BYU football throughout the LaVell Edwards years as head coach juxtaposed against world milestones.

EDWARDS

1972 — Named head coach at BYU. The Cougars defeat Kansas State 32-9 in Provo in his debut. Running back Pete Van Valkenburg wins the NCAA rushing title as BYU finishes 7-4 overall.

1973 — The Cougars go 5-6 — the only losing season in 29 campaigns under Edwards.

1974 — BYU makes its first-ever bowl appearance — dropping a 16-6 decision to Oklahoma State in the Fiesta Bowl—after ending a nine-year drought as Western Athletic Conference champions.

1975 — The Cougars finish 6-5.

1976 — BYU bounces back to claim a share of the WAC title and earn an invitation to the Tangerine Bowl. The Cougars fall to Oklahoma State 49-21.

1977 — Edwards becomes the winningest coach in BYU history (surpassing G. Ott Romney's 42 victories) when BYU defeats UTEP 68-19 at the Sun Bowl on Nov. 26.

1978 — The Cougars begin a run of 17 consecutive bowl appearances with a 23-16 setback to Navy in the Holiday Bowl.

1979 — BYU is the first Division I school to exceed 4,000 yards passing. The Cougars win 11 straight games.

1980 — BYU's first 12-win season. All-American quarterback Jim McMahon throws for an NCAA record 4,571 yards. The Cougars claim their first bowl win—the famed "Miracle Bowl" in San Diego — with a 46-45 win over Southern Methodist University.

1981 — McMahon's career ends with the Davey O'Brien Award and 71 NCAA records. BYU's winning streak reaches 17 before a midseason upset loss to UNLV.

1982 — Cougar Stadium is expanded to 65,000 seats. Every game is a sellout.

1983 — Edwards picks up his 100th win. Steve Young wins the O'Brien Award and is runner-up for the Heisman Trophy.

1984 — BYU wins the national championship with a 13-0 record.

1985 — The Cougars extend school-record win streak to 25 games before falling to UCLA.

1986 — Edwards surpasses Arizona State's Frank Kush as the winningest coach in WAC history. An 11-year run as conference champions comes to an end. Jason Buck wins the Outland Trophy.

1987 — BYU's defense leads the nation with 50 takeaways (28 interceptions and 22 fumble recoveries).

1988 — A 20-17 upset win over Colorado in the Freedom Bowl ends three consecutive postseason losses for BYU.

1989 — BYU claims the WAC title for first time since 1985. Mohammed Elewonibi claims the Outland Trophy.

1990 — BYU quarterback Ty Detmer wins the Heisman Trophy. The Cougars shock top-ranked Miami 28-21 early in the season.

1991 — Detmer caps his career with 62 NCAA records and 15,031 yards passing. He repeats as O'Brien Award winner.

1992 — The Cougars defeat Penn State (30-17) and play Notre Dame for the first time.

1993 — BYU's NCAA record of 50 straight games with a touchdown pass comes to an end.

1994 — Victories over Notre Dame and Oklahoma headline a season that ends with five Cougars being drafted by the NFL. BYU wins a bowl game for the first time since 1988. Edwards wins 200th game.

1995 — Edwards becomes the first BYU coach to be offered a multi-year contract. A string of 17 consecutive bowl appearances comes to an end.

1996 — BYU completes the longest season in Division I history with a 19-15 win over Kansas State in the Cotton Bowl. The Cougars finish 14-1 after their first New Year's Day bowl game and are ranked 5th in the nation.

1997 — A 6-5 mark leaves BYU bowl-less for just the second time in 20 years.

1998 — The Cougars win the WAC's Pacific Division, but fall to Air Force in the league championship game. Season ends with a loss to Tulane in the Liberty Bowl.

1999 — BYU claims a share (with Colorado State and Utah) of the inaugural Mountain West Conference championship. The Cougars lose to Marshall 21-3 in their final bowl appearance under Edwards.

2000 — Edwards announces his 29th season as head coach will be his last. He retires with BYU having scored in an ongoing NCAA record 324 straight games. A 34-27 win over Utah on Nov. 24 is Edwards' 257th and final victory — two better that Nebraska's Tom Osborne for 6th on the all-time Division I coaching list. The season-ending contest was a thriller, it ended with a last-minute score.

THE WORLD

1972 — President Nixon visits China and the USSR.

1973 — Direct U.S. involvement in Vietnam ends.

1974 — President Nixon becomes the first U.S. president to resign. He is replaced by Gerald Ford.

1975 — Microsoft is founded in Seattle by 22-year-old Paul Allen and 19-year-old Bill Gates ... Disco dancing reigns supreme.

