As LaVell Edwards' career at BYU winds down, the honors are rolling in. Coaches nationwide are praising him as an example of what a football coach should be. To a man, they're acknowledging him for not only winning, but doing so without cheating.
Above all, they're saying he did it with class.
Now it's BYU's turn to do the same.
Edwards' retirement leaves two major questions about the program. First is who will replace him. Second is whether the university will name the stadium after him. Although the latter might appear an easy call, that apparently isn't the case. High-ranking school and athletic department officials are considering naming only the playing field after Edwards. Hence, LaVell Edwards Field at Cougar Stadium.
Great. Twenty-nine years as head coach and they're thinking of naming a patch of grass after him.
BYU isn't the first school to come up with this sort of scheme. Nebraska has Memorial Stadium and Tom Osborne Field, Arizona State has Sun Devil Stadium and Frank Kush Field. In Nebraska's case, there's a plausible reason for the two names: Memorial Stadium was named to honor World War I dead; changing the name there might have sent the message that honoring a coach was more important than honoring war heroes.
But at BYU who would be offended by changing the name of the stadium — the cougar population?
Edwards has done more than any football coach in school history, or ever will. It's doubtful that in this era a coach could even keep the job that long. He has won 20 conference titles and taken his team to 22 bowl games, won a national championship and been named National Coach of the Year.
What does a person have to do to get a facility named after him at BYU?
Edwards hasn't lobbied for this. He will go graciously into retirement no matter what the decision. If the school named a broom closet after him, he would say, "I never expected this sort of thing to happen." He's modest enough that his profile of accomplishments doesn't appear in the media guide until page 70.
Thursday's win moved him into sixth place on the all-time list, tied with Osborne. Yet in a business full of self-promoters, he won't say a word about the stadium — and he shouldn't have to.
It's strange the issue of naming only the field would even come up. The school is well aware that without Edwards, BYU might still be playing in a 35,000-seat house and scheduling around the deer hunt.
There is no shortage of ways to honor a retiring coach. It just depends how much he meant. They could give him a watch and send him on his way. How about a set of golf clubs? Too late for that.
He already got a club from Air Force's Fisher DeBerry. He could always be honored with a plaque or a paid vacation, but he's received plenty of those in years past. Perhaps they could offer membership in the country club or use of a car, but there you run into the same problem: What do you give a guy who has been honored in every way possible?
Give him the whole enchilada, that's what.
Merely naming the field would minimize his contribution. It would say a stadium named after a mascot is more important than one named after its greatest coach. It would insinuate the school is waiting for someone better to come along.
Worries that traditionalists want Cougar Stadium to remain so-named are unfounded. Before Edwards, there really wasn't much stadium to consider. There was the field and bleachers enough for 25,000 fans. But in 1982, when it was becoming clear Edwards' teams could draw more than twice that many on Saturdays, the stadium was expanded to 65,000. The first game in the renovated building was hailed as the largest gathering in Utah history — even bigger than the Osmond family reunions. Since then the Cougars have been doing the same thing on Saturdays every fall.
Nothing would bring BYU's storied football history into light more than naming it LaVell Edwards Stadium. The school should place a statue of Edwards out front, arms folded, his face in the familiar frown. Nobody could pass the gates without remembering the days when Edwards' teams were on the cutting edge of aerial technology.
Other schools have made similar moves. Utah State's stadium is named after a former coach, E.L. "Dick" Romney. Georgia Tech has Bobby Dodd/Grant Field, also named for a former coach. At Alabama, Bear Bryant's name was added to Denny Stadium after he retired.
In BYU's case, relegating Edwards' name to backup status would be shameful. It's a football stadium and he was the coach for more than a quarter century. It's not too much to ask that it all be dedicated to the man who not only built the house, but filled it.
E-mail: rock@desnews.com