LaVell Edwards, longtime Brigham Young University football coach, passed away Thursday at the age of 86.
Edwards' gridiron triumphs are well known. After inheriting a lackluster football program with a combined record of 173-232-23 over the previous half-century, he flipped the script and turned BYU into a championship program. By the end of his 29-season tenure, Edwards tallied 257 wins, more than all preceding BYU football coaches combined. Along the way, he won the 1984 national championship and garnered two national coach of the year honors (1979, 1984).
Yet, beyond the game of football, Edwards embraced his role as a husband, father, mentor of young people and an ambassador for his faith, his university and the state of Utah.
He understood people and had a special ability to inspire them. The same year he won a national championship, he spoke at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' general conference. He gave examples of success and overcoming adversity, and he also encouraged LDS young men to serve two-year church missions, understanding that doing well on the football field was often the result of doing the right thing off the field.
Not only a coach and leader, he was the rare man who seeks to serve others before himself. Hall of Fame quarterback Steve Young said this of the man who helped shape his life: "He sees more in you than you can see in yourself. That is the greatest compliment you can give a coach."
Current BYU football coach Kalani Sitake echoed that sentiment: “LaVell not only changed the program, but he changed a lot of lives. He’s a great man … but I think more than anything he is so humble and such a great example.”
His name will live on in the College Football Hall of Fame (inducted in 2004) and will be remembered each time a game is played at BYU’s aptly named LaVell Edwards Stadium. But it also lives on in each of the thousands of lives he touched during his well-lived life.