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PROVO — Why?
I mean, why go through the potential pain of coaching again?
That thought had to be running through the minds of Ben Cahoon and Mike Empey before seeking a return to coaching at BYU. Sure, they both love the game and their alma mater, but they had also been fired from teaching their craft to Cougar football players.
So why return to the place that broke their heart?
“That’s a loaded question,” Cahoon said with a chuckle. “First of all, I love BYU.”
But the former BYU receiver only lasted two seasons as a wide out’s coach under Bronco Mendenhall.
His first ever coaching gig ended when the current Virginia head coach purged the Cougar offensive staff after the 2012 season.
There was another reason the Canadian Football League’s all-time leader in receptions chose to come back; and it had everything to do with making a comeback.
“There is a little bit of pride and desire to prove to yourself that you can get it done at this level,” Cahoon said. “I could have gone elsewhere to coach, but BYU is where I want to be.”
Cahoon took a sports medicine sales job so he could keep his family in Utah County. It was almost like he knew he would get another chance to prove himself in Provo. But when Coach Mendenhall fled Utah for the Commonwealth of Virginia, Cahoon had a choice to make: get back on the rollicking ride of coaching or continue on with a bit more steady job.
“It’s not an easy decision. It’s not a secure industry or profession, so I’m going in with eyes wide open this time,” Cahoon said.
When he showed interest, and new Cougar head coach Kalani Sitake snatched him up.
Mike Empey was also working in medical sales when he was tabbed by Sitake to be the new offensive line coach. And for three years, he served as the offensive coordinator at American Fork High School.
“Over the years, seeing Kalani at camps, we had always chit-chatted about me working a full-time job and then I’m coaching, which is basically another full-time job during the season,” Empey said. “He would give me a hard time that I needed to get back into college coaching. I would always just say that ‘one day when you are head coach, I will remember that you said that.’”
Empey called Sitake not long after he was hired to congratulate him and to see if there was anything he could do help the first-time head coach.
“Our conversation got the point where we talked about how I could get involved and I got real excited,” Empey said. “It was the right place and right time for me.”
But BYU had been the right place before for Empey. He was hired by Lavell Edwards in 2000 and was retained by Gary Crowton as the tight ends coach. Empey was then fired by the athletic department when Mendenhall took over in 2005.
“I was disappointed that things didn’t work out for me the first time around,” Empey recalled. “When you get into the coaching profession you know that you serve at the pleasure of the university, and if you are not having success you are likely on the hot seat.”
Time and relationships seemed to soothe his disappointment. He was friends with many on the Mendenhall’s Cougar coaching staff and would attend games. And the time away seemed to have benefitted him.
“I’ve been in the business world, I’ve been trained and been a manager and had a lot of opportunity to lead there,” Empey said. He also believes he has a better understanding of how to teach the game since he took a step back and coached high school kids again.
The tenuous nature of the job doesn’t seem to faze either man. There is something about football, coaching and BYU that kept them from abandoning their dream altogether. And for Cahoon, coming back to the place that showed him the door seems to help in the healing process.
“That was a tough time,” Cahoon said as he remembered back to the time he was let go. “I don’t think I have animosity. It’s been cathartic to come back, let’s just say that.” Cleon is a reporter and producer for KSL Newsradio. He is also a studio host for BYU football and basketball games.
