In early February, Darrell Funk was named BYU’s newest offensive line coach — a position left vacant by Eric Mateos’ departure to join former BYU offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes at Baylor.
It’s been nearly four months and Funk is still on the house hunt.
I got to talk to Funk yesterday to start prepping on BYU football position previews, but it was also the first time talking to him since he came to Provo. So, it was our first time meeting each other — even if it was just through a phone call.
“It’s been crazy, but no, everything’s good,” Funk said. “People have been great and kids have worked hard and they’re fun to coach. They’ve been welcoming to me that way and everything’s gone well. The only thing that’s been a bit of a challenge around this neck of the woods is the housing market. … But other than that, things have been pretty good.”
For those that have kept track of Funk’s resume, he had a year-long gap between jobs just before coming to Provo. It wasn’t something he had in mind to do, but something that just happened — and it kind of worked out for him.
Funk was looking for a new opportunity after being let go at UTSA following the 2019 season and had some interviews, but then COVID-19 came around and put a halt to just about everything.
While he didn’t necessarily feel burnt out, it was a chance to catch his breath.
Funk was able to catch up with his wife and watch just about every NFL game of the 2020 season for the first time in what seemed like forever.
“Then the next cycle came and got back into it,” Funk said. “I try to stay a positive person. It was definitely a silver lining in the cloud at the time and I’m just fired up to end up here at the end of all that.”
While football is in the offseason at the moment, Funk is busy trying to find a house so he can move his wife out to Utah and is also helping his oldest son, who’s getting married out here in a month.
Then the focus is back on football again.
“Once I get my wife out here and get settled — I’m just anxious to do that — and then get into the season,” Funk said. “[I’m] really fired up to be here and really enjoy the staff and kids.”
Covering Jazz-Grizzlies Game 1 filled me with joy
I’m a Spurs fan, but when your editor asks if you want to help with NBA playoff coverage, you do it. Although I would have loved for the Spurs to have won their play-in game and gotten to where Memphis currently is, that doesn’t take away from my love of covering the sport — and this ended up being my first live event since the BYU football regular season finale and the first one surrounded by fans since the West Coast Conference tournament in Las Vegas days before the pandemic shut everything down.
It felt so surreal walking through the concourse.
I think it threw me off so much that I didn’t even recognize Dwyane Wade when he walked past me. You may be thinking, are you sure it was him? YES. I vividly remember noticing a super tall guy with a long cardigan walking toward me. I remember liking the cardigan and thinking he stood out in it when every other guy seemingly was in a Jazz T-shirt or jersey.
Then I saw the Utah Jazz tweet that Wade was at the game and the moment I saw a photo of him, my mouth dropped. It was long cardigan guy.
Obviously, he was also wearing a baseball cap and a face mask, so it was probably hard for anyone to really notice who he was. At least that’s what I’m telling myself.
But back to my initial point, hearing the fans’ cheers and boos fill up Vivint Arena was a sound I hadn’t realized I was missing. With the exception of the face masks we all wore, it almost felt like we weren’t in the middle of a pandemic.
More thoughts
• Along with going back to full capacity at LaVell Edwards Stadium this fall, seven of BYU’s 12 games will be shown on ESPN or ESPN Networks. One game will be shown on CBS Sports Network and four games are still awaiting their TV fates.
• BYU surprised many college softball fans last weekend when the Cougars not only survived both elimination games on Friday, but eliminated 15th-seeded Arizona State. In the softball world, while sometimes overlooked (ahem, the seedings were a slap to the face), the Pac-12 is a powerhouse and the Sun Devils are among the top Pac-12 teams. Although BYU wasn’t able to survive the Tempe Regional final, it proved the Cougars not only deserved to be in the NCAA Tournament, but were stronger than most people thought.
Other voices
• Zach Wilson, Robert Saleh headline new-look Jets OTAs.
• Jets’ Robert Saleh shares early impressions of Zach Wilson from first 2 OTAs.
• Mark Pope rises and shouts on a glacier in Alaska.
Normita’s Spanish Lesson of the Week
Ridícula
Ridiculous
Me siento ridícula por no reconocer Dwyane Wade.
I feel ridiculous for not recognizing Dwyane Wade.
