Arlington, Texas • BYU athletics director Tom Holmoe saw the preseason polls that ranked BYU No. 11 out of 14 teams in the Big 12. He has gone through the process of ranking where the Cougars will stand in their new conference many times.
And after he reviewed the changes made in coach Kalani Sitake’s program this offseason, he believes BYU is being projected to finish too low.
“They picked us 11th. I think we are going to be better than that,” Holmoe said.
These days, most of Holmoe’s schedule is spent preparing and predicting how BYU will fare in its first year in the Power Five. At Big 12 media days, Holmoe spoke about how he feels about the state of the football program and the job Sitake has done to get BYU ready.
He also touched on a broad array of topics, including other Big 12 teams withholding road football tickets from BYU fans and his own legacy in the AD chair.
Kalani Sitake’s job
Sitake has had a busy offseason filled with growing pains. He fired his longtime defensive coordinator Ilaisa Tuiaki. Their relationship was akin to family.
With that came a complete overhaul of the defensive staff. New coordinator Jay Hill also brought in more than a dozen transfers as he tried to quickly remake a defense that wasn’t Big 12-ready.
Holmoe said he understood the changes can be hard, but he approved of Sitake’s direction. It was a necessary change after BYU’s defense ranked almost 100th in the country.
“I think Kalani is well prepared. He has put together a really good staff,” Holmoe said. “... He has put in some internal football operations [too]. All are good. We have done some things in our performance and mental health and rehabilitation. Those are a lot of areas that people don’t think is football. That is football today.”
Holmoe noted the high number of transfers BYU has brought. Currently, the Cougars are tied for the most transfers in the Big 12 with 21. Previously the program had been hesitant to embrace the transfer portal to this degree. The last five seasons, its average transfer portal ranking was 71st in the country.
“He has done a good job in the transfer portal. He has done a good job bringing in recruits in high school and junior college,” Holmoe said.
Holmoe did acknowledge there will be things Sitake is not ready for in this first season. His staff won’t have the intimate knowledge of conference opponents that others will. Holmoe admitted even he is coming into this conference blind in some respects.
“I just keep saying to myself, ‘I hope we have made the right preparations.’ We have prepared like crazy. But we won’t know if we have prepared the right way until you start playing,” he said.
“We are in this thing to win. I’m not going to back down. Even with Kalani, I think it’s the process [Sitake’s] been talking about his entire time here. If our culture, our processes, are right, we are going to win games. That’s kinda my focus. I have not looked at the schedule and gone win, win. I don’t really know what these teams look like.”
Holmoe continued not to shy away from the expectations of fans to win quickly. He said earlier this month that he would not put a timeline on how fast Sitake should start to be competitive in the Big 12.
“I think everybody has expectations in Cougar nation about how each team is going to be. Some are making their predictions,” Holmoe said. “... I don’t really think there is anything keeping me up at night. Just the things that are out of your control. But there will be things that occur that, at that point, [will] keep me up.”
Big 12 teams withholding tickets to BYU fans
BYU’s reputation of traveling well as a fanbase has stirred some reactions from the existing Big 12 members. TCU, for example, is not selling single-game tickets to its game against BYU.
Instead, fans would have to buy a package of game tickets. Also, the Horned Frogs have said season ticket holders can’t transfer tickets to other fans to try to keep the BYU faithful out of the stadium.
It might be unorthodox, but home teams want a home-field advantage.
“I think it is strategy,” Holmoe said. “I don’t know if it is the way the market moves as much as they feel it could be a competitive advantage. I think it is a tribute to Cougar nation. The question I would have is, ‘How?”
Holmoe said he is friends with TCU AD Jeremiah Donati, who is installing this program.
“The way they are going to do that is, I think, they won’t allow their own people to transfer tickets [electronically]. I would be interested to see how they take it,” Holmoe said. “Because that is a fan experience to be able to transfer tickets.”
Holmoe’s Big 12 legacy
Holmoe has been in the ADs chair for 18 years now at BYU. He was the man who pulled BYU into independence and eventually navigated it out of it. Presumably, a large part of Holmoe’s legacy will be what happened these last 12 years and actually getting BYU into the Power Five.
Holmoe had the chance to reflect on that as BYU took part in its first major event as a Big 12 member.
“When [former Big 12 commissioner] Bob Bowlsby called and said, ‘Do you want to be in the conference?’ That was real. That is when I nearly fell down,” Holmoe said. “... This [day] kind of puts the exclamation point on, ‘We did the right thing.’ It is good to be here.”
Holmoe still deflected questions on his own legacy. He played football at BYU before playing in the NFL. He said he still thinks of himself as an alum first.
“I played football here. That changes everything. I played for LaVell [Edwards]. It changes everything,” he said. “I played with a bunch of college football hall of famers. Marc Wilson, Steve Young, Jim McMahon. Maybe more to come. I am invested in this thing way beyond being an AD. So, if my legacy is [being] a part of it, that is enough for me. Because that is Cougar nation. I don’t want to stand above it.”
