By james art No one knows what the future of college sports will look like. It was just a few years ago when the transfer portal didn’t exist and paying players was the NCAA’s most serious violation. Things changed quickly. The portal has players on the go and NCAA/NIL rulings keep student-athletes making money.
For church-sponsored BYU, the decision to stay in the game isn’t always easy.
“I hear two different voices. Neither is correct, but I hear them often. On the one hand, it’s “We need to be like Texas or Alabama — more money, more facilities, higher pay and pursuing it,” said Elder Clark Gilbert, commissioner of church education for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints the Y’s Guys podcast.
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“On the other hand, I have people who love the BYU Cougars but say, ‘Elder Gilbert, we are the Church of Jesus Christ on earth. We are interested in repentance and the gospel of Jesus Christ. We help poor people around the world. How can we spend so much on a game?’
Sports at BYU are big business. It costs a lot. It also creates significant and much-needed self-funding and exposure to justify the investment – as long as it’s done the right way.
“There are a lot of things that are out of our control and things go through the House agreement and the NCAA negotiations. We will have to work within that,” said Elder Gilbert. “But if it ever gets to the point where the only way we can stay in it is to move away from our values, that will be the end of athletics at BYU. That will not happen because we are committed to it by the Board (Trustees), the Commissioner, the President, the Athletic Director and the coaches. We have a culture here that is exceptional and I am confident that this will not happen. There is no other place like it.”
Elder Gilbert cited the built-in church structure that is designed to keep BYU, athletics, or academics from drifting. The buck stops at the Board of Trustees, which includes the First Presidency.
“All binding decisions go through (BYU) President Shane Reese to me and then to the full board,” Elder Gilbert said. “No one else can bind the university in any other way, not Tom Holmow (athletic director), not the donors, not our coach.”
The commissioner reiterated that no direct tithe is used to support BYU athletics.
“It’s a good thing and a bad thing. The good thing is that we use the tithe for the main work of the church,” said Elder Gilbert. “The bad thing is that it might make someone say, ‘Great, we can just do whatever we want.’ But governance remains universally tied to the Church Board of Education.”
When it comes to paying coaches, like football coach Kalani Sitake or new men’s basketball coach Kevin Young, there is no “outside” money.
“Coaches’ salaries are financed internally. They are not donor funded despite all the rumors and all the speculation,” Elder Gilbert said. “They are funded by athletics and sports revenue and are entirely under the control of the university.”
“We have no debt financing. I’m looking at Washington State with a quarter of a billion dollars in debt and then their conference changed. How are they ever going to pay it back?” Elder Gilbert said. “We don’t do that at BYU. We don’t do that in BYU athletics.”
“We remain anchored in our Code of Honor, church endorsement and our standards of dress and appearance,” Elder Gilbert said. “We also retain the ability to act independently, including who we recruit and admit to the school. All these things keep us from drifting. One of the most important ways (to do that) is to hire the right people.”
Young turned down expensive NBA opportunities to take the BYU job, and fans watched as he and his team quickly built a roster of high-profile athletes, including NBA prospects Egor Demin and Cannon Catchings. When it comes to running the NIL, the church leaves that up to BYU.
“The church is not going to weigh dollar amounts or recruits, that’s the university’s business,” Elder Gilbert said. “But we will lay out some principles. We can never become a place where the culture is “pay to play”. We will undermine everything at BYU if this wins. It’s tempting (but) if they don’t fit the mission, we’ll figure it all out.”
BYU football’s 7-0 start and No. 11 national ranking has drawn millions of television viewers on FOX, ESPN and BYUtv. The Cougars play at UCF on Saturday (1:30 p.m., ESPN). The Big 12 pays BYU millions in media rights fees and offers unprecedented exposure.
Before the Arizona game (Oct. 12), CBS, ESPN and FOX aired stories about the burgeoning Jake Retzlaff, who is the only Jewish quarterback in college football — and plays at BYU. Regarding the church and the campus environment, the message Retzlaff conveyed was invaluable.
“It’s not just that he’s Jewish and it’s not just that he’s at BYU,” Elder Gilbert said. “Authentically, his faith experience here was transformative.”
Elder Gilbert said BYU isn’t just looking for TV time for its teams, but an opportunity to deliver a product that reflects the church’s values.
“(There are) millions of viewers when you have an audience on Saturday. We’d call that in this business “earned media.” You don’t buy advertising, you get attention for what you do,” Elder Gilbert said. “It’s really wonderful, but again, if it doesn’t reflect our values, it doesn’t matter.”
Dave McCann is a sports journalist and columnist for the Deseret News and is an announcer and host for BYUtv/ESPN+. He hosts “Y’s Guys” in ysguys.com and is the author of the children’s book C is for Cougar, available at deseretbook.com.