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PROVO — Taken at face value, the comments border on outrageous, saying a Stanford diploma does not beat a BYU education for football players.
But looked at deeper, maybe the new BYU receivers coach has a point. For those desiring to live and raise families in Utah, Ben Cahoon believes not even the prestige of world renowned Stanford can beat BYU.
"Academically, Stanford is impressive," said Cahoon, recently added to Kalani Sitake's new staff. "But I think we can do a pretty darned good job selling the benefits of a BYU education against Stanford. If you're going to be a kid who wants to come back and live in Utah and raise your family in Utah, then you're going to want a network based on the BYU family, the BYU football network and the BYU academic network. A Stanford education is not going to do you much good in Utah."
Really?
All factors considered, the Pac-12 and Rose Bowl champion is tough to beat. Stanford is one of seven programs from Power 5 conferences to win at least 53 games the last five years.
Academically, as good at BYU might be, it isn't Stanford, which has a 99 percent graduation rate in football. Ranked fourth in this year's U.S. News & World Report of American top universities, Stanford is the only Division I (FBS) football program to appear among the U.S. News top five in the past decade.
Cahoon brought up Stanford for good reason, considering four players from Utah were listed on the 2015 roster. Coach David Shaw has publicly stated his intention to recruit the state often, going after the best LDS talent that BYU desperately needs.
Dallas Lloyd is one who got away. The former quarterback from Pleasant Grove enrolled at Stanford after serving a church mission in Chile and became a starting safety on this year's team.
The combination of athletics and academics was too much to pass up for Lloyd, who according the Stanford football website is a science, technology and society major with a concentration on innovation, technology and organizations. Sociology and physical education majors tend to go elsewhere.
"Football kind of refines you and turns you into a man," Lloyd said. "The same thing with school, intellectually it pushes you to the limit. The harder the experience is, the more you get out of it and the more you grow and learn."
Clearly, for the certain type of player, Stanford has an edge over most football programs. But credit BYU for taking an aggressive approach to recruiting rather than giving up.
As evidenced by the lack of talent going to the NFL, previous coach Bronco Mendenhall had trouble bringing in top LDS talent. On the job only one month, Sitake and his staff are going after the best possible recruits even if they are already committed to Stanford.
Cahoon offers a strong perspective on BYU recruiting, having coached BYU receivers for two seasons under Mendenhall before getting fired along with the entire offensive staff. He describes the change between the two head coaches as "completely different."
"It is warm, it is inviting. Kalani is very good. I was in a home with Kalani just this week and he's masterful at it. He's honest and truthful and very persuasive," Cahoon said during a radio interview with 97.5-FM and 1280-AM The Zone.
"We've got all hands on deck. That wasn't always the case with that previous staff. It's going to make a big difference, I think. It might take a few months or a year to see the fruits of our labors. I think other schools around are going to have to take notice and pick up their game as well because BYU is recruiting better, I believe, than we have in the past."
To his point of networking, Cahoon said after he got fired, a former BYU football player helped him land work. The last three years he was in medical device sales working with orthopedic surgeons.
Now Cahoon is back selling BYU, where he began as a walk-on receiver.
"We're trying to sell the BYU football experience and the academic experience at BYU," he said. "Nothing in the world rivals BYU academically. To learn and to go to class at Brigham Young University, it is a unique atmosphere. I get it that it only appeals to certain people, but to those few people that that interests and appeals to, it's not even close. Nobody can rival it."
