As temporary coach of one of the worst basketball teams in the country, BYU's Tony Ingle has been trying to recruit junior college players to provide immediate help for next year's squad. There is just one big problem.
"Players don't just come and play for the building or the school; they also come to play for a coach," says Ingle.And no one knows who that coach will be. Ingle is an interim coach, a temp filling in for the fired Roger Reid. That leaves the coach and his recruits on hold until the school selects a permanent coach (or as permanent as it gets in Provo). Ingle hopes to land that job himself, but in the meantime he is trying to woo players to BYU, even though he might not be there when they arrive.
"It's like going to a dance and not knowing who you're going to dance with," he says.
Asked how many recruits have committed to sign with the Cougars during the signing period in April, Ingle says, "Right now I don't ask them to commit. It's not fair to them. It's like saying, `Will you marry me, and you don't even have a job.' "
None of this is lost on Athletic Director Rondo Fehlberg, who says the sooner he and his staff find a coach the better it will be for everyone. But, he says, "We're not going to sacrifice the coaching decision to speed up (recruiting). We're going to move ahead thoughtfully with great haste, if that makes sense.
"This has been traumatic enough for everybody involved. We want to make the right decision. We certainly are anxious about our recruiting, because that's our lifeblood. On the other hand, we believe we have a tremendous program - tradition, a first-rate facility, a history of supporting basketball at the highest level - so young men can know that's the kind of program they're coming into. The coach is important, but in the meantime kids can know of our commitment to play at the highest level."
Fehlberg says the Cougars are not "in the active interviewing phase" for a new coach. "It's not fair to coaches who are in programs to disrupt their seasons and create problems for them unless you're very sure they are a very serious candidate," he explains.
Fehlberg won't have to look far to find one eager candidate. Ingle, a BYU assistant coach for eight years, is winning grass-roots support with his aggressive coaching style and his warm, humorous personal style, which serves him well with players (see sidebar on D2) and the public.
"Coach Ingle is one of our key candidates and there are others who are of great interest to us," said Fehlberg. "In fairness to Coach Ingle, we need to give him a chance. He hasn't really had a chance, not a good chance."
Seven games into the season, Ingle was handed a team that had eight freshmen and one senior. The Cougars, with one win and 16 losses, are in the homestretch of the worst season in school history.
"I just want a chance to coach my own team," Ingle says. "Just give me a chance. It's tough to sit in this office and coach this team and think I'll just be here for five weeks. It's tough for BYU, too. They want to make sure they get the right person for the job.
"But they don't understand; I'm multifaceted. I can recruit. I can work with boosters and media. I sort of grow on people. What they see is what they get. I just hope I didn't waste eight years here. I've invested eight years."
Says Fehlberg, "Coach Ingle is a class act. He has handled himself with dignity throughout this process. I have great respect for him. If we had not felt that Tony had what it took to take this difficult situation, we would have done something else."
Says Ingle, "I'm taking the approach that I'm going to be the coach, but we know the administration has said absolutely that the thing is not in concrete. The bottom line is I'm just trying to keep people warm for our situation."
That has proved to be a tricky business with recruits. The Cougars received a verbal commitment from Brighton's 6-foot-10 Jon Carlisle during last fall's early signing period, but not a letter of intent. Carlisle never mailed it, and, given the uncertainty of the BYU coaching position, he reportedly has had second thoughts and is considering other schools.
"I talked to him and his dad (a week ago) and everything sounds pretty good," said Ingle. "He signed the papers and was going to come, but he held onto the papers. He's doing what I knew he would (after Reid's firing). He's opened it back up and other schools are coming in."
The Cougars received letters of intent from three prep players last fall - Provo High's 6-foot-9 Mekeli Wesley, Brighton High's 6-5 Morgan Smith, Davis High's 7-foot Dan Howard. But Ingle's recruiting efforts now are in the junior college ranks.
"We are recruiting JCs," says the coach. "If we go to the high schools, it might be for one position - a big man."
The Cougars also have help on the way from the mission field. Bret Jepsen, a 6-foot-10, 225-pound sophomore, and Sean Kelly, a former Colorado prep whose father Steve played for BYU, will join the team next season (although Kelly supposedly has never signed a letter of intent).
In with the old, out with the new. Ingle says he expects many of his current players to leave on missions later this year - probably Matt Montague, Eric Nielsen, Scott Sonnenberg, David Anderson, Michael Vranes, Michael Tompson and Nick Taggart.
If nothing else, that will provide Ingle - or whoever the coach is - an easy out to overhaul the team next season. But first things first.
"From the beginning we said we hoped to name a coach by the end of the season," says Fehlberg.
Who are the other candidates? Don't wait for Fehlberg to tell you. After leaks to the media forced him to make a hasty and much criticized decision to fire Reid, mum's the word this time. "We're going to be tightlipped," he says.
Meanwhile, Ingle coaches and tries to rebuild the Cougars for the future, even if he might not be a part of it. "Don't let what you don't have interfere with what you can do," he says. "That's what I've tried to do."