Opinion: Constancy amid change in BYU Athletics

In a changing college athletics landscape and with new successes on a national stage, our values remain a constant.
It’s a great time to be a Cougar.
And not just because of a football season that has the Cougars at 8-0 and a top 10 team in the country. All of our fall sports are experiencing success that include top-ranked programs like cross country, soccer and women’s volleyball. On top of that, men’s and women’s basketball are starting up, and we see some great things ahead.
But the football team’s success has been important. That success, while in a power four conference, on bigger stages than we’ve ever consistently competed before, is introducing BYU, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its members to new audiences. They are taking notice of not only the great success of our programs but also our distinctive approach to athletics.
And we are glad they are, because in a very real way, this is about the gospel of Jesus Christ. At its core, that’s what BYU Athletics has always been about, and it will continue to be. Kalani Sitake, our head football coach, summed it up when he stated, “We include the gospel of Jesus Christ in everything we do.”
The world of intercollegiate athletics is changing, leading some to question if BYU can continue to be successful in the face of these significant changes. The introduction of Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) legislation opening the doors for student athletes to be compensated, changes in regulations providing student athletes with greater ability to transfer between schools and the ongoing NIL litigation that may open the door for universities themselves to compensate student athletes all present challenges to our ability to be successful.
While some fear our ability to continue to thrive given these tectonic changes, we move forward confidently in the changing world and undaunted in our commitment to a unique athletic program.
A powerful quote by Sun Tzu from “The Art of War” may best describe our perspective: “In the midst of chaos, there is also opportunity.” Our gospel-founded approach will likely become even more distinctive in the face of these changes and challenges, but as we have the courage to hold to our principles, we see opportunities to become even more successful.
Why do we have confidence that we can continue to thrive in this environment? Because we are built differently. All that we do at BYU, from academics to athletics, demands having the courage to be different. Our athletic department is never going to look exactly like others, as represented by the department’s mission and vision statements:
“Build a distinctive, exceptional, athletic program that prominently promotes the values of Brigham Young University and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by developing successful, faith-based, influential scholar-athlete leaders who are ambassadors for good.”
“We will inspire others through competitive excellence while striving to live the values taught by Jesus Christ.”
While there are many things we could talk about from those statements, something we often emphasize in the athletic department is that combination of being competitively excellent and living the gospel. We believe that those objectives are mutually reinforcing, not mutually exclusive. We believe that sustained success of our athletic programs will only occur as our athletic department stays true to our gospel-founded principles, and the degree to which we succeed will largely be determined by the strength of our commitment to that distinctive mission. As we know from former Church president Spencer W. Kimball, here at BYU, it is truly living the gospel of Jesus Christ, more than anything else, that will allow us to be competitively excellent.
We have and will surely take the very best practices we find at other schools and replicate them to the best of our ability here, but we won’t adopt what someone else might deem as a best practice if it compromises our ability to live the gospel and stay aligned with our mission.
Having the courage to be different means living an honor code at BYU and holding different standards here. We are thankful for our coaches who understand our uniqueness and our mission and who are recruiting with these things as a competitive advantage, not a deterrent. While we are not perfect in our efforts to be different, we are committed to striving.
As one example of this, we approach NIL like other changes, undaunted in our commitment to be a competitive athletic department built on the gospel of Jesus Christ. NIL compensation will be a part of our athletic department. We believe it can be a blessing to our student athletes. But our approach will be to establish levels of NIL compensation that will attract student-athletes to BYU because of our broader mission and not solely due to financial incentives.
Earlier this month, Commissioner of Church Education Elder Clark G. Gilbert articulated a series of principles that anchor BYU Athletics, keeping it tied to our mission even amid the turbulent waves of modern college athletics. These principles include a unique governance model that ensures the proper alignment of our athletics program, led by our athletic administration, to our Board of Trustees, through BYU President C. Shane Reese and our commissioner, Elder Gilbert. This governance includes that any major decisions such as hiring of coaches or substantial financial decisions are run up through that line.
Another governance principle is our financial approach. BYU Athletics is fully funded through the revenues and donations that come to us, not Church appropriations. BYU coaches and staff are also university employees, and their salaries and benefits come from the revenues and donations received by BYU Athletics and do not come from outside sources, including individual donors.
We see this as an empowering governance structure, helping us stay grounded to our values amid change.
We also hope to, through our uniqueness, offer best practices back into the college athletics landscape. An example of this comes from our soccer team’s experience at the 2021 NCAA Women’s College Cup, the soccer equivalent of the Final Four. After winning a semifinal matchup on Friday, the championship game got pushed to Monday instead of Sunday, because of BYU’s policy to not compete on Sundays. While it was a new practice at this event, we came to learn later on that other teams actually appreciated the longer break between games, even though the reason we didn’t play was to honor the Sabbath. The NCAA decided to adopt the practice moving forward and both the 2022 and 2023 championship games took place on Mondays, instead of Sundays, despite BYU not competing in them.
Understanding BYU’s uniqueness and the importance of being different can change the way our fans cheer, how we welcome our opponents and seeing the importance of things beyond the game. We see this as BYU fans across the country contribute donations at our Cougs Care tailgates and as BYU fans contribute to Kansas State quarterback Avery Johnson’s charity in incredible fashion. We would also point to what BYUtv is doing in highlighting inspirational stories from our opponents in the Big Stories series, a podcast that two of our star football players have started that specifically discusses Come Follow Me topics, firesides that our teams put on, social media campaigns that contain powerful testimonies of The Savior and more.
Yes, the athletics world is full of chaos, but we are so excited about the opportunities that can come out of that chaos, and the increased opportunities for the light of Jesus Christ to be shared with the world as a result.
Keith Vorkink is the advancement vice president at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. Tom Holmoe is the athletic director at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah.