This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated.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.
Usually, when BYU athletic director appears for his annual presentation at the school's Education Week, he talks for awhile about BYU sports and then opens the discussion up for questions in the final 15 minutes or so.
But on Wednesday, Holmoe said a few words and then went straight to the Q&A portion of the event, which he says is always more entertaining anyway.
By my count, he answered 35 questions, ranking from the football scheduling arrangement with Utah to whether BYU is establishing a recruiting pipeline to West Africa. One man even asked Holmoe why people can't buy BYU softball T-shirts during the games.
If that's not enough, read on, as I recap almost everything that was asked and said, pretty much in the order that it happened.
First question: Will Charles West ever become a member of the BYU football team:
"He is under the jurisdiction right now of the courts in Texas. And so because he is under the jurisdiction of the courts, we are not allowed to comment on that. We did recruit him. … His best friend on the team [Brandon Huntsman, a walk-on at BYU], who he spent a lot of time over at his house, the house of an LDS family, they told us he was a great kid. And I have met him personally. I would say that's the reason we recruited him. He had the grades to get into BYU."
Holmoe was asked about the chances of making rowing a sanctioned sport at BYU. He said there are a bunch of club sports such as rugby, lacrosse, crew, hockey, men's soccer, etc., that would love to become sanctioned by the school. He mentioned that BYU dropped men's gymnastics and wrestling about 20 years ago and that it is unlikely anything new will be added anytime soon.
"It comes down to finances and whether it is something we could support," he said, not sounding optimistic.
Here's what Holmoe said when he was asked why running back Jamaal Williams withdrew from BYU:
"Jamaal Williams chose to withdraw from school. You would have to ask him why he chose to withdraw from school. That's his personal decision.
Our response is we are doing everything we can to encourage him to come back and play for us. … We feel that is something that he certainly wants to do. I fully expect that Jamaal will be back with us at some point in time."
The same man then asked what Williams did wrong that caused him to withdraw.
"That's not something we ever discuss. Would you want us to discuss your children's [situation]?," Holmoe said. "Most people don't know what the situation is. I do."
There was a hilarious moment when someone asked Holmoe about a basketball recruit from Union High in Vancouver, Wash. Holmoe said it is "against NCAA rules for us to comment on recruits."
The man said the recruit has already signed. So Holmoe said he would give it a shot and asked for the kid's name. When the attendee said "I forgot his name," Holmoe did a face palm. Funny stuff.
Then came the question that always comes. Someone asked Holmoe on a scale of 1-10 about BYU's chances to get into a P5 conference, and whether it is for all sports or football only:
"I can't really say on a scale of 1-10," Holmoe said. "I owe it to my team to concentrate like crazy on the present time. I owe it to my program to look to the future and make sure our program is in the best shape possible. I can assure you that I as the athletic director, and the important people on campus that are involved in our athletic department and the future of our program are intimately aware of every single thing you read. I don't think there's anyone in this room that has read more or had more conversations than I have. I can say that we are doing everything we can to put our kids in the best possible position for them to compete at the highest level of play because that's what BYU students deserve."
Later, Holmoe referred to this question about football only and said: "It doesn't look like football only is a viable option in this environment, for the time being."
Holmoe was asked about BYU's ontract with ESPN and the future negotiations and whether ESPN's reported financial woes will affect BYU:
"I can honestly say that our contract with ESPN is great. Our relationship with ESPN is great. We will have the opportunity to renew that contract in the future. The relationship with ESPN is one of the longest relationships they've ever had. One of the games we recently signed, we had been working on it for about two years. We had to move seven games that we had already scheduled or agreed to. That's hard to do. We couldn't have done it by ourselves. ESPN was able to shift around [inaudible] and get 14 teams to agree to move seven games. If they didn't like us, they would have said no. … .We are grateful for that exposure and the access they give us to all our fans around the country, and I think that relationship will continue to be strong."
Holmoe on the status of the Notre Dame football contract: "We are in discussions right now to see what their choice is going to be. Obviously, we played them back to back in South Bend. If they don't come out here, there's a clause in that contract that allows them to get out. … It is not a promise, it's a business. If you think otherwise, there's not. They had a great opportunity to do a scheduling agreement with the ACC. … We are working on that right now. We will have a solution soon."
Asked whether BYU's chances of getting into Big 12 are better than in other conferences, he replied: "I really can't comment on that. The people that make those decisions, their opinions are what counts. … The barriers, the objections, I have read them all. And I do not know if a conference would feel one way or another [about some of those]."
An astute attendee then asked Holmoe if returning to the MWC is an option for BYU. His reply:
"I am friends with Craig Thompson, who is the commissioner of the conference. We played in that conference for a long time. We have a really good relationship with them. You can see that we are back playing them in a lot of different sports. That's a good thing. We have a good relationship with them. I would never say never about anything like that. … It is crazy for me to say something that is going to offend somebody. I am not going to do that. There is one school in the conference that has stayed away from us. They don't want a thing to do with us. They are mad at us. But I had a great conversation with their athletic director about six months ago that opened doors. I can see us playing [that school] in the near future."
