Holmoe expects NCAA decision on BYU soon


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PROVO — With all that’s been going on at the NCAA headquarters in Indianapolis, BYU’s athletic department might have hoped the college athletics’ governing body forgot about its self-report of potential violations.

If anyone did, those hopes were dashed this week, according to athletic director Tom Holmoe.

The NCAA sent a memo to BYU and other member schools that it will soon review their cases, and hopefully decide on them before the beginning of the football season, Holmoe told a group of assembled media during a lengthy question-and-answer session Wednesday.

“It’s been kind of a wild summer,” Holmoe said. “We got a call the other day, and I think they are going to review our case in the next couple of days. We’ll hear back, hopefully soon.”

Holmoe believes the team will hear about a report of alleged extra benefits to a handful of student-athletes before the Cougars suit up to play at Connecticut on Aug. 30, though there is no way to know for certain.

Regardless of when, the former Cal head coach is confident the issue will be resolved swiftly, efficiently and with little impact on BYU sports.

“We followed the protocol and procedures, and we feel good about what we’ve done,” said Holmoe, who added BYU athletics did not submit any self-sanctions. “It’s a violation of a rule that so many teams see, and we have put it in, wrote it up and we’re awaiting a response.”


It's been kind of a wild summer. We got a call the other day, and I think they are going to review our case in the next couple of days. We'll hear back, hopefully soon.

–Tom Holmoe, BYU athletic director


While rumors have continued to fly around the program, Holmoe tried to subdue those as much as possible. He said former director of football operations Duane Busby, who left the school shortly before the allegations, resigned on his own. Busby and Holmoe even talked about the former’s potential career move last year.

“It was a time when he had been here for a long time,” Holmoe said of Busby. “The timing was unfortunate, but he had already told me he was moving on a year before.”

Several media members asked about recent developments regarding BYU’s place among the Power 5 conferences of the Pac 12, Big 12, Big Ten, SEC and ACC — including the latter two’s decisions to not consider games played against BYU by member schools to fulfill a “games against Power 5 opponents” requirement.

But the damage to BYU’s future scheduling has been minimal, if at all, the athletic director said.

“There hasn’t been a fallout,” said Holmoe, who has spoken with SEC commissioner Mike Slive and ACC commish John Swofford since the decision. “I’m going to schedule the best I can. We’ll go after and try to schedule schools from all conferences.”

BYU also announced Wednesday a home-and-home scheduling agreement with Washington, in keeping with Holmoe’s plans.

“It’s funny: I’ll get fans who … send me ideas,” Holmoe said with a chuckle. “It just doesn’t work out that way. There’s a date, and you have to find that (first).

“At first, I’d chase some of those teams, and none of them were ever open.”

BYU is also beginning to implement certain measures of autonomy within its own program in the wake of the NCAA’s recent deregulations toward Power 5 conference schools. Holmoe said all changes have been made within the NCAA’s guidelines, but they include several upgrades, such as providing additional food options at an athlete-specific nutrition certain on BYU’s campus. The West Coast Conference, where BYU plays most other sports including men’s and women’s basketball, is aware of these modifications to BYU’s plans as they involve football schools.

Power 5 school or not, Holmoe also said BYU’s access to bigger bowl games and the new College Football Playoff depends on one thing: winning games.

“I just know that it’s really hard for every school in the country to get into the final four,” Holmoe said. “You just have to have a great team, no matter where you are … whether you are in a conference or an independent, we have to have a great team.”

Contributing: Jeremiah Jensen

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