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PROVO — If you thought BYU’s investigation by the NCAA was complete when the Cougars announced the reinstatement and nine-game suspension for guard Nick Emery last month, Tom Holmoe has news for you.
The BYU athletic director held his annual fan mini-lesson during Education Week on Wednesday morning, and among other topics, he said the school’s men’s basketball program may face more penalties later this fall, as first reported by the Deseret News.
Holmoe said the media’s reporting was accurate — to an extent, but added that there could be more to come in September or October.
“There’s another part that has to do with not the individual athlete but the rest of the program,” Holmoe said. “We find that out and we’ll be able to discuss that in October.”
Emery, who will be a junior this fall, was reinstated to the basketball program in June with the condition that he sit out the first nine games of the 2018-19 season after an investigation involving alleged improper benefits between him and a perceived booster for the program.
The former Lone Peak High star withdrew from school a year earlier, citing “personal reasons” that included a divorce from his ex-wife Sarah. Multiple reports linked Emery to concert tickets, use of a car and at least one trip to Disneyland provided by a BYU basketball season-ticket holder.
The 6-foot-2 Sharpshooter averaged 14.7 points, 2.5 assists and 3.3 rebounds per game in two seasons for the Cougars after returning from a two-year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Germany. He is just the fourth player in BYU history to reach 1,000 career points by his sophomore season.
Holmoe also praised new University of Utah athletic director Mark Harlan in his first two months on the job. He called Harlan “a really good guy,” and said the Utes and Cougars are actively working on scheduling more games between the two rival schools.
“My expectation is that we play them every year in every sport,” Holmoe said, adding that Utah prefers a two-game contract and that the Utes Pac-12 schedule makes annual scheduling difficult, at times.
While Holmoe admitted that last year’s 4-9 football season hurt him personally, he is confident that the Cougars have the coaches and players to turn the program around — and that if they do, at least in going 6-6, that ESPN will help them get into a postseason bowl game.
BYU currently does not have a bowl affiliation for the 2018 season. The Cougars were contracted to play in the Poinsettia Bowl this year, but the San Diego association that operates that game and the Holiday Bowl contracted to one postseason game two years ago.
“BYU has a great reputation still this day,” Holmoe said. “Last year, with a 4-9 team, our (television) numbers were up. People watch our games. The amazing this is, so many people who aren’t part of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints watch the games. They like BYU. Now, we can’t be messing around too long. If we bounce back and play well again, we’ll be back on top.
“I don’t want to be mediocre.”
Read more at DeseretNews.com.
