My how time flies. Seems like only yesterday. Frankly, I am amazed at how the U has integrated itself into the conference. Gone better thatn I would have guessed 10 years ago. Count our blessings.
Praise be!!
That was an awesome day.
That was the biggest event in Utah sports history, and a Top 10 event in the history of the U, (IMO).
7 Likes
Awesome it was. The gift that keeps on giving.
One of the side benefits of that day was seeing the Des News sports guy (I forget his name) get all butthurt about it.
6 Likes
Dick Harmon…his tears were delicious. 
6 Likes
Wasn’t that guy trying to make it all about byu? I believe he wrote articles after PACMAS claiming it was bigotry that kept byu out, that Utah didn’t deserve it. Screw that guy.
5 Likes
Yeah, his first question of Scott was something like “what about BYU?”. Loved that too!
3 Likes
Yep. As Red Don said. When the ESPN guy asked him what his thoughts were on Utah joining the PAC, his first statement was “Why not byu?” Not surprised that his name was Dick.
3 Likes
Dick Harmon was the guy that asked the infamous question: “Did you give Tom Holmoe a courtesy call?”
2 Likes
Also, according to Chris Hill, the reason the University jumped into the PAC-12, with the 1-year delay in sharing in conference revenues, was that he and Larry Scott felt they needed to move quickly in order avoid the Legislature getting involved (in response to BYU’s non-invitation).
4 Likes
I thought is was Holmoe who said “I didn’t even get a courtesy call”. But either way, it’s hysterical.
2 Likes
It’s coming back to me now. Harmon asked Holmoe–in a press conference, I think–if he had received a courtesy call from the PAC-12.
The ESPN guys reporting on the story and called the DNews for comment, and happened to get Harmon on the phone. That’s when he launched into a rant about how BYU should’ve been chosen, was better qualified, etc., etc. The ESPN guys seemed a little bit taken aback.
1 Like
Can you imagine, the legislature denies Utah the chance to join the PAC over byu being left out? I hate to say it, but yes, I can imagine the Utah legislature doing exactly that.
3 Likes
The other epic meltdown was from Greg Wrubel, their play-by-play guy, on the day of the invite. For about 20 minutes he had the greatest whine ever produced in Utah on KSL.com, then they took it down. (Yeah, it was that bad.)
“And so today a great injustice has been done…” blah blah blah.
Last year on the 10th anniversary of the invitation, a retrospect was done, I think on 1280 the zone.
Summary: After the shock subsided, pundits predicted BYU would truly become a kind of Notre Dame of the west, with their HD truck and their stadium, etc. Oh yeah, and Utah did pretty good by getting into the PAC.
10 years later it looked far, far different than “different but essentially equal moves”.
They’ve been battered down since, of course… except their miracle Covid run (with Canal Carolina not withstanding, of course.)
1 Like
I’ve been to Conroy, SC. It’s 10+ miles from a very mediocre coast.
(That was intentional. lol)
Remember when that was all the rage from zoobs on the interwebs? byu had a mother-freakin’ HD TRUCK which was going to make them literally unbeatable.
3 Likes
That was such a happy time, and it’s still so much fun to remember. It was the fulfillment of a dream over many years that I never really thought would come true. As @Ma-ake said, the greatest development in the history of the program and one of the top 10 (I’d say top 5) in the U’s history.
I actually felt bad for people I love who love BYU athletics. I know how I would have felt if our positions had been reversed. (Isn’t that a true nightmare scenario?)
BUT…I felt, and still feel, great satisfaction that after a couple of decades of being told how they were all that and we were nothing, suddenly that debate was over forever and all their overhyped nonsense was now in the past.
1 Like
I was going to say top 5, but I don’t know all the big events.
- Founding
- Medical School
- Law School
- AAU (recent)
- PAC
- Mario Capecchi’s Nobel - one of a number of high level health sciences wins.
I was a slacker in high school, but got in based on test scores. I definitely couldn’t get in today with that (lack of a) track record.
Here’s a good question: which has benefitted more from PACmas - Athletics or Academics? I can make a strong case it’s the latter, even though it’s an interrelated answer.
1 Like