OT: RIP LaVell Edwards of BYU
Legendary and longtime BYU football coach LaVell Edwards died today at the age of 86. Story here.
Edwards will forever be linked to Michigan by virtue of the questionable national championship that BYU won in 1984 by beating Bo's worst Michigan team ever in the Holiday Bowl.
In the pre-BCS era, BYU was the only undefeated team left standing at the end of the season. Even though they were a mid-major - and even though they beat a bad 6-5 Michigan team in the Holiday Bowl - that was still enough to win the national championship.
Great coach, though, who built a legendary program, and coached the likes of Jim McMahon and Steve Young along the way. RIP, Coach Edwards.
December 29th, 2016 at 4:10 PM ^
Well, he never compared himself to Jesus in response to questions about recruiting ethics.
December 29th, 2016 at 1:52 PM ^
December 29th, 2016 at 1:53 PM ^
December 29th, 2016 at 1:55 PM ^
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December 29th, 2016 at 2:04 PM ^
A friend of mine played for Edwards several years back. He has nothing but good things to say about Edwards.
But FFS, let's not pin this on 2016. Coach Edwards was 86 years old, and lived a full and happy life. I hope his family finds comfort in that during a difficult time.
December 29th, 2016 at 2:20 PM ^
have any legs to it? I mean, people die all the time, and at the Oscars and Emmys and ESPYs they always do a montage to the fallen. This isn't a snarky / sarcastic question, just asking honestly if 2016 (politics and UM getting screwed by officials aside - specific to this blog) has been a year of more death and tragedy than usual.
And if so, perhaps this is the sacrifice that need be made for the Cubs to win the World Series.
December 29th, 2016 at 3:19 PM ^
I don't know if there's been more than usual. I just know that as someone in their mid 40's, the athletes and coaches I grew up watching, the musicians whose music I listened to, etc. are entering their 50s, 60s, 70s, and if not older as in the case of Lavell Edwards.
There's the old saying, two things you can't avoid - death and taxes. Unfortunately as we grow older death becomes something that we seem to see more frequently.
December 29th, 2016 at 2:21 PM ^
That was Jim Harbaugh.
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December 29th, 2016 at 2:52 PM ^
Edwards recounting the recruitment of Ty Detmer is one of my all time favorite recruiting stories:
"We’d had a pretty good run at quarterbacks when he came along. We tried to recruit a kid named John Elway. We tried to recruit other big names out of high school. We couldn’t even get them to come for a visit. So this kid down in Texas had all kinds of stats. He threw more in a game in high school there than we did for a couple of seasons… He committed for a visit. Between his junior and senior year, he and his father took a trip to look around. The first time I saw him, they opened the door and there’s this little guy there. He had an Adam’s apple bigger than his biceps. He probably weighed 145 pounds or something like that… We sat down and his dad, who was also his high school coach, said, ‘Well, coach, if you want him, he’s yours.’ And I’m thinking, ‘Something’s wrong here. I wonder what film they sent me.’ … I looked at him and I was expecting to see John Elway and I saw Pee Wee Herman. … He came after his senior year, and he wasn’t in camp four or five days when Norm Chow came in and told me, ‘I think we’ve got something very, very special here.’"
RIP
December 29th, 2016 at 2:55 PM ^
BYU just got away with yet another blatant hold on our DL.
December 29th, 2016 at 4:13 PM ^
RIP Coach Edwards, a kind and honorable man.
December 29th, 2016 at 5:27 PM ^
I was on the staff of USU when Edwards was coaching the Y. While I always rooted for BYU to loose, I had great admiration for Coach Edwards.
December 29th, 2016 at 10:39 PM ^