FILE - In this Dec. 20, 2007 file photo, former Brigham Young football coach LaVell Edwards talks about the Awards & Recognition Association Sportsmanship Award, during a news conference in Seattle. Mention the WAC to coach Edwards, and he thinks back to BYU's 1984 national championship. Now, the Western Athletic Conference appears to be going from beast to bust. The football conference that once spanned four time zones faces extinction as other super conferences rule the land. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File)Associated Press

Former BYU Head Coach LaVell Edwards Dies at Age 86

Timothy RappDec 29, 2016

Former BYU Cougars head coach LaVell Edwards died Thursday at 86 after breaking his hip on Christmas Eve, his wife Patti confirmed to Jared Lloyd of the Daily Herald.

"LaVell not only changed the program but he changed a lot of lives," BYU head football coach Kalani Sitake told Lloyd. "He's a great man, very wise, but I think more than anything he is so humble and such a great example. I hope I can be just like him. There are a lot of great things about him that I love."

Edwards compiled a 257-101-3 record in 29 seasons at BYU between 1972 and 2000, winning a national championship in 1984. His teams won 20 conference titles and went to 22 bowl games, and his 257 wins are seventh all-time in FBS history.

BYU's stadium was renamed LaVell Edwards Stadium in his honor in 2000 after he retired. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2004.

Edwards was a revolutionary football mind, as his passing scheme has largely influenced more modern offenses such as the Air Raid and West Coast offense.

"He was a visionary," former BYU quarterback and NFL Hall of Famer Steve Young told BYU Sports Nation. "He saw ahead for each guy. He could see into the future."

His influence has also been seen throughout football in the form of his former assistant coaches or players, including Young, Heisman Trophy winner Ty Detmer, Jim McMahon, former USC head coach Steve Sarkisian, Sitake, former Hawaii head coach Norm Chow, Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham and former NFL coaches Brian Billick and Mike Holmgren, and current Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid.

"A great man. He taught you how to coach," Chow told Bruce Feldman of Fox Sports. "Self-deprecating and he was an even better family guy than he was a coach."

Certainly, Edwards forever changed the BYU community.

"I love him," Young said, per BYU Sports Nation. "I love him like my father. He meant so much to many of us."