PROVO — If there was one thing that Gary Crowton, the new head football coach at BYU, made perfectly clear during the press conference announcing his hiring on Wednesday, it was this: He is not LaVell Edwards.
Crowton admires Edwards and has learned much from the man he is replacing. Yet, while Crowton expects to continue the winning tradition established by Edwards, the program will be different under his watch.
"There's going to be changes made in some of the things that we do, and I'm excited about those changes," Crowton said. "Then again, I want to make sure we don't lose the good things that they've done in the past 29 years to be successful. I want to carefully take my time. I don't want to make any hasty decisions and wreck something that's been going good for a while."
"Gary's a very hands-on kind of guy," said athletic director Val Hale, the man who hired Crowton. "He's not LaVell. LaVell roamed the sidelines without a headset. You'll probably see Gary with a headset on and maybe even calling the plays. He may end up being the offensive coordinator."
One of the first tasks at hand for Crowton is hiring a coaching staff. He met briefly with the assistant coaches on Wednesday and will be meeting with them again today. Crowton says he hasn't chosen his staff yet.
"I need to feel comfortable with the people around me, that they will be loyal to me," Crowton said. "I'm going to visit with them, I'm going to talk to them, I'm going to watch what they do. I'm going talk to people — players and coach Edwards. I'm going to make decisions that I think are best and fair and will help this university move forward in the future. Everybody's not going to be happy with my decisions, but I can't help that. I need to make sure I'm happy with my decisions. I anticipate keeping some of these guys. I've got to look at it. They're good coaches. I'm going to take my time."
When asked how long it might take to put a staff in place, he replied, "As long as it takes to get it right."
The Deseret News has learned that Chicago Bears receivers coach Mike Borich, who has followed Crowton throughout his coaching sojourn, will be a member of the staff, though Crowton said nothing at this point has been decided.
Lance Reynolds, who served as the Cougar offensive coordinator this past season, said this is an awkward and tense time for him and other members of the Edwards regime. All the assistant coaches attended Wednesday's press conference, seated to the left of the podium from which Crowton spoke.
"If anyone senses any caution, as assistants, it's not knowing, right now, what he's going to do," Reynolds said.
Crowton told Cougar coaches that he can empathize with their plight, since he's been in their situation before.
Crowton emphasized his desire to surround himself with assistants with whom he feels comfortable. "You can't have a house divided when things get tough," he said. "I will find out who is best to work with me. I have people who I've worked with before and they will also be considered."
Reynolds and a few other BYU coaches were on the staff when Crowton was a student assistant in 1982. Last winter, Reynolds, offensive line coach Roger French, quarterbacks coach Robbie Bosco and wide receivers coach Chris Pella went to Chicago to talk to Crowton about ways to improve the BYU passing attack.
"He's a class act," said Reynolds, who along with defensive coordinator Ken Schmidt, interviewed for the head coaching job last month. "Gary brings a glimmer of hope and a real positive outlook on the future. Nobody has anything bad to say about him. He's very knowledgeable. Philosophically, he's a lot closer to us than I thought when I first met him. I don't see anything negative about Gary. If I knew right this minute that I was working for him, I wouldn't have any hesitation whatsoever with him being the head coach. Everyone's going to be loyal to him. There may be some things we do differently, but that's not bad, either."
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