It didn't fully dawn on Gary Crowton that he was BYU's first new head football coach in 29 years until the private jet banked over Squaw Peak. Sprawling beneath him were Provo and his hometown, Orem. To the west, shining in the hazy winter sun, was Utah Lake.
Almost directly beneath lay LaVell Edwards Stadium.
"I can't believe I'm coming home after 15 years," he told athletic director Val Hale.
So Crowton got the job he always wanted. But it was a long, broken-field run to the end zone. He grew up only minutes from the campus, but landing a job there involved an arduous commute. After graduating from BYU, he lived as though in the witness protection program, making stops in Ephraim, Macomb, Ill., Durham, N.H., Rushton, La., Boston, Atlanta and Chicago. He and his family lived in no fewer than 15 homes.
No wonder he choked up when introduced at Wednesday's press conference. Getting the BYU job wasn't a route, it was a maze; not a journey but a jigsaw puzzle.
"It's been a tough road," he said.
If you think Crowton lucked into the job, consider this: Aside from the relocating, and the hundreds of nights on the road recruiting, there were numerous setbacks. When the offer came late last week, it was the first "yes" he'd received from BYU in four tries. He applied first for a graduate assistant's position at the same time Cougar legend Pete VanValkenburg was up for the job.
"What's [LaVell Edwards] going to do?" said Crowton. "You have an All-American running back and you have . . . me. LaVell put his arm around me and said, 'I think I'm going to go with Pete VanValkenburg. But I think I can get you a job at Snow,' " said Crowton.
He also applied when Chris Pella and Robbie Bosco were hired. BYU chose Door No. 2 each time, and Crowton went back to work somewhere else.
"I really didn't think I would be the next head coach at BYU," he said.
Consequently, when he says coaching at BYU really isn't about the money, it's easy to believe. It's about going home. And about raising his family where he says he doesn't have to lock the car doors. (Obviously it's been a long time since he actually lived in Utah.)
It's about the school from which he graduated in 1983. And about a steady diet of "No, no, NO!" until at last the school came to him. BYU wanted to hire a determined, optimistic guy, and it found him. This is a man who might arrive at a famine with a fork or bring a swimsuit to a flood.
Crowton might have claimed a job at BYU by birthright. His grandfather coached baseball, golf and was an assistant football coach at the Provo school. His mother was a Cougar cheerleader. But try as he would, he couldn't break through. Still, that didn't mean he couldn't dream. He still remembers being handed an awards medal by Edwards at the BYU Invitational prep track and field meet. He went home elated that he had shaken the hand of the Cougar coach.
And that was before BYU football really got rolling.
Crowton didn't just get turned down by BYU as a coach but as a player. When he graduated from Orem High, he tried to catch on with the Cougars as a quarterback. Too bad for him that Marc Wilson had already caught their attention. When he tried to transfer after a career as an All-America quarterback at Snow, he couldn't catch on because BYU had decided on Jim McMahon. Instead, Crowton went on to play quarterback and receiver at Colorado State.
Still, he never quit thinking about returning to Provo. Determination wasn't one of his shortcomings. He once made the Guinness Book of World Records for playing in the longest-running basketball game in history — 48 hours. He and some high school friends set the mark playing in the women's gym at BYU one Fourth of July week.
A quarter-century later, he's back in town, to widespread approval. Of the 11 candidates for the job, he's the one with extensive assistant college coaching experience, NFL experience, a winning record as a college head coach, is an active LDS member, a good friend of Hale and believes the pass is the most perfect play ever invented.
Not to be overlooked is the fact that he intends for BYU to be an contender on both the conference and national levels. "If it happened before, it can happen again. That's the way I believe," he said.
And, of course, he doesn't have to be educated about beating Utah.
"I'll tell you, that's a big game," he said. "I know that."
Pause.
"That's a big game."
Some things you never forget.
No matter how long it takes to come home.
E-MAIL: rock@desnews.com