HB Arnett’s
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372 - 0819
1391
West 800 South –
Vol. 34,
Issue 37 –April 14, 2014
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This Guy was a BYU Recruiting Guru
and Didn’t Know It
Jenkin Lloyd Jones (November 14, 1843
– September 12, 1918) was a Unitarian minister in the
President
Gordon B. Hinckley made him relevant in Mormon circles by quoting Jenkins in a
couple of the LDS Prophet’s talks. The quote most often referenced by
President Hinckley is:
“Anyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to waste a lot
of time running around shouting that he has been robbed. The fact is that most
putts don’t drop, most beef is tough, most children grow up to be just
ordinary people, most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual
toleration, and most jobs are more often dull than otherwise. Life is just like
an old time rail journey ... delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders, an
¯ Jenkin Lloyd Jones
Unbeknownst to President Hinckley and Jones, that quote also made Jones
a BYU recruiting guru.
The reality of life in general and BYU football recruiting in particular,
is that most highly touted (by parents) children and highly touted (by fans)
football recruits grow up to be just ordinary people and ordinary college
football players.
In BYU Football’s case, there wasn’t a more highly touted
triumvirate than Jake Heaps, Ross Apo and Zac Stout of the Iggy’s press
conference fame. All three, as predicted by Jones over 100 years ago, grew up
to be highly ordinary college football players.
All of which brings us to the most recent recruiting smoke, dust,
cinders and thrilling bursts of speed as it applies to BYU football.
His name is Porter Gustin. They don’t come more highly touted
than this kid. Click
here for proof.
The 6-5, 240 pound linebacker from Salem Hills HS, as in
What makes it interesting, especially to BYU football fans, is that BYU
has not yet offered a scholarship.
Hence the touting and pouting by recruiting services and Cougar fans.
As one who has been around the recruiting block for 30 plus years as it
pertains to college football in general and BYU football in particular, in my
estimation, not only this kid, but any BYU football recruit in general, has a
15 percent chance of being the next Haloti Ngata or Star Lotululei that BYU
missed on and an 85 percent chance of just being an ordinary college football
player.
That’s not meant to be disrespectful of this latest can’t
miss prospect, but as an evaluation of recruiting in general. And remember what
Jenkin Lloyd Jones said. Most kids do miss.
Even if BYU is wrong about this guy and he turns out to be the next
Mike Singletary or Dick Butkus, in football, it doesn’t really matter
because it takes 22 very good players to make a very good football team.
The only exception to that rule is if the kid is an exceptional
quarterback and BYU misses on him. That doesn’t happen very often when it
comes to LDS high school QB prospects.
Now when it comes to college basketball, one prospect can spell the
difference between a WCC also ran and an NCAA elite eight.
I’m still pouting about Parker, as in Jabari, going to Duke.
Here’s one more Jenkin Lloyd Jones’ football reference. He
was also right about the relationship between Bronco Mendenhall and BYU
football fans. It requires a high degree of tolerance from both sides of the
relationship.
I am more than willing to tolerate Mendenhall’s apparent
recruiting decision on Gustin, the latest can’t miss prospect because he already
has Fred Warner, Troy Hinds and Tyler Cook entering the program this fall. I am
betting that those three players will turn out to be trio of beautiful vistas.
BYU Potentially Dropping
Sports Responses Ranged from Bodies to Baptisms
Last week I wrote a few paragraphs about
the possibility of BYU-Provo someday dropping sports. The piece was generated
by the fact that BYU-Idaho and now BYU-Hawaii have both dropped college
athletics.
I must say that the responses I received
from just mentioning that possibility were extremely interesting. Those
responses ranged from bodies
(like over my dead one before that will happen) to baptisms (as in never
because BYU Sports is essential to LDS missionary work).
And then there were a few that were
thoughtful, articulated well and actually intriguing. I have asked permission
of the authors of two of those responses to reprint their thoughts on the
subject. Their only caveat was that I don’t use their names.
See, Cougar Sportsline is just like the US
Department of Justice. We both have witness protection programs.
The two reader’s responses to BYU
potentially dropping sports are printed below. I might mention that both of
these men are academically, ecclesiastically and professionally credible
individuals. Translated, that means that they currently don’t still
reside in their parents’ basements or in a dorm room on campus.
HB,
Last week, I spoke with a prominent LDS legal scholar. Because of
the controversy surrounding same-sex marriage and gay rights, he foresees
possibly the following being challenged: The Church’s tax-exempt
status, BYU’s receipt of federal funds (research grants, Pell grants,
federally-guaranteed student loans), and even BYU’s actual academic
accreditation.
In my opinion, as the pressure grows, we may see a replay of the blacks
and priesthood days, with gay protests at BYU games and pressure on our
opponents to boycott scheduling BYU. Finally, ESPN may drop our contract,
when the pressure and boycotts reach a certain point.
If our religious beliefs prevent us from being part of a Conference and
if those beliefs narrow the field/number of our opponents (i.e. Catholic
schools that play football), home and away football attendance and revenues
will dramatically decrease.
