From the administration to teaching jobs to staff jobs, it always makes a difference what your last name is or who you are related to. I've known students who could not have met the admissions criteria to a JC who got accepted to BYU simply because of who they were. There is an incredible amount of nepotism at all levels at BYU. It may be the case everywhere but family and church connections seem to carry a lot more weight at BYU than any such connections at other schools.
LaVell had plenty of players on the team based on who they were, including his own son. I tried to walk-on at BYU also as did several of my friends some of whom I'm certain were as good or better than scholarship players. We played intra-mural football with several former varsity guys whose eligibility had expired or they were off the team for medical reasons and they said a couple of our guys should be on the team. But not a one of us could convince a coach to give us a tryout even. They simply said their players had been recruited and were on scholarship and they weren't interested in anyone else.