Here’s who BYU could pick to replace longtime AD Tom Holmoe

Provo • It was purposeful, even if it was sometimes subconscious, how Tom Holmoe slowly let go of his power over the last two years.

The longtime BYU athletic director who used to be so hands-on, even down to handling the marketing team, took his hands off the reins little by little.

And more and more, he let deputy athletic director Brian Santiago take a leading role.

“In the last year and maybe even two [years], subconsciously knowing that this was going to come to an end soon, I’ve been turning over a lot of strength and power to my team,” Holmoe said this week. “I have a right-hand man, a wingman, B. Santiago. And I’ve been giving him a lot of strength.”

Santiago’s had a hand in almost everything since BYU entered the Big 12 Conference. He traveled to every football game with Holmoe. He was critical in luring basketball coach Kevin Young to Provo. He was privy to football coach Kalani Sitake’s recent extension.

So now with Holmoe set to retire later this year, Santiago could be a natural fit as his successor. BYU President Shane Reese said there will be a national search.

“We’re going to cast a broad net with the intent of getting the person who is passionate, who bleeds blue and committed to the mission,” Reese said.

But Santiago is a leading candidate as the search begins.

The Cougars’ athletic director must have unique qualifications. BYU is an institution owned and operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. University leaders answer directly to the faith’s board of trustees and it can be tricky navigating where athletic directors can push the boundaries and where they can’t. That includes topics like Name, Image and Likeness compensation, coaches' salaries and the school’s Honor Code.

Reese emphasized that whoever comes next will need to understand the relationship between the Utah-based faith and the university. It makes institutional knowledge critical.

“The alignment piece, understanding that we’re sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and our connection to our board of trustees, and having that alignment from top to bottom is an incredible asset,” Reese said. “I would call it our strategic advantage. That means that we’ve got to be rigorous in our approach for searching for a replacement.”

And if institutional knowledge is paramount, there may be nobody more qualified than Santiago.

He’s been at BYU since 1997 and worked in the administration since 2001. He’s been on the senior leadership team for 17 years and the deputy athletic director for eight. He’s directly responsible for men’s basketball and has been there as BYU hired both Mark Pope and Kevin Young.

The high-value relationships BYU has in basketball, including with Jazz owner Ryan Smith and alum Danny Ainge, came in part because of Santiago. In fact, Santiago and Smith are quite close.

But the outstanding question with Santiago surrounds his football credentials. His entire career has been associated with basketball. He played hoops at Fresno State and Utah Valley before earning his MBA at BYU. When he first came back to Provo, he was an assistant coach on basketball coach Steve Cleveland’s staff.

BYU’s top priority as an athletic department, though, is football. And Holmoe was a football lifer before he got the job. He played at both BYU and in the NFL. He was a college coach at Stanford, Cal and BYU and Deion Sanders’ position coach on the 49ers.

When Holmoe led the Cougars through independence, he knew almost everyone in the football world. It’s hard to see how the program would’ve navigated that decade without a football mind.

If football credentials are necessary, BYU could turn to Chad Lewis. Like Holmoe, he was a former BYU and NFL player. He also holds the same position, associate athletic director for development, that Holmoe held before he became athletic director.

But Holmoe emphasized institutional knowledge, not football, in his retirement remarks.

“I don’t think people realize. I think they see athletic departments and football programs as being the number one star on campus, but the foundation is the school,” he said. “And it will always be that way.”

Another institutional candidate could be Liz Darger. Darger is newer to the administration, joining in 2015, but has been around the school since 2000 as a student. She represented BYU on the NCAA’s Common Ground leadership team, centered on the treatment of the LGBTQ community at the religious school.

Darger was a former basketball assistant at Utah Valley but currently oversees BYU’s women’s soccer program, which has reached multiple College Cups.

There is always the possibility that BYU could go outside the institution for a leader. Venturing into the business world, or a lawyer, wouldn’t be unprecedented.

With revenue sharing and NIL collectives as the main issues facing the next administration, maybe a legal mind would be more effective than a career athletic bureaucrat.

Remember, BYU did opt for that strategy in 1995. Rondo Fehlberg was a millionaire attorney when he stepped into the role. But since then, Val Hale and Holmoe both had at least some level of BYU experience.

Reese said the process to hire Holmoe’s replacement has already begun. But he didn’t tip his hand on the timeline.

Instead, he only tipped his cap to the outgoing director.

“I don’t think you’ll ever replace a man like Tom Holmoe. I think there’s a successor in this role. But Tom is almost an irreplaceable athletic director,” Reese said. “20 years as an athletic director. I go around and look at Big 12 schools, and that’s a rare individual.”