At BYU, Is Football Really Priority No. 5?

A lot has been made this year about Coach M stating that football is No. 5 on the list of priorities for players at BYU. A lot of you at times are worried that there is not enough emphasis put on games, because there are so many other things going on. Let me explain why/how it is No. 5.

First off, what goes in front of football?

1. Faith: Can you argue that Faith/Religion are first and foremost? No. Does your faith detract from football? No.

2. Family: No argument here either. But when you are at school, you are not really with family anyway, unless you are married. All the players' wives I ever knew were very supportive of what we had to do, and as long you make time for your wife at night and on Sunday, this does not detract from football prep time either.

3. School: We all know the line—you are called a “Student-Athlete,” not an “Athlete-Student,” so school comes first. Well, we get first pick on classes so we are done every day before practice starts. That means that at 2pm every day there is nothing else in your schedule but Football! Once again, 1-3, and nothing takes away from football.

4. I am not sure what No. 4 was—probably service. Service is more often than not done in conjunction with a football event or a class or done in the offseason, so there is no detraction here either.

5. FOOTBALL

The point here is that although it may not be on top of the list, if you just do what you are supposed to, there is plenty of time for football preparation. I mean, we are given 20hrs/week by the NCAA for mandatory things, and then there is always more free time throughout the day.

The other thing you have to realize is that from 2pm-7pm M-Th, the rest of the list doesn’t exist. On Fri and Sat the whole day is devoted to No. 5 except for a one-hour fireside which fulfills No. 1, No. 2, often No. 3 (most players sit with wives and families in the audience), and No. 4.

I hope you are starting to see that football at No. 5 is a bit misleading.

One last example: Before every Bowl Game Coach M sends a letter to all the wives and family members explaining in simple terms that we are not going on a vacation, but we are going to prepare to win a football game. In other words, this is not family time (football jumps up to No. 2

He is very good about including our wives in the activities he can, and we do service and a fireside, but the No. 1 goal of Bowl Week is to WIN a Football Game!

When I look at my life and at my time at BYU, I can honestly say that football was not the most important thing in life, but winning on Saturdays from September to December WAS! I also felt that being balanced in all the other priorities would help me to accomplish that goal (remember Pres. Hinckley’s talk about wearing hats?).

So don’t let the number fool you. These guys want to win every week, and for four months out of the year, that is priority No. 1!

By Markell Staffieri