1976 — "Roots" is written by Alex Haley ... College dropouts Stephen Wozniak and Steven Jobs found Apple Computer ... Jimmy Carter defeats Gerald Ford in the race for U.S. president.

1977 — Elvis Presley, Charlie Chaplin and Bing Crosby die ... Movie-goers are drawn to Star Wars.

1978 — More than 900 people perish in a mass suicide in Jonestown, Guyana ... The Camp David Accord follows negotiations by the U.S., Egypt and Israel.

1979 — Terrorists storm the U.S. Embassy in Iran and begin a lengthy hostage drama ... A nuclear-related accident at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania forces the evacuation of more than 100,000 people ... Sony introduces the Walkman.

1980 — Ted Turner launches CNN ... Mount St. Helens erupts in Washington State ... The U.S. boycotts the Olympic Games in Moscow ... Ronald Reagan is elected president ... John Lennon is murdered.

1981 — American hostages in Iran are released after 444 days in captivity ... MTV debuts ... IBM sells its first personal computer ... President Reagan and Pope John Paul II are wounded in assassination attempts ... Price Charles of England marries Lady Diana Spencer ... AIDS is recognized as an epidemic.

1982 — The Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D.C., is dedicated ... Columbia completes its first mission as the first reusable space shuttle ... The first successful heart transplant surgery is performed in Salt Lake City.

1983 — The U.S. Embassy in Lebanon is bombed by terrorists — 248 Americans are killed ... Cellular phones debut in America ... Cabbage Patch dolls are hot items.

1984 — The Olympic Games in Los Angeles are boycotted by 14 Soviet-bloc countries ... Apple releases the Macintosh personal computer ... Famine in Ethiopia kills hundreds of thousands ... Madonna releases her first hit.

1985 — Mikhail Gorbachev becomes general secretary of the Communist Party in the USSR. His "glasnost" approach leads to thawing of Cold War.

1986 — The space shuttle Challenger explodes shortly after taking off ... The Chernobyl nuclear plant in the Ukraine explodes ... Electronic games from Nintendo hit the market.

1987 — Reagan and Gorbachev sign INF treaty to reduce nuclear stockpiles ... Iran-Contra Affair testimony.

1988 — Iran-Iraq War ends after eight years and 1.5 million deaths ... Vice President George Bush defeats Michael Dukakis in the U.S. presidential election.

1989 — The Berlin Wall is dismantled piece-by-piece ... The Exxon Valdez runs aground and spills 10 million gallons of oil into Alaskan waters.

1990 — Nelson Mandela is released from a South African prison after 27 years for his opposition to apartheid ... Operation Desert Shield begins in the Persian Gulf ... East and West Germany agree to unite for first time since World War II.

1991 — The Persian Gulf War takes place ... The USSR dissolves when Baltic republics declare their independence and the Communist Party loses power.

1992 — The Internet Society is charted with one million host computers connected in a network ... Riots in Los Angeles after local policemen are acquitted of beating Rodney King — despite videotaped evidence ... Bill Clinton is elected as U.S. president.

1993 — World Trade Center bombing in New York kills six and injures 1,000 ... Federal agents raid the Branch Davidian compound in Texas, a fire engulfs the complex and dozens of members of the sect die.

1994 — Figure skater Nancy Kerrigan is attacked prior to the Olympic Games. Rival Tonya Harding and others are later prosecuted for the attack ... O.J. Simpson is arrested for the murders of Nicole Simpson and Ronald Goldman.

1995 — The worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil kills 168 when the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City is bombed ... O.J. Simpson is acquitted of murder following the so-called "Trial of the Century."

1996 — After a 17-year search, Ted Kaczynski "The Unabomber" is arrested ... The Summer Olympics are held in Atlanta ... TWA flight 800 explodes off the coast of New York, killing 230 ... Bill Clinton is re-elected ... Jon-Benet Ramsey is found dead.

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1997 — Princess Diana is killed in an auto accident ... Hong Kong is returned to the Chinese ... Scottish researchers clone a sheep ... Septuplets are born to Kenny and Bobbi McCaughey.

1998 — The Internet draws 30 million to 60 million users and 5 million Web sites .... The Monica Lewinsky/Bill Clinton scandal leads to the explicit Starr Report ... Clinton becomes the second U.S. president in history to be impeached ... Mark McGwire breaks Major League Baseball's single-season home run record.

1999 — Michael Jordan retires from professional basketball ... Two students kill 15 and injure 23 at Columbine High School in Colorado ... An earthquake in Turkey kills 17,000 people.

2000 — Fears of Y2K problems vanish as new century arrives with little trouble ... The U.S. presidential election between George Bush and Al Gore is deemed "too close to call" — leading to lawsuits, recounts and plenty of delays.

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