Utah, BYU: Greed is good

It didn’t used to be this way.

Remember when LaVell Edwards kept his football staff basically intact for a years? Remember when Sean McNabb spent a quarter century as an assistant coach at Utah?

Those days seem to be long gone.

That reality set in last week when word leaked that BYU was looking hard at revamping its offensive coaching staff. Fact is, that’s probably being considered at Utah, too. How couldn’t it be? The Utes scored a total of 13 points combined against TCU, Notre Dame and Boise State. Some of Utah’s problems involved the injury to starting quarterback Jordan Wynn, but still.

Both Utah and BYU are in a different era. While BYU’s 7-6 record wasn’t special, scoring 52 points against UTEP in a bowl game was. Yet it didn’t deter Bronco Mendenhall from the prospect of changes. Likewise, a 10-3 season for Utah used to be cause for celebration. This year, it drew mostly a disappointed shrug.

But the attitude at both schools is probably a good thing. The day is soon coming when there will be a sifting of the haves and have-nots in college football. It looks like Utah and BYU, thanks to their summertime moves to the Pac-12 and independence, will be in that group of elite teams. Looks likely USU, Colorado State, New Mexico and Wyoming won’t.

When you consider the Bloomberg News story that said athletic departments are falling deeper in debt, even as teams spend more money than they generate during bowl season, it makes sense that some schools will drop or scale down their programs and expectations. It also makes sense why teams like BYU and Utah aren’t likely to be patient, even when they have what many would consider fine seasons.

The stakes are too high to be anything less than aggressive.