Provo » After posting a 22-36 record last year -- the worst season in coach Vance Law's 10-year tenure -- the BYU baseball team entered 2009 facing questions regarding its status as one of the better programs in the Mountain West Conference.

Is the program destined to be an MWC also-ran? Is the program no longer capable of producing major-league talent, guys such as Wally Joyner, Cory Snyder and Jack Morris?

It didn't help matters when the conference announced its all-decade team last month and not a single former Cougar made the 13-member list.

"You don't want to know my real thoughts about that," Law said.

But look at the Cougars now.

They have bounced back nicely from their first losing season since 2004 (28-30) with a 24-17 overall record, and are tied for second place with New Mexico in the MWC. They are just behind league-leading TCU heading into a three-game series with the Frogs that begins Thursday night (5:30 p.m.) in Fort Worth.

It is the biggest series of the year for the Cougars, who are coming off a split with New Mexico, having caught a break when the third game was called off due to rain with them trailing 9-3 in the fourth inning.

The big picture question, though, is whether or not BYU's once-proud baseball program is back for good.

Law says it is, while cautioning that the obstacles have changed, the challenges more difficult, since the glorious seasons of the 1980s and '90s.

"The program is on solid ground, as much as it can be, because of the turnover," he said. "The turnover, due to [LDS Church] missionaries coming and going, is so rapid here. That part is probably the biggest challenge I have -- juggling a huge missionary turnover."

Although nobody can put a number on it, the program now has more returned missionaries than 15-20 years ago, which Law encourages but says is not exactly conducive to successful baseball.

"Everybody deals with losing guys a little bit, but you would like to have some of your best players stay and play three or four consecutive years," said the former major leaguer.

Currently, there are no BYU products in the majors, unless you count Baltimore Orioles pitcher Jeremy Guthrie, who started at BYU before going on a church mission and then transferring to Stanford.

"It is always a challenge to get talent here, there's no question, because we are a northern school," Law said. "And it is a lot different environment, with the [LDS Church affiliation and honor code]. You have to get the right guy, there's no question about that. It is not an easy place to recruit to. [Pitching coach] Bobby Applegate was at Air Force and he said, 'I thought recruiting to Air Force was tough.' You have to get the right kind of character here. You have to get a great student, and a very good player. It is tough to find all three of those in one package."

Kent Walton, a BYU senior, followed Cougar baseball while growing up in Southern California.

He acknowledged the program has had its ups and downs recently, but says it is on the rise again.

"We just had one down year," said the all-conference outfielder. "There were a lot of reasons for it -- some out of our control. No, I don't think this is the downslide of BYU baseball. I think we are on our way up."

Another factor that has contributed to BYU's perceived slide lately has been the addition of perennial power TCU to the MWC in 2006.

TCU "is right in the hotbed of big-time pitching down there in Texas," Law said. "They have just made it tougher. The last few years, if they are not in the league, we very well could have won the conference three of the last four years. But that's ifs and buts."

As for the all-decade snub, the Cougars say players such as Brandon Taylor, Ben Saylor and Nate Fernley should have been included. But Law says it is not a sign that BYU baseball is not attracting the kind of talent it once did.

"Hey, we recognize who the good players are," he said. "But there are reasons why sometimes we can't pursue them. We have lost some guys who I thought were BYU guys who ended up going to Utah or other places.

"I still stand by the fact that we are working our hardest to get the best players, student athletes and character guys here at BYU."

drew@sltrib.com