History BYU Cougars football

1 history

1.1 years
1.2 lavell edwards era (1972–2000)
1.3 2001–present

history
the years

the school s first football team won regional championship in 1896.

byu traces football roots late 19th century. benjamin cluff became third principal of brigham young academy (the precursor byu) in 1892 (the school converted university in 1903) , influenced collegiate studies @ university of michigan bring athletic competition brigham young. first byu football team in 1896 played university of utah (winning 12–4), elks, crescents, ymca of salt lake city, wheel club of denver, , westminster college; , won championship. in second year of competition, bya football team won championship too, result of accidental football-related death in utah in 1900, football banned lds church schools until 1919.

after twenty-year ban on football, sport brought byu on intramural basis in 1919, , intercollegiate games resumed in 1920 under coach alvin twitchell. byu admitted rocky mountain conference in 1921 , had first winning year in 1929 under helm of coach g. ott romney, byu recruited montana state university year before. romney , successor eddie kimball ushered in new era in cougar football in team went 65–51–12 between 1928–1942. in 1932, cougars posted 8–1 record , outscored opponents 188–50, remains 1 of school s finest seasons on record. university did not field team 1943–1945 due world war ii, , in 1949 suffered winless season, going 0–11.

the team began rebuild in mid-1950s, recruiting university of rhode island head coach hal kopp lead cougars, whom achieved back-to-back winning seasons in 1957 , 1958, led southpaw quarterback jared stephens , nose tackle gavin anae. in 1961, eldon phantom fortie became school s first all-american, , in 1962, byu moved western athletic conference. in 1964, cougar stadium built, included capacity of 30,000, , in 1965, head coach tommy hudspeth led cougars first conference championship record of 6–4.

lavell edwards era (1972–2000)

in 1972, assistant coach lavell edwards promoted head coach replacing kopp. edwards , staff installed drop-back passing game considered implementation of west coast offense, resulting in cougar pete van valkenburg nation s leading rusher year. following year, cougars struggled 5–6 finish, edwards losing season during run byu coach on next 3 decades. in fact, cougars won conference championship every year except 1 1974–1985, including national championship in 1984. however, cougars lost first 4 bowl games. first post-season win came in 1980 holiday bowl, has become known miracle bowl since byu trailing smu 45–25 4 minutes left in game , came win. byu win 1981, 1983 , 1984 bowl games well; , earned nickname quarterback u consistently producing all-american quarterbacks, included gifford nielsen, marc wilson, jim mcmahon , steve young. during period, young finished second heisman trophy in 1983 , mcmahon finished third trophy in 1981.

in 1984, byu reached pinnacle of college football when won national championship. undefeated cougars (12–0–0) opened season 20–14 victory on pitt, ranked no. 3 in nation @ time , finished victory on michigan wolverines (6–5–0). byu defeated michigan 24–17 in holiday bowl, marking time national champion played in bowl game before new year s day, , last time national championship won team non-power 5 conference. coupled 11 consecutive wins close out 1983 season, byu concluded 1984 championship on 24-game winning streak. @ end of season, byu crowned national champion after being unanimous number 1 in 4 ncaa sanctioned polls ap, coaches, nff , fwaa.

in 1985, quarterback robbie bosco finished third in heisman balloting; in 1986, defensive lineman jason buck became first byu player ever win outland trophy; , in 1989, offensive lineman mo elewonibi won outland trophy. in 1990, cougars achieved first victory on top-ranked team when defeated #1 miami hurricanes in season, , season culminated quarterback ty detmer becoming byu s first , heisman trophy winner. in 1996, byu won first ever wac championship game in las vegas , earned bid play in cotton bowl against kansas state of newly formed big 12 conference, making byu s first ever new year s day bowl game, won 19–15. byu finished ranked no. 5 in both coaches , ap polls, , became first team in ncaa history win 14 games in season.

in 1999, byu left wac along 7 other teams form mountain west conference, cougars winning share of inaugural mwc championship. prior 2000 season, edwards announced final year program s head coach, , prior edwards final home game, lds church president gordon b. hinckley announced cougar stadium renamed lavell edwards stadium . edwards carried off field following season closer against utes.

2001–present

fans storming field @ lavell edwards stadium in 2009 after #19 byu beat #21 utah 26–23 in overtime



byu wide receiver cody hoffman making catch @ reser stadium in corvallis, oregon in 2011 game against oregon state, cougars won 38–28.

former chicago bears offensive coordinator gary crowton hired replace edwards. first season successful, earning 12–2 record , running luke staley earning doak walker award, cougars posted losing records following 3 seasons (including 9 conference wins) , received negative publicity infractions of university s honor code. forced resign on december 1, 2004.

on september 1, 2010, byu announced begin competition football independent starting in 2011 season, due years of frustration lack of tv coverage in mountain west conference , university of utah s departure pac-12 conference. byu later entered 8-year contract espn in 11 games broadcast on 1 of espn networks , byu retain rights utilize on-campus broadcasting facilities , nationally syndicated station. cougars reportedly considered invitations big xii conference , former big east conference sports during period, neither opted add byu. in february 2011, cfl s outstanding canadian award ben cahoon joined coaching staff wide receivers coach.

in 2011, byu changed quarterbacks mid-season sophomore jake heaps junior riley nelson, , in 2012 3 different quarterbacks utilized @ different points in season. during 2012 offseason, graduated defensive end ziggy ansah drafted #5 overall pick of 2013 nfl draft, tied highest draft byu alumnus jim mcmahon 82. 2013 byu football season, cougars slated compete against 4 pre-season-ranked teams.

in january 2015, atlantic coast conference (acc), had announced 2017 forward members had play @ least 1 non-conference game each season against power 5 team (i.e., school in acc, big ten, big 12, pac-12, or sec, plus notre dame, fbs independent otherwise acc member), announced games against byu not count toward power 5 requirement, stipulation held sec. weeks later, both leagues reversed course , opted count games against byu , other remaining fbs independent @ time, army, toward meeting p5 provision. in case of sec, change in policy driven more trend of power 5 leagues requiring 9 conference games. @ time of report, big ten, big 12, , pac-12 either had nine-game conference schedules or introducing them in near future. acc has eight-game schedule, has scheduling alliance notre dame has 5 acc members playing fighting irish each season. additionally, 3 sec teams had total of 5 games scheduled byu 2015 2020. in july 2015, big ten announced games against byu count toward conference s power 5 scheduling requirement takes effect in 2016. in late 2015, big xii conference added power 5 non-conference scheduling requirement , stated byu not count toward filling mandate.

on december 4, 2015, bronco mendenhall accepted head coach position virginia in atlantic coast conference (acc). byu spent more week courting navy midshipmen football head coach ken niumatalolo take on cougars program. after several days, included visit provo , public remarks considering job, niumatalolo declined byu s offer in order remain navy. top choice no longer available, athletics director tom holmoe moved on several other potential candidates , on dec. 19 introduced oregon state defensive coordinator , former cougars fullback kalani sitake byu s next head coach.