BYU will keep mum on football brawl, recruit's arrest, says Holmoe

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Provo • A couple of incidents the past few months that could be seen as damaging to the BYU football program, and how the school has handled the spate of negative publicity, would make an excellent case study for a public relations textbook.

In December, BYU football players were involved in a brawl with Memphis players at the conclusion of the Miami Beach Bowl. Earlier this month, a high school football recruit in Texas was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, a second-degree felony, two days after signing with BYU.

The private school owned and operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints remained mum on both issues in their immediate aftermath, and will continue to do so for different reasons, BYU athletic director Tom Holmoe said Tuesday during a roundtable discussion with reporters who cover BYU.

Holmoe declined to discuss the case of running back Charles West of Coppell, Texas, because it is now a legal issue and BYU has been advised by its attorneys to remain quiet.

He said BYU coaches and officials did not learn about the Jan. 28 incident until Feb. 6, two days after Signing Day, and the day in which West was taken into custody.

As for not announcing the discipline that would be meted out for players' involvement in the brawl after the nationally televised overtime loss to Memphis — something the Tigers did last month while not naming names — Holmoe said BYU "talked about it a lot" internally and decided not to for the same reasons that it no longer discusses Honor Code violations publicly.

"If it was the other way, people would say, 'Why do you have to comment on everything and embarrass these kids more in everything that they do?'" Holmoe said. "And I think that was probably the most important [reason], is we felt that we were going to deal with the situation [privately] and we were going to discipline people [and not announce it]."

Holmoe said some of the discipline has taken place already and that he has continued to have conversations with Memphis officials as late as Tuesday morning. He said some discipline will take place at a later date, behind the scenes.

"When the emotion of it settled, it was important for us to do what we felt was right, but not to explain everything that we are doing," he said. "And quite frankly, I think a lot of things that are occurring right now are incredible opportunities for us to work with these kids."

Holmoe answered questions regarding the state of BYU's athletic program for more than an hour. A few of the newsier items:

• BYU's 10th-year athletic director confirmed a Salt Lake Tribune report that talks are ongoing between him and Utah athletic director Chris Hill about adding games in 2019 and 2020 to their football series, which picks up again in 2016 at Utah after taking a hiatus in 2014 and 2015.

In an email exchange acquired by The Tribune via an open records request, Holmoe balked at the idea of playing back-to-back games in Salt Lake City, but acknowledged that BYU's desire of playing every game in late November — as will be the case in 2018 at Utah — won't happen.

"I don't know whether or not [the rivalry] will be interrupted [again] or not," Holmoe said. "All I know is that from Day I, have always been a believer that this should be a game that we play every year, and I will do everything I can do to make sure we make it happen. That doesn't mean it will be easy. Chris Hill and I work hard to make sure those games work for BYU and for Utah, and sometimes that is not the easiest thing to do."

• Notre Dame owes BYU a football game at LaVell Edwards Stadium, but because the Irish have a scheduling agreement with the ACC and scheduled over a planned visit to Provo, the matchup may never take place, Holmoe said, adding that he is not upset about it because BYU might have to do a similar thing itself down the road.

"If they come back to play us, that would be great," Holmoe said. "If they don't, then there will be some type of a settlement and we will part as friends."

drew@sltrib.com

Twitter: @drewjay —

Holmoe highlights

• The school will not make any public statements, or reveal discipline, regarding the brawl football players were involved in with Memphis at the Miami Beach Bowl last December.

• Talks are ongoing with Utah about scheduling football games in 2019 and 2020, but have hit some snags because the Cougars have filled the dates that are available to Utah, and vice versa.

• Because Notre Dame is in a scheduling agreement with the ACC, it likely won't be visiting BYU, which it owes the Cougs for trips to South Bend in 2012 and 2013. —