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[Jim McMahon]

Right you are, good sir. He said BYU multiple times.

I had not heard him say that in any other recent interview, so I will eat crow here.

Good interview. Was cool to hear him talk about his dad’s influence on his coaching and the importance of consistency. Such an applicable lesson to life: be consistent in small things daily.

[Jim McMahon]

Yep. I’ll eat crow on this one. I had not seen it in a recent interview. I acknowledged as much in Central Coast Ute’s earlier post today.

Good interview.

[Jim McMahon]

It’s funny to me. I thought you guys would control this game. Many on CB were surprised. Then they tried to pretend like this wasn’t a great win.

You guys manhandled a solid SEC team. CB acts like it wouldn’t be going bananas if we were in your shoes.

Anyway, congrats again, and good luck on the season!

[Jim McMahon]

Spot on. I tried to make it clear in my OP that the thing that hurts the most is simply that he has dominated us. It stings. I have said on this site multiple times (looks at my post history) that Whit is an elite coach. I have congratulated you on your big wins.

And yes, 100% we wish we had gotten him in 2005.

Seeing how you describe it makes a lot of sense. I did say in my OP that while his head games bother me, I fully admit that I would enjoy them if the shoe were on the other foot and we were dominating the series.

I’ll just end by saying what I tried to say in my OP. All rational BYU fans I know will fully admit that Whit is an elite coach and that he has dominated us. And that’s what hurts the most. One of our own went to our rival and completely dominated us. But I respect the heck out of him and fully recognize that he is elite.

[Jim McMahon]

Fair enough.

[Jim McMahon]

I’ve always tried to be respectful on your site. I’m really not trying to argue. But I feel like you’re twisting my words so I’ll respond. This is what I said in my OP:

“You would think Whitt would simply be able to say BYU and at least stop pretending like the two teams don’t have over 100 years of history. It is one of the best rivalries in college football, and in an era like today where NIL is shredding rivalries and conferences, it ought to be celebrated. I whish Whitt would at least acknowledge that and stop pretending like the game means nothing. “The in-state game”.”

That’s what I said. Show me a recent article or interview where he speaks to the rivalry, actually says BYU, or in the very least acknowledges that there is a rivalry. He downplays it at every turn. I didn’t say he hates BYU or doesn’t have a good relationship with Kalani.

But I also said that he has owned us and that is my main issue with him. Pure jealousy that we didn’t land him.

[Jim McMahon]

How is this cherry-picking an article? You: “Where do BYU fans get that ye won’t say BYU?”

I post an example of an article from an interview he did and I’m cherry-picking?

And to be clear, I don’t really care. I am more annoyed that he has dominated us. But you asked a question and I provided some evidence.

[Jim McMahon]

Yeah, the Max Hall comment was embarrassing. No defending that. He had a fall from grace and has matured a bit since then. However, he claims his family got some awful treatment from Utah fans in previous games and he took it very personally. But he definitely took it too far.

Eric Weddle is my favorite Ute of all time. He was so magnanimous in his loss in 2006 and specifically went over to John Beck ton congratulate him. Just a good, humble dude who was so dang good too. He always scared me when we played him.

https://www.deseret.com/2010/11/24/20155756/weddle-beck-rivalry-has-blossomed-into-friendship

[Jim McMahon]

Are you serious? Look, I mentioned in my post that I really don’t care. I more care about the fact that he has owned us. But he clearly avoids saying BYU around the media.

https://kslsports.com/465794/next-question-kyle-whittingham-politely-refuses-to-say-nice-things-about-byu/#:~:text=SALT%20LAKE%20CITY%2C%20Utah%20%E2%80%93%20With,the%20week%20of%20the%20game.

[Jim McMahon]

Great post. I liked your explanation on missing the big brands and that totally makes sense. I want to address a few of your points from what I feel are most BYU fans’ perspectives…at least the BYU fans I know.

“I think all of your fans conveniently blame our rise on the money and conference. And while it is certainly accurate, it doesn’t automatically happen. Colorado had the same resources and were horrible.” This is only partly true. We are saying that relative to us, Utah has been on much better footing with more resources, especially when going after top LDS recruits. Colorado and the AZ schedules aren’t going after the same pool of LDS talent that BYU and Utah are. PAC and $ have been a clear leg-up for your team for that pool of athletes. But yes, just as big off a differentiator is certainly Whit. He has been your LaVell. He’s been unbelievable. If I could go back in a time machine and somehow convince him to take the BYU job in 2004, the last 20 years would look vastly different for our two programs.

“So everyone assumes it is just going to happen for you. So the question will be how good is Sitake? Because if he is not great, it could be tough sledding for a long time.” I actually don’t know of one BYU fan who just “assumes” we are going to ascend. It is going to be VERY tough sledding for us. We’re predicted to finish 2nd to last this year in conference. If you read Cougarboard at all and cut through all the noise, you can see a general theme that most fans don’t expect us to have a winning season this year. We lack depth and always have. Throw in the honor code as a hurdle for non LDS athletes and it will always be tricky. The Honor Code isn’t an excuse either, it is simply a fact. It helps us with some top LDS prospects, but it’s a major hurdle for non LDS prospects. But yeah, we will be lucky to be in the middle of the pack for the foreseeable future.

Lastly, even though you didn’t mention this, I have seen a lot of posts about how Utah is joining with full revenue while BYU is on a tiered schedule and how annoyed BYU fans are. Again, I actually don’t see that at all on Cougarboard. There’s probably some BYU idiots on Twitter complaining about it which wouldn’t surprise me. Our tiered schedule is still way more money than we ever made in Indy. We are simply grateful to have a seat at the table. Of course you and the other PAC schools would join with full revenue. You bring value and are joining from another power conference.