A look back at the football career of former BYU head coach Gary Crowton:
HIGH SCHOOL: Graduated from Orem High School in 1975. Earned all-league honors as a quarterback for the Tigers.
COLLEGE: Quarterback at Snow College, earning all-America honors. Finished his collegiate career at Colorado State, playing quarterback, receiver and defensive back. Named the Rams' Most Versatile Athlete. Served LDS Church mission to South Korea. Attended Idaho State after football eligibility had expired and ran track for the Bengals. Was a student assistant on BYU coach LaVell Edwards' staff in 1982. Graduated from BYU in 1983 with a bachelor's degree in physical education.
1983-86: Assistant coach at Snow College, coaching the defensive backs in 1983 and spending his final three seasons as the Badgers' offensive coordinator. Snow won the NJCAA championship in 1985.
1987: Passing coordinator at Western Illinois.
1988-90: Offensive coordinator at New Hampshire. The Wildcats were the top-rated passing team in the Yankee Conference.
1991-93: Quarterbacks coach at Boston College. Worked under BC head coach Tom Coughlin and helped develop Eagles QB Glenn Foley into a Heisman Trophy candidate.
1994: Co-offensive coordinator at Georgia Tech.
1995: Offensive coordinator at Louisiana Tech.
1996-98: Head coach at Louisiana Tech. Compiled a 21-13 record in his three seasons with the Bulldogs, including a 9-2 mark in 1997. Played as a D-I independent, logging wins over the likes of Alabama, Cal and Mississippi State. Tech offense was ranked the No. 3 passing offense in the nation. Under Crowton, the Bulldogs averaged at least 33 points a game during his three seasons, including 41.1 points in 1998.
1999-2000: Offensive coordinator for the NFL's Chicago Bears.
DEC. 6, 2000: The 43-year-old Crowton is hired as BYU's head football coach, replacing LaVell Edwards, who retired as college football's sixth all-time winningest coach with an overall 257-101-3 record over 29 seasons.
2001 — FIRST SEASON AT BYU: An eventual finalist for national coach-of-the-year honors, Crowton becomes only the second coach in BYU history to log a 12-win season as the Cougars roll through their first dozen games and rise to a No. 7 ranking. But undefeated BYU is "released" from BCS bowl consideration, loses Doak Walker Award winner Luke Staley to injury and falls in its final two games — a lopsided loss at Hawaii and a 28-10 Liberty Bowl loss to Louisville. Staley finishes with school records of 28 touchdowns and 1,582 yards rushing and is the national leader at 15.5 points a game and 8.1 yards a carry. The Cougars are first nationally in total offense (542.8 yards a game) and points (46.8 a game).
2002 — SECOND SEASON AT BYU: Under Crowton, the Cougars finish with a 5-7 record, the team's first losing record since 1973. BYU also ends up with a 2-5 Mountain West Conference record — seventh in the eight-team standings — and for the first time in the four-year MWC history fails to win a league road game. The Cougars finish the season losing the final two games, including a 13-6 loss to Utah.
2003 — THIRD SEASON AT BYU: Falling to a 4-8 record and ending the season with an 0-3 finish, BYU suffers its first back-to-back stretch of losing seasons since 1970-71. With the season-ending 3-0 loss at home to Utah, the Cougars see their NCAA record of consecutive non-shutout games end at 361. And for the first time since its first bowl game in 1974, the Cougars go two consecutive seasons without appearing in a bowl game.
2004 — FOURTH SEASON AT BYU: Another 0-2 finish to the regular season results in a third straight season with a losing record and a third consecutive bowl-less postseason, as Crowton's Cougars go 5-6. Gaining as much attention as the on-field struggles were the off-field activities, in which a handful of players are suspended or expelled following accusations of gang sex, alcohol consumption and pornography. It is the latest in a series of incidents involving Honor Code violations as well as criminal activity such as assault and theft that costs the Cougars a number of high-profile standouts and promising recruits.
DEC. 1, 2004: After being told by BYU athletics adminstrators that he would not be coaching next year, Crowton resigns. "At this time I feel like it's time for me to step down and let the football program move on in a different direction."