Who should be immortalized on BYU’s Mount Rushmore?
After seemingly wandering the wilderness for decades, BYU has plenty of people to thank for finally reaching the Power 5 promised land.
A storied tradition of excellence has brought the Cougars to the Big 12, with a number of legends laying the foundation leading up to the school’s long-awaited admission as the clock struck midnight on July 1. Some of those legends even participated in the joyous festivities at BYU that followed.
Seeing all the past greats and revisiting old memories got me thinking. We all know campus enjoys a majestic mountain backdrop, but I decided to propose a new prospective peak:
Who would appear on a BYU Mount Rushmore?
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Selecting such a core four is no small task. Cougar lore is filled with elite names and feats, and narrowing it all down to a singular quartet is more challenging than trying to shoot free throws as an opponent in the Marriott Center.
But alas, it must be done.
At age 23, some of you may deem me as too young to attempt this project. Fear not, as I was born of goodly parents who made sure I understood the rich athletic history of their alma mater. My mother wore a “Ty’s tie” against Miami in 1990 just so I could write this article. Thanks, mom.
Following more studying than I achieved all last semester, I offer the following nominees to be enshrined forever on a hypothetical BYU Mount Rushmore.
LaVell Edwards
Shocker, right? It should surprise no one to see LaVell Edwards on this list. Heck, a Mount Rushmore at BYU may as well be called “Mount LaVell.”
Edwards’ exploits at the helm of BYU football are well-documented: 257 career victories, 19 conference titles, 34 All-American selections (that’s more than one per season!), a Heisman Trophy winner and dominating the “Holy War” rivalry to the tune of a 22-7 lifetime record against Utah. Oh, and he also won a national championship in 1984, just in case anyone forgot.
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LaVell’s success was as remarkable as it was unprecedented in Provo. Prior to his hiring as head coach in 1972, the Cougar football program held the second-lowest winning percentage across the NCAA. In the five decades since the Edwards era began, BYU has won the ninth-most contests in the country. That’s the true mark of a champion.
While Edwards did lift a perennial cellar-dweller into a notable national force at BYU, his accomplishments with the Cougars drastically pale in comparison to his impact on the sport of football as a whole.
LaVell’s “air raid” offensive scheme radically shifted the manner in which both collegiate and professional squads operated on offense, proving to the world that throwing the football — even at an absurdly high volume — could win games and establish dynasties on the gridiron. It’s near impossible to watch a football game today that doesn’t feature some sort of Edwards influence offensively. Just ask the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs, whose own genius head coach Andy Reid is among LaVell’s legion of inspired disciples.
How many coaches can say they developed seven All-American quarterbacks? LaVell can. Four of his prized passers — Marc Wilson, Jim McMahon, Steve Young and Ty Detmer — were consensus selections, with Detmer earning such honors twice. With Texas and Oklahoma’s scheduled departure, BYU has more consensus quarterback selections than every other Big 12 school combined.
There has never been — nor will there ever be — another coach quite like LaVell.
Edwards was a man of high character who embodied the university’s mission and purpose. He was a stalwart Latter-day Saint and advocate for service and loving one another. His career accomplishments may be impressive, but they’re meaningless when compared to how he shaped the lives of his players, who came out in droves to support their former coach at his funeral service in January 2017.
“It’s not about the wins, not about the touchdown passes, not about the tackles players made, it’s how he treated us as human beings and the impact he had on all of our lives to make us better men, better people,” former quarterback Robbie Bosco said at Edwards’ funeral. “Our kids will be talking about LaVell Edwards for a long time. He was a true disciple of Jesus Christ.”
BYU would not be a Big 12 school without LaVell Edwards. BYU might not even have a football program today if not for LaVell, let alone a 63,000-seat stadium in his name that desperately needs a statue of him to stand outside of it.
Elaine Michaelis
Women’s athletics at BYU are a powerhouse, and Elaine Michaelis is to thank for that.
