Ours isn't public. I like that a lot."

He talked about how every single email to a public institution is open to the public.

"I don't know how you do your business. You gotta be very careful. I've talked to those guys, and I know how they do it. (laughter)… It is a hard thing."

After he was asked about the changes that new football coach Kalani Sitake will bring to the program, Holmoe paused a second to pay tribute to former coach Bronco Mendenhall.

"First of all, I would say what an incredible coach in Bronco Mendenhall, for 11 years," he said, and virtually everyone in the room clapped in appreciation. "He started some great traditions and continued great traditions. So I have nothing but good things to say. At the time he left, it was good timing for him.

It might have been good for us, for all intents and purposes. We hired a coach in Kalani who right now, things have been really good."

Holmoe said Sitake has focused on getting the Cougars bigger and stronger in the offseason.

"Specifically, things you might see: Our guys are a little bit bigger. The offseason training schedule has changed. The emphasis is more on strength and size, moreso than conditioning," he said.

At that point, Holmoe asked a question about who was BYU's last football consensus All-American (Dennis Pitta).

"If you don't get it right, you have to leave the room," he joked.