Yeah, I don’t think anyone can deny that happened. Pope is greasier than an oil rig.
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I don’t doubt that Lohner talked to people at BYU. To me, what would be more telling would be who initiated the contact. If BYU initiated a conversation with Lohner after he signed with Utah - I agree - greasy.
On the other hand, if Lohner had an “I think I’ve made a mistake” moment and rethought his decision - which led to him reaching out to BYU - less greasy as far as BYU/Pope is concerned.
I have no idea what happened or who initiated it. I agree it left the U in a bad spot as far as filling their roster - so I’ve got no problem with hating Lohner for that.
If your scenario of him making a mistake is true, Pope should have declined to talk to him until he was released.
That’s my big issue. It’s obvious he knew exactly where he was going before he ever was released, which means he knew he had a landing spot, which means Pope and company were talking to a non-recruitable athlete, and it really hurt Utah.
I don’t want him at Utah and I’m glad he’s not here, but it really kept Utah from finding a good player who wanted to be at Utah.
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This is some olympic level mental gymnastics to try and feel better about this.
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Usually it is an RM getting recruited over. Those can be predicted.
The way Lohner’s change happened, at a minimum, the optics suck. That stated, there are a number of Blue Blood programs nationwide who, in a less obvious way, did the same thing. Danny Manning to Kansas rings a bell here.
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Thanks for the explanation - makes sense.
So - does it change things if he changed his mind and had his parents, HS coach, or 2nd cousin twice removed reach out to BYU without actually ever talking to them himself?
Frankly - I don’t know if things happened “legally” or if a BYU booster showed up with Harry Potter world tickets and a volkswagen jetta and convinced him to change his mind. As a BYU fan, unless there’s evidence otherwise - I’ll believe they kept the rules. And as Utah fans, I’m sure most of the folks here will assume they didn’t. That’s OK - reality is that unless/until there is any kind of evidence presented, we both can claim we’re right. 
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This is another one that I hear a lot - BYU reaching out and recruiting players while the kid is on a mission. BYU has gained kids and lost them from missions - though I’d guess they’ve gained more than they’ve lost.
While it is often attributed to recruiting missionaries - it’s another story without evidence as far as I can tell. I happen to know a kid who was a HUGE Utah fan, diversity scholarship to attend there, all of his older siblings went to Utah. Kid went on a mission and when he got home he decided to go to BYU instead. Said he wanted the “experience” down there.
It’s not hard to imagine that there are players who could have a similar change of heart.
Let me be clear - if BYU is recruiting missionaries - they should knock it off. Not just due to any NCAA rules, but also due to my belief that kids on missions should get to leave that stuff behind them and focus on being missionaries. I have no problem criticizing BYU if they are doing that.
That said - I’ve hear more rumors of that happening from fans than I’ve ever heard from an actual recruit. Unless BYU is 100% successful recruiting missionaries, seems like we’d have seen some stories from kids who went elsewhere reporting on BYU trying to illegally recruit them on the mission. Again - if those stories exist and I’ve just missed them, I’ve got not problem criticizing BYU for it.
So, to be clear, you don’t think it’s right, but you also don’t think it’s happening.
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Yeah…forgive me, but a byu fan that comes on to a Ute-centered board and says “hey I totally get the Lohner hate but let’s rehash that situation.” and ends their point with “Ill believe what I want to believe and you believe what you want to believe” as ute fans are trying to discuss the game is bordering on trolling.
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I’m saying I haven’t seen any evidence of it in spite of the speculation of Utah fans.
Including the Utah beat reporter who was on with Spencer Checketts earlier this month and who specifically said that he’s heard a lot of allegations, but seen no evidence (with regard to Lohner and Chandler both) and went so far as to say if someone wants to pass along evidence, he’d be happy to source it.
Checketts has been accused of a lot of things by BYU fans - but defending BYU’s actions on anything is not one of them - and in this case he kinda did.
What I’m also saying is that if someone were to provide evidence of it, I would certainly join in with any/everyone criticizing the school and/or coaches.
I mean - similarly, I can claim that Utah’s coaches are getting recruits via slimy and illegal actions without evidence and tell you all that it must be true - and I won’t expect you to believe me either.
Honestly hadn’t intended and wasn’t interested in rehashing. It just sounded like there was some kind of evidence of wrongdoing from the way things have been described, and I was curious what that was.
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You shouldn’t insult oil rigs like that!
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Come on guy…you come onto a board where people are venting frustration and ask for evidence? If people had evidence, Lohner wouldn’t be playing and Pope wouldn’t be coaching. You knew that. Again, venting and discussing things we have heard…
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That’s fair, I suppose. Carry on!
A byu football player came to Coach Mac to transfer to the U and Mac told him it would be best if he didn’t do it, knowing it would all probably blow up. What Diehard Ute said is correct, Pope should have gone about this entirely differently.
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Don’t care how or why Lohner made his decision.
He was picked to the preseason all WCC team, but Saturday did not look the part.
He is a good player who can rebound & is athletic, (which at his size is lacking on the Ute roster), but did not appear to have a game beyond 5 feet from the basket.
He needs to develop a shot & be able to face up & drive, (or maybe he has been told not to shoot or dribble), if he wants to step his game up to the next level.
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Lohner has zero chance of playing in the NBA. They would feast on him defensively, maybe worse than “the Jimmer”.
(Speaking of, with the benefit of hindsight, doesn’t Jimmer-mania explain about 90% of BYU fan’s troubled relationship with reality? Examples: Jimmer (as both a noun and a verb), NBA GMs out to get said Jimmer, MLMs all over Utah County, counting “future Big-12” rankings to compare conferences (with no hint of a problem with the math), ESPN to get BYU into a NY6 bowl, etc. My guess is the Utah State liquor stores in Utah County are blowing the doors off sales anywhere else in Utah, per capita. Probably Thunderbird.)
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Nice attempt at deflecting the blame, but framing a “there’s no proof we did anything wrong argument”, with an all too familiar NCAA conviction of cheating (Harry Potter world tickets and a volkswagen jetta), is not going to sway many opinions here, my friend.
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Let’s ask Sir Newton:
Law 1 . A body continues in its state of rest, or in uniform motion in a straight line, unless acted upon by a force.
Law 2 . A body acted upon by a force moves in such a manner that the time rate of change of momentum equals the force.
Whether it was someone on byu staff, a booster, him, family or friends reaching out to ensure a schollie then influencing the decision, we don’t know. But it’s certain the coaches didn’t shut down any improper conversations of a signed recruit. I haven’t heard proof of a miraculous dream. One does not sign, enroll, then have that level of buyers remorse that quickly without some serious force to change momentum. And that you just happen to know you still CAN commit to a different school that fast. 
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Don’t be slagging on “The Bird”
Have you heard? What’s the word?
It’s Thunderbird…
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