For the third time in the past two seasons, the BYU basketball team heard anti-Latter-day Saint chants at a road venue.
This time, during a 99-92 loss to Oklahoma State on Wednesday night, some fans were heard chanting “F--- the Mormons.” Similar chants broke out at BYU games against Providence and Arizona last year.
“There were some ‘F--- the Mormons’ chants by the student section that I heard,” Cougars coach Kevin Young said. “It was a great win for Oklahoma State University and their fans should be proud. But it would be great if some class was warranted in there as well.
“I’ve got four small kids at home. I am a Mormon. When I go home, they are going to ask me about it,” he continued. “Same way they asked me about it at Arizona. There is too much hate in the world to be saying stuff like that.”
BYU is owned and operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
BYU’s football program has also been subject to the chants, including at Colorado and Cincinnati this year. The Big 12 Conference stepped in after Colorado, fining the school $50,000 and calling for increased security.
Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark has previously said he is working on solutions to stop the chants.
“We have zero tolerance for it, and it starts with me, both on a personal and professional level,” Yormark said in December. ”We are going to come together as 16 institutions following this football season and figure out how we can get better. It’s about changing behavior, and we will do that.”
Young’s program has one high-profile return missionary on the team, Richie Saunders. Many of his other top players are not members of the faith.
“We only have probably four or five guys who are Mormon on the team. I understand what we represent. But even for a guy like AJ [Dybantsa], that stuff is unwarranted,” Young said. “I try to talk to our guys about being examples in the world. We can use basketball to really just bring people together, not tear people apart. It is just disappointing. So I hope somebody prints that and I hope it is in bold. Maybe we as a society can help the world move forward, not divide each other with hate. That is really nonsensical.”