BYU home opener a homecoming for former O-line coach Ryan Pugh

PROVO — Ryan Pugh has walked the sidelines of LaVell Edwards Stadium so many times that Saturday evening’s game will be a homecoming.

Except he’ll be wearing a Troy shirt and trying to beat the BYU Cougars, including mentor Jeff Grimes.

Pugh, the Cougars' former offensive line coach, is in his second season as offensive coordinator with the Trojans. And the No. 18 offensive team in the country won’t be thinking about the emotions of its coordinator when it suits up at 8:15 p.m. MDT in front of an empty stadium in Provo.

But Pugh might be.

At the very least, he’ll be thinking about it before.

"I think there are a lot of different emotions, and I’ve felt them sporadically for a few months leading up to this game," Pugh told BYUtv in his first appearance with the network since taking the Trojans' job Jan. 14, 2019. "I’m hoping we can keep both team’s healthy, mixed with emotions of seeing coaches and players you worked with — and also my players. My guys are asking me a lot about BYU.

"It really brings back a lot of emotions for me and my family."

It’s not that Pugh held any attachment to BYU or his time here. He’s an Auburn alum, recruited by BYU offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes to come to Provo as part of an offensive rebuild that also included quarterbacks coach Aaron Roderick and wide receivers coach Fesi Sitake prior to the 2018 season.

Pugh left his mark on the program, too, both as a coach and a person.

In his lone season in Provo, Pugh helped the Cougars increase their scoring output by 10 points per game while upping their rushing total by an average of 20 yards and total offense by 39 yards. He was instrumental in the development of offensive linemen James Empey, Brady Christensen and Austin Hoyt, among others, and left an imprint via coaching and recruiting that extends to the current roster.

It’s not just that BYU got better under Pugh; they got more physical and more power-driven thanks to the Alabama-born line coach and his mentor, Grimes.

But eventually, the 31-year-old native of Hoover, Alabama, would get a chance to move up — even if moving up didn’t change Pugh as much as one might expect.

"He’s always carried himself well professionally," said BYU head coach Kalani Sitake, who still checks in with Pugh several times a year. "He’s a coach’s son, so he’s been around football a long time."

Off the field, Pugh left an imprint on BYU’s current staff and players, too. His wife, Cathey, was a regular at practices in Provo, often with a baby in tow, and the two adapted to a unique community and campus culture unlike any they had ever seen.

"He came to BYU not being LDS and made an easy transition," Sitake said. "It wasn’t hard for him and his wife; they grasped onto our culture and were able to thrive in it."

Pugh always knew he was going to be a coach. His father was a legendary high school coach in Alabama and Georgia, and after four years at Auburn that included All-American honors as a senior, Pugh became a graduate assistant in 2012.

His only previous full-time position coach job prior to BYU was the two seasons he spent at UT San Antonio, when he helped the Roadrunners to their first bowl game in program history in 2016.

Just three years later, Chip Lindsey tapped him to run the high-scoring spread offense of the Trojans as a first-time offensive coordinator and O-line coach. Now he’ll be returning to Provo as an offensive coordinator for a team that wasn’t on the Cougars' schedule before the coronavirus pandemic sent BYU’s season into flux.

On Saturday, the student will face his mentor in a chess match that may amount to a Jedi-level sparring contest, with two teams that average 33.8 points (Troy) and 55.0 points (BYU) per game.

After the game, it will be a reunion of friends.

Well, almost.

"He’s not my good buddy this week," Grimes joked on his Coordinators Corner coaches' show on BYUtv.

But don’t worry; Grimes later backtracked out of seriousness and duty to set the record straight the friendship with his protege.

"There’s no one I’m closer to in football — or outside my family — than Ryan," Grimes said. "He’s like a son to me."

Before and during the game, though? That’s a different story. Make no mistake: Grimes wants to win — and he expects the same thing from the competitor that is Ryan Pugh and the Trojans.

His protege wouldn’t have it any other way.

"We talk so regularly, anyways, that this week is probably no different," Pugh said through a well-trimmed growth of facial hair, a post-BYU tradition for recent former players and coaches. "But we both understand there’s a focus: We’re going to be on opposing sidelines for the first time in our careers. … It’s definitely something I’ve thought about."

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