BYU and the Church do
subsidize BYU sports. A full 21 percent of the athletic
department’s budget comes from the student tuition allocation.
Remove that allocation, and the Church could reduce or maintain tuition
levels.
I think the gay rights and same-sex marriage issues will more likely
result in the death of BYU sports than player unionization and the payment of
salaries to players.
Take care,
Name withheld
HB,
The big problem for BYU is that it plays in
the BCS neighborhood, but it has standards that are tougher than those applied
by the Ivy League schools or the service academies. BYU's standards mostly go
to character and they are stringent indeed, but BYU also has academic
standards. Students who are athletes are expected to be student-athletes. You
won't find special majors for athletes (as at Duke) or laughable classes and
standards (as we recently saw at
So, if you're a big, tattooed dope who
seeks anonymous sex on a nightly basis and has the reading ability of a
third-grader--a not-uncommon "type" at our nation's elite football
and basketball factories--then you aren't going to get in the door at Harvard,
or at Army, or at BYU. That's fine for Harvard and Army because they aren't
expected to compete at the highest levels. But those expectations do exist for
BYU.
We have reached the point, in college
athletics, where the only requirement is athletic ability. You can be a truly
breathtaking idiot, unable to count to ten, unable to recite the alphabet, with
three kids out of wedlock (in high school) and with arms covered with obscene
graffiti. You can be that person, and someone will recruit you if you have a
good 40 time and if you have NFL potential. If you don't believe me, read this:
This kid was rejected by
We should recall that Dexter Manley, a
major star at
Then there are the criminals. Back in 1998
Jeff Benedict and Don Yaeger wrote a book called "Pros and Cons: The
Criminals Who Play in the NFL." You can still buy a copy on Amazon.
Benedict and Yaeger checked a sample consisting of a third of the players on
National Football League teams during the 1996/97 season, and they discovered
that more than one-in-five had been arrested or indicted for serious crimes
ranging from fraud to homicide. They also discovered that the NFL--at least
back then--continued to employ players with multiple arrests and multiple
convictions, just as long as they were still capable of playing winning
football.
The problems don't start at the pro
level. Under Urban Meyer's program at the
All righty then.
Finally we get to sex. Sex is something
you're not allowed to have at BYU unless you're married, and then it has to be
confined to your legal spouse. That one little rule eliminates a whole lot of
potential recruits for BYU, and boy has the culture changed in this area over
the past thirty years or so. The press doesn't bother to report it either; that
wouldn't be cool. Calvin Murphy has 14 kids out of wedlock by 9 women. Marshall
Faulk has six kids by three women, all out of wedlock. Scott Skiles has been
charged with felonies, has spent time in jail, and has at least six
illegitimate kids. None of that stopped three different NBA teams from hiring
him as their head coach.
This is the culture that BYU is up again.
Anything goes, as long as you just win, baby. It's cool, and it's nobody's
business. But there is still one thing that's really uncool, and that's talking
about religion. Just ask Tim Tebow. He's "controversial." He's not a
hero, like all of those homosexual athletes who have "come out."
Most of the athletes at BYU, especially on
the basketball team, are actual college students who are actually capable of
doing college-level work and who actually graduate. They are not sociopaths;
they have not populated the world with illegitimate kids; and most of them will
be gainfully employed, solid citizens soon after graduation. BYU expects and
requires that. It makes BYU unusual and it puts the school at a tremendous
competitive disadvantage when it comes to recruiting.
College athletics, these days, is strictly
about alumni relations and making money. Recruit the big nasty gladiators,
watch them get the alumni excited, and watch them go pro after one year.
Pretend that they're "students." Everyone will cheer, just as they
cheered that
This culture has become so degraded that
I'm not sure BYU can or should try to compete in it for very long. BYU has long
had one of the best athletic departments in
But BYU has been shut out from the
big-money conferences because it opposes gay marriage, because it won't play on
Sunday, and because it's religious. Remember, if you're religious you are
"controversial." You're probably also clinging to a gun. Academically
and athletically, BYU leaves
Should BYU even be hanging in this bad
neighborhood? College basketball and college football--that's really the wrong
side of town. Eventually it's entirely possible that BYU's leaders will come to
that conclusion, and I can't say they'll be wrong.
Thanks for letting me rant,
Name withheld
Four Game Fade
BYU will host a quarterfinal match of the MPSF Volleyball playoffs this
Saturday in
The Cougars lost a pair of back to back matches in Hawaii two weeks ago
and this past weekend were defeated on the road again by both UC Santa Barbara
and UCLA.
BYU will be hosting No. 8 seeded USC.
Television Timetable
BYU vs. Loyola Marymount (Baseball)
Thursday, April 17 at
First Pitch: 6:00 pm MDT
TV: BYUtv
BYU vs.
Friday, April 18 at
First Pitch: 5:00 pm MDT
TV: BYUtv
BYU vs. Loyola Marymount (Baseball)
Saturday, April 19, at
First Pitch: 1:00 pm MDT
TV: BYUtv
BYU vs. USC (Volleyball MPSF
Quarterfinals)
Saturday, April 19 at
Match Start: TBA
TV: Most likely BYUtv