Now that Norm Chow has taken the fall for BYU's disappointing football season, and Lance Reynolds chosen as his replacement, the hope in Provo is that the program can get back to being "BYU football."
Except for one thing: It's already there.
Changes happen at football programs; sometimes they're even good. Colorado State made changes when it hired Sonny Lubick and now the Rams are a contender most years. Utah switched to Ron McBride and he has beaten BYU five of the last seven seasons and tied for two titles. Still, the question is whether a change in the coaching staff will improve the Cougars. Reynolds might solve the offensive problems the Cougars have been having; then again, the move could be viewed as a shuffling of the same deck. In either case, will the change get them back into contention for the national title and going to high-paying bowls?
As they say in high school, not EVEN.
And the reasons have nothing to do with the offensive coordinator.
BYU was understandably unhappy with the way it ended its season, losing its final three games. The Cougars had the Mountain West Conference title all but locked up until they went into a late-season dive. There were rumored personality problems between Chow and some players in recent years.
That doesn't mean the season was a disaster. They still won a title and went to a bowl game. BYU isn't the overpowering force it once was in the WAC, but it hasn't slipped into mediocrity, either. The Cougars haven't had a losing season since 1973. Ask the fans and athletic staff at UNLV or New Mexico how they'd like to tie for the conference title and lose in a bowl game.
But as much as BYU's fans would like to see the Cougars playing for a national championship as they once did, that won't happen for a variety of reasons:
Scholarship limitations. Ever wonder why there are only a handful of real national powers any more; why teams like Notre Dame and Oklahoma aren't what they once were? One reason is several years ago the NCAA mandated that schools only have 85 scholarship players, rather than 95. That spread the talent more equitably. In the pre-scholarship limit days, teams like Nebraska could sign 125 players just to keep them from playing elsewhere. With the current restrictions, even BYU can't even sign all the players it wants.
Increased competition for LDS players. Schools such as Utah, Stanford and Arizona now battle BYU for top LDS athletes. Also, numerous schools are willing to accommodate players who want to serve missions, which wasn't the case two decades ago.
Television. Last season BYU played two games on Thursday night and one on Friday to accommodate TV coverage and LDS General Conference — not counting the Monday bowl game. Those changes disrupt practice and study schedules, as well as a team's overall routine. Getting in a groove is harder for teams trying to meet television demands.
Other teams are raising the stakes. Utah, CSU, Wyoming and Air Force all have committed more resources than ever in order to compete with BYU. The Utes, for example, have an indoor practice facility — something BYU doesn't yet have. They also have a fine weight facility and football complex, renovated stadium and are building new dorms.
Opposing schools are hiring fine coaches and paying them well enough to keep them there, i.e. Lubick and McBride. The stability BYU has enjoyed is being mimicked.
The honor code. This factor alone will probably prevent BYU from contending for a national championship. Accurate or not, the perception is that BYU is more strict than ever in enforcing its honor code. That means the number of athletes that would even consider BYU is limited. Florida State, Tennessee and Penn State have nothing so prohibitive. Competing on their level is difficult, if not impossible, when a good percentage of the top athletes are out of BYU's grasp before the recruiting process even begins.
The Bowl Championship Series. The Mountain West Conference, so far, hasn't come close to getting its best team into a BCS game — hence close to winning a championship. For now, its teams are limited to appearing in small productions like the Motor City and Las Vegas bowls.
Familiarity. Fifteen or 20 years ago BYU was on the cutting edge of offensive production. Now everyone in the country knows BYU's attack and how to stop it. The Cougars' innovative twists have been mimicked dozens of times in a variety of ways.
Few African-Americans. At a school that struggles to attract black players, that diminishes the pool of available talent. It hasn't helped that such high profile players as Ronney Jenkins have left and criticized the school afterward.
BYU will continue to field a team that will contend for the MWC championship. But Cougar fans shouldn't count on their team winning any more national titles. In that sense, changing coaches is the least of their problems.