Michaelis’ career resume is stacked to the point where it doesn’t even seem real. No individual has been part of more sporting events in the history of BYU than Michaelis, who spent nearly five decades as a player, coach and administrator in Provo and essentially had a hall of fame-caliber career in each capacity.
Michaelis served as head coach of four different women’s programs at BYU, totaling more than 70 collective seasons with women’s volleyball, basketball, field hockey and softball.
Such a tenure on campus speaks volumes to her coaching prowess, willingness to serve and ability to adapt throughout different eras of athletics, not to mention her overall value to BYU and how deeply the school needed her efforts.
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Volleyball was where Michaelis became a legend, leading the Cougars for 44 seasons without a single losing campaign. Michaelis won 886 matches and 23 conference titles, qualified for 30 national tournaments, produced 51 All-American selections, reached three Final Fours and retired as the second-winningest women’s volleyball coach in NCAA history. She held a .624 winning percentage in national tournament play, never finished below third place amid conference standings and now has the Smith Fieldhouse floor named in her honor.
Michaelis was almost unbeatable. But her wins away from the court have proven most crucial to this day.
Serving as BYU’s women’s athletic director from 1995-2004, Michaelis played a key role in adding women’s soccer as an official intercollegiate sport at BYU, helped to increase available scholarships for female athletes and was a strong, determined advocate for each of the athletes she served.
Additionally, Michaelis was instrumental in obtaining more extensive television coverage for women’s sports at BYU, initially striving to televise around 50 women’s events each season. Now, every single women’s home game is broadcast in some capacity, with the overall media exposure for BYU women’s athletics almost as impressive as the department’s current dominance itself.
When Michaelis first began coaching in the early 1960s, women’s athletics operated at an extramural level without scheduled games or university funding. When she was honored this past October at LaVell Edwards Stadium as part of the school’s Title IX anniversary recognition, BYU was in the midst of earning its 10th consecutive WCC Women’s All Sports Award as the conference’s most successful women’s athletic department.
All of BYU’s success for women’s athletics is merely just reaping what Michaelis sowed years ago. The same will be true for years to come as the Cougars enter the Big 12.
Krešimir Ćosić
The Marriott Center has seen scores of basketball heroes grace its hardwood over the past 52 years.
There was Jimmer, the worldwide sensation and college basketball’s first true viral star of the social media era. There was Danny Ainge, BYU’s tournament hero and eventual three-time world champion with the Boston Celtics. Lee Cummard and Tyler Haws seemingly never missed their shots, Devin Durrant was sensational and Shawn Bradley even earned a role in “Space Jam.”
But none of them were Krešimir Ćosić.
It’s criminal that Ćosić isn’t more of a household name among Cougar fans. His number does hang from the Marriott Center rafters, but given his accomplishments as a dominant basketball force and trailblazing pioneer, he ought to have at least a building on campus named after him, let alone appear on BYU’s Mount Rushmore.
The story of Krešimir Ćosić is nothing short of magical. The Yugoslavia native arrived in Provo practically by chance, turning down John Wooden’s powerhouse UCLA program to play at BYU despite having no prior knowledge of the school’s religious aspect or honor code. A staunch atheist from a boiling communist region, a series of spiritual impressions led Ćosić to choose the Cougars, even if it took him a while to feel he’d made the right decision.
But once Ćosić found his “Y,” he never looked back.
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The 6-foot-11 center became the perfect centerpiece for BYU’s run-and-gun system, playing a style of basketball years ahead of its time as he drained deep shots, led fast breaks and dished out assists no post player had ever even dreamed of attempting before. He was part Magic Johnson, part Nikola Jokic and entirely unlike anyone college hoops had ever seen, partly due to being the NCAA’s first ever European import.
Ćosić averaged 19.2 points and 11.6 rebounds per game over three seasons at BYU. His scoring numbers surely would be higher had he played with the 3-point line, and his assist totals would be impressive — especially for a center — had assists been recorded as an official statistic. His career was so ahead of its time that it truly gets lost in translation. Nevertheless, Ćosić was a three-time First Team All-WAC selection, led the Cougars to a pair of conference titles and earned All-American honors as a junior.
