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PROVO — After his annual state of the athletic department-style address at Education Week, Tom Holmoe sat in his chair on stage in the Tanner Building as a teenager approached the 16-year athletic director and presented him with a wrinkled $10 bill.
He said he wanted to give "his contribution" to the Cougars' yearlong campaign to help make up for a $20 million budget shortfall last year as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, as told by associate athletic director Jon McBride.
Every little bit helps.
The Cougars raised over $15 million of that shortfall last year during the monumentally successful "All In" campaign, a collection of 7,438 donations from across the United States and abroad during one of the most difficult financial seasons in the university's history.
"The response was quick and immediate and very generous," Holmoe said as he presented a graphic showing 3,700 donations from the state of Utah, 405 from California, 307 from Idaho, 258 from Texas, 11 from Canada, and a handful from New Zealand, Japan, China and Austria.
The reigning athletic director of the year by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics, Holmoe presented a breakdown of the donations during his Education Week seminar, which featured fewer question-and-answer segments as the respected university leader guides BYU into a unique era of college athletics with changes to name, image and likeness legislation, transfer policies, and conference realignment.
Make it $15,246,910 https://t.co/bjJgN4SYNB
— Jon McBride (@jMcBee84) August 18, 2021
The 61-year-old Holmoe could talk about the generosity of BYU fans, boosters and donors, and he had plenty to thank to extend on that end after his call-to-arms during a projected shortfall at the height of the pandemic.
"As a department, we've worked hard to be financially responsible in the face of the COVID pandemic," Holmoe said at the time. "BYU Athletics has been a self-sustaining entity for more than 40 years, and is one of the few athletic departments in the country that has operated without an annual financial loss for the last 15 years.
"We're not funded by an external entity. We do not receive money from tithing funds, as we believe that money goes to a far greater use. We work to achieve more success without overspending, while still maintaining nationally ranked teams. Not many Power Five teams can claim that."
The pandemic continues, but thanks to these donations, Holmoe said the school will continue to put BYU in the best possible light as it seeks to accomplish the mission of the university and its sponsoring institution, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
He's already been hard at work with other issues, including overseeing the athletic department's NIL acceptance of Built Brand's first-of-its-kind partnership with BYU walk-ons that will see each have their tuition paid through the American Fork-based protein and energy company as well as extending men's basketball coach Mark Pope to a contract through 2027.
"We are doing everything we can to make sure that our kids are healthy, and they stay healthy," Holmoe told the Deseret News Wednesday.
