BYU football fans care

BYU athletics director Tom Holmoe told the Deseret News, Friday, he isn’t offended that BYU fans have been upset over Utah’s move to the Pac-10.

“I think it’s like anything that’s news about BYU, it shows you the passion that our fans have, and I appreciate that,” said Holmoe. “When we have a conflict, or whatever it might be, or a student-athlete, or we lose a game, or a coach leaves, or whatever — who knows, whatever it might be — there’s always going to be an outcry. And I’m glad, because they care. If they didn’t care about this membership change (by Utah), then we would not be interesting, so I’m glad.”

Holmoe went on to say, “But I really believe that these things will work out. I really believe that BYU is so unique that it’s really the one school in the country — I’d say you’d have to look at the military academies with their purpose and their mission — but our athletic department is tied so closely to our school and the mission and the (LDS) Church, that we’re going to go forward.”

Holmoe, who has coached in the Pac-10 (at Stanford and Cal), noted that he was playing at BYU when Arizona and Arizona State left for the Pac-8.

“We’ve done this before,” he said. “Arizona State and Arizona left (the WAC). That wasn’t Utah, but it was a big change. That happened my freshman year.”

Holmoe reiterated that BYU wants to move forward, but it won’t change its policy on Sunday play.

“I love to say at BYU you can have your cake and eat it, too,” he said. “But in this case, you can’t have your cake and eat it, too. You can’t. You can’t have what some of those conferences want if you’re BYU. You can’t have it.”