Was either of them ever truly poised to move to a bigger league?
As far as I could ascertain, Utah was never in a strong position until now. But BYU was. So I phoned a pair of former BYU athletics directors, Glen Tuckett and Val Hale, to see what exactly happened.
Opinions vary, but both agree there were overtures.
In the early 1990s, BYU was the prettiest girl at the Western Athletic Conference dance. That isn't entirely the case now. It's not like the Y. lacks on-field credentials; the Cougars have more overall championships than any program in the Mountain West Conference. The football team finished last year ranked 12th nationally by the Associated Press; men's basketball is currently rated No. 13.
The biggest problem is that Sunday business.
For BYU, Sunday is a day of rest.
For everyone else, it's the first day of the rest of their season, which has kept the Cougars on the fringe of recent discussions about Pac-10 expansion.
