Provo • BYU has officially entered the Big 12 Conference, and now the work begins to be competitive in the Power Five.
That means updates in all areas of the athletic department, including increased financial commitments, facility overhauls, recruiting and more. BYU athletic director Tom Holmoe spoke about the immediate issues facing his program, and what the path forward will be for the athletic department in the first few years in the Big 12.
“We got a lot of work to do,” Holmoe said. “We’ve been in preparation for a year. And whether we’re preparing the right way, we’ll soon find out. But I know that there’s so much work ahead. We’re ready to go and where we want to be.”
How long is Kalani Sitake’s runway to get BYU competitive in the Big 12?
The transition to the Power Five has been grueling on football programs. The University of Utah took several years to build up enough back-end depth to be a sustained winner in the Pac-12. It had several five-win seasons in the first few years as it experienced growing pains.
At BYU, that also figures to be the case. Just looking at where it sits in recruiting, it won’t have the same depth as the rest of the conference. BYU currently ranks in the bottom four in the Big 12 in recruiting, according to 247Sports. Its most recent recruiting class is ranked 70th in the country.
So the natural question is how long is Holmoe willing to give Sitake to turn BYU into a Big 12 winner?
Holmoe said he understands there will be some pressure publicly for the football program to win quickly. But he did not put a timeline on it.
“It will take time,” Holmoe said. “I don’t know how many people here really, how much time they are going to give us. So we don’t give ourselves some type of false number of years that it is going to take. That would be crazy.”
That said, Holmoe did indicate BYU should see an uptick in recruiting quickly and that will not be an excuse.
“Recruiting is always hard, but [now] you have a little bit of a leg up when you have that title and have an autonomy five conference with you,” Holmoe said. “So that’s helped a lot. It will help because you build depth, bring in maybe stronger personnel. And a variety of personnel so that you are not as one dimensional as you might have appeared to be.
“... I think people snicker and say, ‘You’ll see what it’s really like playing the big time,’” he continued. “I get it. I have played in the big time. And it’s hard. You play game after game after game, you have to really be at your best. You have to stay healthy.”
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) BYU celebrates its entrance into the Big 12 Conference with a big party featuring numerous activities on Saturday, July 1, 2023.
Will LaVell Edwards Stadium get an overhaul? And what is the plan with facilities?
Holmoe acknowledged that LaVell Edwards Stadium is behind in amenities compared with the rest of the Big 12. BYU recently put in a terrace in one end zone and updated the corporate sponsorship lounge in the concourse.
However, it still lacks some luxury seating and a number of modern updates that other schools are putting in. Houston, for example, is adding over a dozen suites to its stadium before the Big 12.
“We have excellent venues, but in this day and age in college athletics, you can see it’s like keeping up with the Joneses,” Holmoe said. “... It’s a great place to play. But that’s a stadium that needs some work.”
Still, Holmoe said he will not chase stadium updates just because the rest of the Big 12 incoming members — Houston, Central Florida and Cincinnati — are doing it.
“We won’t do that at BYU,” he said. “It’s just not our style. It’s not the manner in which to go about our business.”
It is not just the football stadium that will need work. BYU does not have a football-only operations building — something that nearly every other incoming member is raising money for. BYU also still shares its indoor practice facility. Its locker rooms haven’t been updated in several years.
Outside of football, other venues like the Marriott Center will likely need to be evaluated. It was built in 1971 and does not have suites or modern updates that most arenas do.
“Olympic facilities, we have some plans to take after those,” Holmoe said. “That will get started soon. But it’s like, ‘What do we want to do? When do we want to accomplish it?’ ”
Holmoe did acknowledge there will be some pressure from his own staff and coaches to update facilities, especially as the rest of the incoming Big 12 members do it.
“Some of those schools are a little further behind,” Holmoe said. “It is exciting for me to know that they are already in the game [of updates this] fast. That will keep me awake and keep us all awake. I’m sure all our coaches who play in those new venues will say, ‘Hey, I’ve seen Cincinnati, Houston and UCF’s new facility.’ That is going to happen.”
There is the argument that facilities are less important than NIL money in recruiting now. Holmoe said that will factor into his decision-making process.
“The thing that’s important about facilities is that it’s recruiting,” Holmoe said. “NIL is recruiting. Everything comes back to recruiting. … All of our coaches have come to us and said, ‘OK, now we are in the Big 12. I need this.’ We make note of that. The question will be when, how and why.”
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) BYU athletic director Tom Holmoe, adds his name to alumni wall under the class of 1982 as he joins the festivities put on to celebrate the school’s entry into the Big 12 Conference on Saturday, July 1, 2023.
How is BYU’s athletic department financially compared with the rest of the league?
Houston athletic director Chris Pezman recently said he wants his athletic department to hit a $100 million budget to be competitive in the Big 12.
Houston well on its way. Right now, its budget is around $78 million and that number will rise as the Big 12 revenue kicks in.
With BYU, the athletic department numbers are not publicly available. But does Holmoe have his own number BYU needs to hit to be competitive?
Holmoe, at least publicly, said he did not. However, he did acknowledge money will be a push in the coming years in order to retain coaches, recruit and function in the Power Five.
“I can see maybe why [Pezman] says that,” Holmoe said. “There’s certain things that he’s looking to do. Each one of us that’s coming in, has different strengths. With Houston, I’m not going to get specifics, but they have some campaigns and some things that are super important for them. But I think that I’ve never really had a number. I don’t think the number is important.”
“We have targets and projections. … But we do not have a number that we’re looking to shoot for. It costs money to compete with these dogs.”
Holmoe indicated the priority, including financially, will be football.
“Your priority in the Big 12 is football, make no mistake about it,” Holmoe said.
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) BYU celebrates its entrance into the Big 12 Conference with a big party featuring numerous activities on Saturday, July 1, 2023.
Where does Holmoe stand on potential expansion with the Big 12?
Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark has said he wants the Big 12 to be a 14-member league even after Texas and Oklahoma depart. That would mean adding two schools at some point.
Colorado, Arizona, Utah and Arizona State have been floated as possible candidates for over a year.
For Holmoe, he said he hasn’t been privy to many of those discussions internally. He said Yormark mostly allows member schools to focus on the current conference, and then he brings them ideas about the bigger picture — like realignment.
“If you read what Brett Yormark said publicly, then you can only imagine what he said privately,” Holmoe said. “I think no question about it, [realignment] is one of the key elements of conferences moving forward. There’s so many changes right now.”
More broadly, Holmoe spoke to BYU’s new dynamic in a conference. It will be an adjustment for BYU football to be in a conference again after 12 years of independence. It will not be able to move as unilaterally as it has in the past.
“I’ve been in meetings for a year and a half,” Holmoe said. “And it seems like the collaboration with the schools has been very strong. And I would not expect that to change. … If there’s politics, they’ll hurt us.”
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Jolene Romero and her kids Sam, 2, and Dean, 6, become animated for a fast moving video camera as BYU celebrates their entrance into the Big 12 Conference with a big party on campus on Saturday, July 1, 2023.
