PROVO — Ty Detmer may no longer be the offensive coordinator at BYU, replaced after a 13-13 record in two seasons by incoming first-time coordinator Jeff Grimes.

But Detmer will always hold a special place in the hearts of a lot of BYU fans — and that includes athletic director Tom Holmoe.

“In all of my travels as BYU athletic director, he might be the most beloved BYU football player ever,” Holmoe said Wednesday during an hour-long sit-down with local media. “It’s almost a consensus of people who love him. It was a hard thing. I’m appreciative of him for the effort to come here and get this thing going.

“He’ll always be a huge part of our program for what he has accomplished and the character and way he acts.”

Holmoe said Detmer is still under contract with BYU, and he’ll remain with the university in some capacity for the next year — even though he is no longer employed by the football program. When head coach Kalani Sitake approached Holmoe at the end of the 2017 season about making changes on offense, the 13-year athletic director didn’t argue — but he also didn’t force Sitake to make a change or the direction of the change.

“My style at BYU as athletic director is to hire the head coaches, and let the head coaches hire the assistant coaches,” he said. “I’m certainly there to counsel with the head coaches, and I want to be involved; it’s happened with a number of sports.”

Holmoe didn’t select Grimes, a first-time offensive coordinator most recently by way of Louisiana State. But he approves of the hire.

“He asked me questions about him, and I asked about Jeff,” Holmoe said of Sitake. “But he was the guy, and I feel really good about Kalani’s choice.”

Grimes also reorganized BYU’s offensive staff, bringing in offensive line coach Ryan Pugh, quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator Aaron Roderick, and wide receivers coach Fesi Sitake to replace Mike Empey, Detmer and Ben Cahoon. Tight ends coach Steve Clark was retained by the staff, and Holmoe said the Cougars will announce a running backs coach as part of the NCAA’s new 10th assistant legislation in the “very short term.”

Long-time defensive line/linebackers coach Steve Kaufusi also stepped down, an act Holmoe called mutual by both sides that led to the hire of former Cougar defensive back Preston Hadley from Weber State.

Each change has one goal in mind, Holmoe was quick to add: bringing BYU back to its standard after a disappointing 4-9 season.

“You could just see it. You could feel it,” Holmoe said. “It wasn’t the standard of football that the coaches, players, athletic administration or fans were used to.”

Notre Dame game still on

Holmoe also gave an update on the on-going discussions between BYU and Notre Dame that were first launched when the Cougars became a football independent in 2011.

At the time, the two private, religion-based schools signed a six-year agreement that guaranteed four games in South Bend, Indiana, and two games in Provo.

BYU has traveled to Notre Dame twice, but have yet to receive a return trip from the Fighting Irish. Last year, Holmoe said talks between the two schools had stalled and insinuated that his staff was working out a settlement with Notre Dame.

That may still happen — but now he’s more confident that at least one more game will be played in the series.

“In the past, there’s been silence, so I feel that we are close to being able to come to some agreement on settling that contract,” Holmoe said. “I think it will be with games, and not in a cash sense. We’ll figure out where, but I think it will be worked out on the field and not just with a settlement.”

Independent scheduling

BYU’s scheduling routine has been implemented for enough time that the Cougars are beginning to schedule games beyond 10 years out.

But lost among those announcements have been several former Mountain West rivals, including Air Force, Colorado State, New Mexico and Wyoming, who have not scheduled BYU since 2011.

Other Mountain West schools, of course, have announced intentions to play the Cougars — namely in-state rival Utah State, Boise State, UNLV, Fresno State, and (most recently) San Diego State, among others.

More announcements could come as the “thawing-out period” between BYU and the conference has cooled to a whimper, Holmoe said. The Cougars were even close to announcing an agreement with Air Force “about a year ago” before ending the negotiations at the 11th hour, the athletic director added.

“I’ve spoken with all of those schools, and I don’t think they are holding anything against us. It’s just a matter of whether it fits them,” Holmoe said.

“I get it. I understood at the time; some ADs at the time were hot. They thought we shouldn’t have done (gone independent). As a result, maybe there was a freezing period. But I think that’s passed.”

Related topics