Off the court, his previous spiritual promptings developed into a fascination with faith, leading to Ćosić being baptized as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints during his junior season. Ćosić served as the primary translator of the Book of Mormon into Croatian while playing at BYU, with the former atheist often waking up before dawn on team road trips to translate before games.
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Amazingly, Ćosić turned down draft selections from both the Portland Trailblazers and Los Angeles Lakers (can you imagine him playing in the “Showtime” offense with Magic and Kareem?) to return to Yugoslavia as the country’s lone priesthood holder. He rejected imminent fame and fortune to build the kingdom as a special missionary in his native land, blatantly challenging the country’s communist party and its powerful opposition. His efforts were crucial in opening doors for the church in Yugoslavia and other eastern European nations, even serving as Croatia’s deputy ambassador to the United States eventually.
Ćosić passed away nearly three decades ago at the age of 46, but his brief lifespan brought forth a tremendous amount of good. His popularity was a factor in BYU’s building of the 23,000-seat Marriott Center, planting the seeds for a rowdy home court advantage the Cougars will enjoy in the Big 12. He was the first European basketball star to excel in America, paving the way for future NBA stars. Ćosić also began an extensive tradition of international athletes at BYU.
Krešimir Ćosić is a member of the National Basketball Hall of Fame as BYU’s sole player inductee. He won four Olympic medals for Yugoslavia, including a gold victory in the 1980 games. His sacrifices allowed him to become one of the most valuable figures in the restoration of the gospel.
Krešimir Ćosić is undoubtedly as much a no-brainer for BYU’s Mount Rushmore as LaVell Edwards and Elaine Michaelis.
Tom Holmoe
My recency bias may be showing here, but it’s hard to argue against including Tom Holmoe with BYU’s big four.
Holmoe is a winner. He was a plus defender on some of BYU’s best football teams. He has four Super Bowl rings, more than any other Cougar in history. He’s a product of the prestigious LaVell Edwards and Bill Walsh coaching trees. His playing career alone would qualify him as a program legend.
Holmoe’s career as an administrator is so decorated, however, that it completely overshadows his playing days, and it’s not even close.
Not only is Holmoe a winner, but he’s an expert at finding more of them. Since becoming BYU’s athletic director in 2005, Holmoe has hired Bronco Mendenhall, Dave Rose, Kalani Sitake, Shawn Olmstead, Heather Olmstead, Mark Pope, Diljeet Taylor and a number of other exceptional Cougar coaches. His tenure has seen more than 120 different championships at BYU along with nearly 300 All-American selections.
The best championship of all? Playing a pivotal role in earning BYU’s invitation to the Big 12, finally punching the ticket the Cougars so craved for generations. I’ve heard a good amount of fans say July 1 was the best non-1984 moment in school history, and they all definitely partied like it was. Holmoe’s fingerprints are all over that colossal dub.
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But the story of BYU’s entry into the Big 12 can’t be told without mentioning the daring decision to go independent in football, another Holmoe masterclass, alongside fostering a relationship with the WCC to give the Cougars’ olympic sports a place to dominate for a decade while patiently waiting for a permanent home.
Football independence had its highs and lows, but Holmoe was the perfect pilot to guide such a gamble. Thousands of hours were spent assembling lucrative and competitive schedules for each season practically on the fly, especially in 2020 when Holmoe insisted the Cougars needed to compete amid the pandemic.
Holmoe’s leadership put the BYU brand back in the national spotlight and proved the Cougars had the widespread support suitable to merit Big 12 inclusion. He’s done so much more behind the scenes that none of us will ever know about. There’s only one athletic director that could have accomplished everything of the past two decades, and it’s Tom Holmoe.
I suppose the only remaining question regarding his place on Mount Rushmore is which one of his famous halloween costumes he’ll choose to be immortalized in.
Jackson Payne is the sports editor for the BYU campus publication The Daily Universe. Twitter: @jackson5payne