When he was asked why the kickoff times for many football games aren't set until 12 days before the games, Holmoe quickly brought up that it is due to TV.
"ESPN asks on occasion what we would prefer. And our preference is, 1 o'clock, Saturday afternoon. But what we prefer and what we get is not always the same."
He added: "That's frustrating for me as well. I've got plans to make. We are putting on a party. We are putting on a show."
When he was asked about the athletic department's relationship with BYUtv, he brought up the new program called "Inside BYU Football" and how it shows they are working together.
Holmoe then told a story about being in a team meeting at 8 a.m. this morning where one of the players told a story that was emotional and personal.
He said they will have to go to the player and get his permission before they air it on the show. "Because it is a beautiful thing…. It is hard, it is sensitive. It is sacred."
So what can BYU football fans can look forward to this season, one attendee wanted to know.
"I am high on BYU football," Holmoe said. "Things to look forward to: I think we have one of the greatest players in the country in Taysom Hill. We have a young center in Tejan Koroma who is just lights-out. We thought he was pretty good and he started every game last year and now he's one of the leaders of the team. I like the fact that we have a deep receiving corps. I like the fact that Nick Howell can coach the defensive backs … and that Bronco Mendenhall is running the defense again. I like our team. … The schedule will be really tough, but we are where we should be right now."
Finally, someone asked about the future football series with Utah that dominated the news on Tuesday when Utah AD Chris Hill issued a statement that included the contract for 2019 and 2020 games already being on Holmoe's desk.
"I really don't have anything to do with that," Holmoe said, laughing. "You guys read the papers, don't you? We all know that Dr. Hill broke the news. He needed to do that. We're friends, so it is cool. Until both schools have signed and everyone has looked it over, it is not really official. You know I hate to say something before … If something goes wrong, you can blame him. If he said it, I can say it should happen. If you guys are in business, contracts are contracts. Until they are signed, every t crossed and every i dotted, it's not official. It is as official as it is going to be. So yeah, we will play some games."
At some point during the discussion on scheduling, Holmoe turned to his executive assistant and asked: "Is it on my desk, Gillian?"
She shook her head.
Holmoe was asked about the spotty, sometimes horrible Wifi connectivity and poor cell phone service at LaVell Edwards Stadium and in the Marriott Center. He gave a lengthy answer detailing the reasons. In fairness, every stadium and arena in the country is dealing with this issue, to one extent or the other.
"When you have 60,000 people in the stadium, or 20,000 people in the Marriott Center, for some reason it just doesn't jive. … The Office of Information Technology at BYU has been working hard on it. … We are going to pull out some things before the season starts. …. It will be improved, but there's a long ways to go … I hear you loud and clear. Our students, they like their phones. They want to be connected. We got to figure it out. We want to do it for our students and our fans," Holmoe said.
Later, Duff Tittle tweeted out some clarification: "Cell service connectivity will be improved at LES this fall. Major carriers working w/BYU to make it happen. WiFi is a whole different issue. It will require a separate solution. Very costly for a LES-size stadium. Working to find the right solution."
When he was asked whether BYU still recruits athletes from junior colleges, Holmoe said that it does and mentioned that Outland Trophy winner Jason Buck was recruited out of Ricks College.
"We had a golden situation when we had … Ricks, Utah Valley, Dixie Junior College, Snow Junior College," Holmoe said. "Now we have one, and that's Snow. So that hurts, not just for football but for a lot of our sports. We miss that, because those were Utah kids who now go to out of state JCs, and we lose them. So that's a hard thing."
How important is BYU sports as a missionary tool for the LDS Church?
"We have an opportunity to represent the church," Holmoe said. "And it is a big opportunity. I think it is important…. I would say it is a great opportunity. … It is an incredible responsibility we take seriously. Sometimes we fall a little short on that, but for the most part we [inaudible, but I think it was do OK, or do all right]."
When answering a question about academics and whether it matters in recruiting, Holmoe mentioned that for this year's incoming freshman class at BYU, the average ACT score is 28.5 and the average GPA is 3.85.
"I can assure you that not all of the 123 players on the football team have those numbers," he said.
Holmoe was asked why BYU hasn't hosted an NCAA basketball tournament game in more than two decades.
"Because the Provo area doesn't have enough full-service hotels," he said. "It is possible in the next couple of years, with some of the hotels that are coming online in the Utah Valley, it could happen. … We don't meet that requirement; that's the only reason. … If we ever meet that requirement, we will bid for it."
All for now. There were 5-6 other questions that I will try to get to later.