On Feb. 22, 2025, BYU won a tense basketball game against Arizona at the McKale Center on a foul call in the final seconds.
That’s when the chant started.
Profane chants directed at members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints had already been heard during BYU sporting events at USC (2021), Oregon (2022) and Providence (2024).
Arizona head coach Tommy Lloyd expressed his disappointment over the chant, saying, “There’s no place in society, let’s just start with that overall, but especially in collegiate athletics where anyone’s religion or race should become a focal point ever.”
Since then, chants referencing Latter-day Saints have been overheard at football games in Colorado and Cincinnati and during BYU’s recent basketball loss at Oklahoma State.
BYU returns to Tucson, Arizona, on Wednesday for a matchup with the Wildcats.
Drake Toll is the host of a national sports talk radio show and the “Locked On Big 12″ podcast. On multiple occasions, Toll has come to BYU’s defense when the chants have occurred.
“In popular media, it’s so infrequent that you see a proper representation of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,” Toll said. “And for me, a member of the media with a voice, I want to give a voice to those who are effectively voiceless if you turn on any major media outlet. If you turn on any major news station, radio station, podcast ... they are either not talking about the discrimination against the church or they are making fun of — making light of — discrimination of the church.”
The Big 12 has issued fines against member schools, including a $50,000 fine for the most recent incident at Oklahoma State.
“The Big 12 Conference will not tolerate any behavior that targets or demeans others,” the Big 12 statement read.
Toll, however, believes the conference hasn’t done enough.
“The Big 12 has dropped the ball entirely,” he said. “It is embarrassing for me as someone who’s covered the Big 12 since long before BYU became a member that the conference has treated this with such little ramification.”
“That $50,000 fine is not felt by the students,” he said. “They don’t know where that money comes from, they don’t know where it goes, they don’t care. We see it a lot where officials, when fans throw something on the court, throw something on the field, there’s an instant reprimand — 15-yard penalty, flagrant 2 foul. That’s the way it would be handled if there was discrimination against any other race, credence, religion. It’s not with BYU.”
The Big 12’s press release used the phrase “Mormon religion.” Toll, however, has gone out of his way to use the preferred name of the church.
“I’m not a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but I respect a commitment to faith,” Toll said. “I respect a commitment to something bigger.
“As someone of faith, I thought if this group of people want to ensure that Christ is mentioned in how they’re referenced, to give the world clarity on what they believe, then I’m happy to do that.”
Toll said he’s not interested in berating a 20-year-old student in the stands yelling out the chant — “because they don’t understand,” he said.
“They don’t get that someone’s a member of the church in the arena. So, I have a heart for those people. I want to love those people well and treat them with grace.”
Toll says he feels most for Latter-day Saints who are fans of institutions where these chants have taken place.
“What they are dealing with is, in my mind, twice as brutal as being a BYU fan,” he said. “Because they’re hearing from people they trust, that they love, that they believe in, this goal of wanting their favorite team to win, their fellow fan, their teammate, is saying, ‘I don’t like you for what you believe in and stand for. ... We want to say, ‘Oh, that’s not happening, that’s not real,’ but it is.”