Over the past several years, there’s been a number of incidents at BYU Cougars away games where fans of the home team chanted derogatory things directed at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which sponsors BYU.
On Saturday morning ahead of the marquee football matchup between the No. 7 Cougars and the No. 8 Texas Tech Red Raiders in Lubbock, one of the more prominent figures at Texas Tech made a plea with Red Raiders fans to not do so.
Prior to kickoff, Texas Tech head men’s basketball coach Grant McCasland addressed the crowd at Jones AT&T Stadium with a short message.
“Hey, I love the energy in this place, so let’s not lose the energy, but let’s do this in a way that helps our team win,” he said. “Everybody with me?
“So I know everybody has some chants against BYU that are pretty popular. Let’s stay away from derogatory, negative things about them and make it about the Red Raiders. Everybody hear me? So, hey, let’s cheer on the Red Raiders, don’t do anything that would give us a penalty and let’s win this football game.”
Texas Tech went on to win, 29-7.
According to a story earlier this year by Sports Spectrum’s Cole Claybourn, McCasland is the son and grandson of Baptist preachers, and in 2024 he was honored by the Fellowship of Christian Athletes with the John Lotz “Barnabas” Coaching Award, which is given annually “to honor a basketball coach who best exhibits a commitment to Christ, integrity and encouragement to others and lives a balanced life.”
According to Claybourn’s story, in a statement accepting the honor, McCasland said, “There’s no better journey than to live a life of sacrifice to Christ. This honor is a huge blessing, but, ultimately, all of our hearts must point to Christ and give him the glory for what he does in and through us.”
McCasland, 49, has been a wildly successful coach at several levels of college basketball over the last 20 years and most recently led the Red Raiders to the Elite Eight last season.
His team is currently ranked No. 10 in the country in the early days of the 2025-26 season.